Although astronomy is part of Brazil's national curriculum (BNCC, 2018), theoretical teaching alone struggles to build scientific literacy. To address this, Valongo Observatory's Astros a Serviço das Ciências created the National Moon Poetry Contest, linked to NASA's International Observe the Moon Night. Students from grade 6 to high school observe lunar phases and the Sun-Earth-Moon system, expressing that experience as poetry and fostering Science-Literature collaboration. Submissions from 2022–2023, analyzed with Python, revealed BNCC skill gaps, enabling free teaching materials. The 2025 edition reached 425 students in 8 Brazilian states. Results confirm that combining direct observation with artistic creation strengthens scientific literacy in a replicable university-school model.

Biography:

Roberta Milczwski Cosmala is an undergraduate student in Astronomy at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). She previously conducted scientific initiation research on synthetic photometry analysis of massive stars using Python, and currently focuses on science outreach and communication, with emphasis on pedagogy and astronomy education. She is an active member of the outreach project Astros a Serviço das Ciências, based at Valongo Observatory (UFRJ), where she contributes to educational activities throughout the year and to the National Moon Poetry Contest. She also works as a guide at Museu de Descobertas, an outreach programme of the National Museum (UFRJ).