Shaw-IAU Workshops by the OAE

Planetariums are key settings for science education and communication. They allow for the exploration of a wide range of astronomy topics and ideas. Usually, sessions are adapted and tailored to their public, and content plans are prepared and put in practice. But, at the end, what is exactly communicated during these sessions? What do guides and their audiences really talk about? To answer these questions, we video and audio recorded planetarium sessions, with minimum disturbance, in different Portuguese institutions. The content communicated in these live sessions was then analysed. In this talk we present preliminary results of the characterization of that content and explore its connections with the Portuguese curriculum guidelines, and the IAU guidelines for astronomy literacy.

About Joana B. V. Marques

Joana Marques is a researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences in Portugal. She holds a degree in Physics, and a Master and PhD in Science and Mathematics Education. Her studies focus on the practices of informal education and public engagement with astronomy, including observations of the sky, planetarium sessions and museum visits. Joana has also experience as a practitioner, working in museums, planetariums and other informal science education institutions, and she is a member of PLOAD - the Portuguese Language Office of Astronomy for Development of the IAU.