Bringing Science into Schools through Astronomy. Project ASTRO, Tucson

摘要

We report our experience in bringing science into US and French classrooms.We participated in the US scientific educational program Project ASTRO. It isbased on a partnership between a school teacher and an astronomer. Theytogether design and realize simple and interesting scientific activities forthe children to learn and enjoy science. We present four hands-on activities werealized in a 4th-grade class (10 yr-old kids) in Tucson (USA) in 2002-2003.Among the covered topics were: the Solar System, the Sun (helioseismology) andthe Galaxies. We also present a similar experience done in two classrooms in2005, in Chatenay-Malabry (France) in partnership with an amateur astronomyassociation (Aphelie). This is a pleasant and rewarding activity, extremelywell appreciated by the children and the school teachers. It furthermorepromotes already at a young age the excitement of science, and providesconcrete examples of the scientific methodology.