Published: 12th March 2025 09:28 (UTC)

The First Spanish-Speaking Central American and Caribbean Regional SHAW-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education was held between 6 – 8 January 2025 in person in Panama City, Panama. The workshop is being organised by the NAEC Panama Team, Universidad de Panamá, Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (SENACYT), and Fundación Ciudad del Saber in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) with generous funding from the Shaw Prize Foundation.

This Workshop was a 3-day event where we built new bonds among the participants and NAECs in the Central America and Caribbean area, shared our experiences on astronomy education, worked together on designing new activities, discussed new proposals and opportunities for the future projects, gain fresh and innovative teaching approaches and participate in different hands-on activities.

The National Astronomy Education Coordinators NAECs, science educators, teachers, and researchers working in astronomy education from Costa Rica, Cuba, República Dominicana, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Puerto Rico came together in this first Central America and the Caribbean meeting.

The program of the meeting consisted of best practices in teaching methods using astronomy activities inside and outside the classroom; challenges in astronomy education and curriculum examples from our countries; and co-design activities sessions to produce and test some resources.

This workshop will focus on the following topics:

• Best practices in astronomy education.
• Main challenges of astronomy education, specific needs of NAECs, teachers, and science educators of each country in the region.
• Programs, funding, and international projects to enhance the knowledge, skills, and expertise of NAECs, teachers, and science educators focused on astronomy education.
• Innovative techniques for teaching astronomy in formal and informal education; inquiry-based learning activities, game-based and playful learning activities in astronomy.

This workshop values and honours the unique and intersecting identities of each country around the Hispanic culture. As partners of this project, we were committed to the development of an environment in astronomy education that enables the full and active participation of any participant regardless of such factors as age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, cultural or linguistic background, geographical location, neurological or physical ability, religious or political beliefs, or their socio-economic or immigrant status.

For more information, please contact the organiser at adams.martinez​atup.ac.pa.

         

Contacts