SAN AGUSTÍN ASTRONOMY CLUB - COCHABAMBA, BOLIVIA

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Jul 10

2018

by GABRIEL ANDRES JAIMES ILLANES

FORMATION OF THE SAN AGUSTÍN ASTRONOMY CLUB

GLOBAL ASTRONOMY MONTH 2018

Greetings and Clear Skies! 

In this document I present a summary of experiences and details of the creation of our Astronomy Club for the Global Astronomy month 2018.

Background

Astronomy in Bolivia presents great challenges for its diffusion, development and incersión of professional form to our means.

Cochabamba, Bolivia presents a incubator of human potential for science, technology and engineering. The San Agustín school is an academic benchmark of excellence presented by consecutive winners of the Bolivian multinational student scientist Olympiads (OCEPB).

San Agustín School has been active since 2013 on Astronomy with some students interested by sciences, this year we relaunched formally the group with support, dissemination and creation of activities for astronomy

Diffusion of Astronomy

Thanks to the institutional support of San Agustín school, parents and academic community, in this 2018 Management the Gloal month of Astronomy 2018 was commemorated with the formal opening of the San Agustín Astronomy Club.

The development of activities of the Astronomy Club of San Agustin School was scheduled according to the academic content, use of equipments, observation activities, interactive presentations and participation in scientific Olympiads according to an academic plan considering:

Members of the Club: 28 primary and secondary students

Schedule of Academic Sessions: Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Instrumentation: Celestron Nexstar 8SE, Celestron 114 EQ & Konus 120 (Equiptment is donation from former ex-students, input and donations from teachers)

Modality of Learning: Presensial classes with diverse academic presentations, dynamics and experimentation of Astronomy concepts. Some of the topics covered are: Introduction to Astronomy, Archaeoastronomy: Tiwanaku, Andean Constellations, Astronomical Instruments, Solar System / Earth and Celestial Movements, Celestial Sphere / Coordinates / Astronomical Maps, Light, spectrum and Radiation, Measurement of Distances to Stars.

Observation activities

Two structured Observational activities were developed: INSTRUMENTAL OBSERVATION 1.0 & 2.0, in which were carried out:

1. Astrophotography activities of sunset
2. Sky recognition and tell stories of constellations,
3. Provision of hot chocolate
4. Planisphere Construction
5. Armed telescopes
6. Astrophotography of open sky

Conclusions

In spite of all the antecedents the Astronomy Club presented a great reception on the part of the students eager to learn this science. Likewise, structured classes of inclusive academic content, development of academic material and observation activities were prepared.

All the scopes, objectives and competences planned for the development of classes were fulfilled:

• There was great willingness, interest and respect on the part of the students of the Astronomy Group. The feedback provided by students indicates significant learning, interest in activities, classes and topics, and constructive insight into astronomy.
• The students participating in the Olympics show interest and will to learn through their continuous monitoring and provision of academic content for preparation.
• Among topics, activities and outstanding classes are: Astronomy Archeology, Astronomical Instruments, Black holes and neutron stars, Construction of Planisphere, Movie: Interstellar, simulations of travel through space and INSTRUMENTAL OBSERVATIONS 1 & 2.
• The INSTRUMENTAL OBSERVATION activity 1.0 and 2.0 was completed successfully, presenting participation and interaction with all the members of the group. As well as interest, incursion and significant learning by Astronomy
• The following topics to develop in the next classes are: Astronautic, Hidraulic Rocket construction, Archeoastronomy: Egypt/Perú/Stonehenge; Apolo missions, Stellite communications, AR Simulations and interactive Education.

Sincerely yours,

Gabriel Andres Jaimes Illanes

San Agustín Astronomy Club

Cochabamba, Bolivia