Shaw-IAU Workshops by the OAE

Astronomy means many difficult notions and the teacher must know the power of understanding of a child and to make space for real empathy and creative solutions. To achieve this the teacher must use intuitive models and experiments. I present a project achieved with my students about a travel in our Solar System. Why do we have to travel at first in a circular orbit? What is an escape velocity? What is a Hohmann transfer orbit? What is a launch window? These are some of questions the project answers. After many years of teaching I realize that most important are not the formulas, not the problems solving, not to use very sophisticated devices but to make students to imagine, to see or to visualize, using simple objects and if it's possible the objects they have in the classroom.

About Corina Lavinia Toma

I have doctorate in physics and I am physics teacher to Tiberiu Popoviciu" Computer Science High School in Cluj-Napoca. I followed a post university course on Astronomy at Babes-Bolyai University, an ESO-EAAE Astronomy Summer School in Garching and an ESA Summer School in Nordwijk . I am interested in Astrophysics and Astronomy teaching and from 2014 I was an instructor in many face to face or online NASE courses. I like to use active methods in my teaching lessons.

Watch a recording of this talk (external link)