“Astronomy has a potential to encourage a greater interest in
scientific careers among the youth.” Minister Naledi Pandor
• The interest in astronomy is growing greatly in South Africa.
• Our aim at ACRU, UKZN is to take astronomy to as many people as
we can.
• By working together we will be able to achieve this at a more rapid
pace.
• The strength in any country are the youth.
• All youth, especially disadvantaged youth need to understand the
opportunities that are available to them in South Africa and
internationally when they choose astronomy and related fields as a
career path.
ASTRONOMY OUTREACH AT UKZN
• The outreach programme at UKZN was
implemented in May 2008.
• Since then the programme has grown
significantly.
• Our aim was to put in place workshops, career
days and programmes that will spread the word
of astronomy at different levels.
• We focus largely on both primary school and
secondary school learners and we also have an
outreach programme that we run for the
university communities and the public.
VISIT TO IUCAAPUNE, INDIA
• In 2009 we visited the Inter-University Centre
for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune, India.
• Whilst there we were able to interact with
disadvantaged schools in rural areas.
• We were also able to learn how the astronomy
outreach programme in IUCAA was run.
• From there we set up programmes at ACRU.
• Different workshops and career days were
implemented to introduce astronomy more
widely to learners, teachers, students and the
public.
• During the visit to IUCAA we also understood the
importance of making use of materials around us
to help promote astronomy.
• A lack of resources was not option for us not to
be able to promote astronomy.
• Staff at IUCAA were able to make telescopes for
children using plastic pipes used for plumbing.
• This motivated us to look at ways to get
astronomy resources that did not cost anything.
• By making that initiative we are now able to
leave behind some resources such as
worksheets, posters or games at schools we visit.
VISIT TO IUCAAPUNE, INDIA
• We aimed to recruit students into our undergraduate programme for which
we teamed up with the SKA.
• To recruit these learners we held workshops that targeted learners who
excelled in Mathematics and Physics.
• Our first learner was awarded a bursary in 2009 and she has since graduated
with her undergraduate degree and is currently pursuing her honours.
• The programme started with one learner in 2009 and in 2012 we now have a
total of ten students in our bursary programme.
ACRU CAREER WEEK
• In order for our undergraduates to excel we
put together a programme that’s structured
to assist them with:
-Tutoring (Over and above university
tutoring)
-Examination and test revision
-Vacation projects
-Mentoring
• Students are recruited into this programme
even if they are not awarded a bursary.
• Should they have an interest in pursuing a
career in Astrophysics or related fields they
are also given the opportunity to join the
UIP.
UNDERGRADUATE INTERNSHIPPROGRAMME (UIP)
THIRTEEN STUDENTS IN 2012 OUT OF WHICH 10 ARE BURSARY HOLDERS AND 3 ADDITIONAL STUDENTS HAVE JOINED OUR UIP PROGRAMME
ONE STUDENT IN 2009
• One of our most successful workshops
is the Astro Art workshop that targets
grade 4 to grade 9 learners.
• This workshop was implemented in
order to teach learners, especially in
disadvantaged schools, about basic
astronomy.
• The idea for this workshop came about
after visiting the rural schools in Pune,
India were it was evident that learners,
even at such a young age, were
interested in learning about space.
ASTRO ARTWORKSHOP
• Resources are left behind at
schools for teachers to use
when teaching the astronomy
section of the syllabus.
• This assists teachers when it
comes to explaining simple
facts to learners.
• We also collect resources by
writing to different national and
international research
institutions and companies. We
team up with many of them to
promote astronomy.
ASTRO ARTWORKSHOP
• All these companies and
institutions have assisted us
with sponsorships and material
that has assisted us in
promoting astronomy at ACRU.
• Sponsorships range from
chocolates, t-shirts, caps,
posters etc.
• We look for products within
companies such as Beacon and
Cadburys that can team up
with astronomy. For example,
the Astros chocolate or Mars
bars.
BUILDING ASTRONOMY RESOURCES
Our future objectives include:
• Increasing the area of outreach to include more children especially
from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Increase the number of graduates of Mathematics and Physics at
UKZN.
• Creating workshops that equip teachers with the necessary skills to
further promote astronomy education at both primary and tertiary
school level.
• Establishing stronger relationships with both local and international
research units and universities.