Speaker
Description
Astronomy is an exciting and engaging topic for students to learn about, and the field's interdisciplinary nature makes it well suited for adapting to suit a wide variety of STEM subjects. The aim of this research project is to develop and assess teaching materials based on cutting-edge astrophysics research topics. The research topics in question have been drawn from the CHAMELEON Network, a research network that investigates protoplanetary disks and exoplanets (planets outside our solar system). For this project, the researcher worked in collaboration with scientists and teachers to develop a set of inquiry lessons about exoplanet lighting and clouds. These lessons are centred around hands-on, interactive experiments that use affordable and approachable materials and are currently being piloted in a number of schools in Europe.
