I haven't blogged for a week or so, mainly because the work is picking up and things are getting hectic. Next week we take a trip to UCLAN and I am very much looking forward to that. What I am most pleased about is that we have secured a further contract to deliver our service, this time to one primary school over the course of three days in May. We are very excited to be working with this particular school and I personally look forward to meeting the pupils. If they are anything like the pupils we have encountered so far they will no doubt be fund to work with and a pleasure to be around. The schools in Burnley have a wealth of talent in them, perfect for educating our way out of recession. I look forward to the day when students begin to graduate from universities they attended because we inspired them to pursue academia, and in particular the sciences.
Tune
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Showing posts with label Astronomy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Astronomy. Show all posts
Busy Busy, Busy
Man I have been busy recently. Funding applications left, right and centre, teaching, planning, stargazing, researching, cycling wherever I can. The summer is coming and things are looking good. This week was another great week for teaching. We covered the most requested subject Beauty in the Universe receives, Black Holes. Getting across to students the weirdness of these objects is quite a challenge, and I hope they got it. Even more so as I now know that they read both mine and Erica's blog.
I'm watching you kids.
I kid of course. I am planning to shift our programme slightly and cover the end of all things next week. This will allow me to talk about the conservation of nergy, thermodynamics and entropy. Stay tuned as that should be a pretty barking mad lesson conducted partly in the yard, weather permitting of course.
Some may have noticed I frequently post a song at the end of my posts. Music is a fine wonder, so this week I sign of with a classic of American pop/rock, the mighty Toto performing 'Africa' live. Read More!
I'm watching you kids.
I kid of course. I am planning to shift our programme slightly and cover the end of all things next week. This will allow me to talk about the conservation of nergy, thermodynamics and entropy. Stay tuned as that should be a pretty barking mad lesson conducted partly in the yard, weather permitting of course.
Some may have noticed I frequently post a song at the end of my posts. Music is a fine wonder, so this week I sign of with a classic of American pop/rock, the mighty Toto performing 'Africa' live. Read More!
Fun and Funding
This week was another new taster session. We took our wares to Hapton Primary School and once again our taster session about star formation, abiogenesis and proplyds went down a storm. These kids were great. They were full of questions and once again I found myself surprised by the intelligence they displayed in their questioning. I was not surprised to find smart kids, but there are questions and then there are questions. The most rewarding thing is when we see a student starting to use inductive reasoning, often showing the ability to infer intelligent answers from various propositions we present to them. I was so impressed by a couple of students who were able to employ induction and a sort of young strain of syllogistic logic to ask intelligent questions. This was pleasing not only because of the questioning, but also because the questions suggested certain premises had already been dismissed prior to formulating the question. Now that WAS exciting. When a child has been educated to a standard sufficient to allow them to self-educate intelligently then that child is equipped well for the academic challenge. I am in no doubt that there were at least a couple of future scientists in this school.
The session went down, as I say, very well and it is always great when the teachers and learning support staff are as engaged in the lesson as the students. This is often the case with astronomy as it is rare and also almost transcendent and numinous in parts. The best sign of a good lesson is when we are told to shut up! The students would have questioned all afternoon but inevitably the wider curriculum came rushing in. How thrilling it is to have the students chatter our ears off from beginning to end.
Other good news is that the Awards4All funding application we previously had rejected looks as though it will be approved upon reapplication. I am not the expert on this sort of thing, that is Erica's forte, however, it seems that a minor detail was incorrectly stated or interpreted and clearing it up will allow us to go ahead. That will be great result if that comes in, allowing us to buy significant resources for educating.
A great song. Read More!
The session went down, as I say, very well and it is always great when the teachers and learning support staff are as engaged in the lesson as the students. This is often the case with astronomy as it is rare and also almost transcendent and numinous in parts. The best sign of a good lesson is when we are told to shut up! The students would have questioned all afternoon but inevitably the wider curriculum came rushing in. How thrilling it is to have the students chatter our ears off from beginning to end.
Other good news is that the Awards4All funding application we previously had rejected looks as though it will be approved upon reapplication. I am not the expert on this sort of thing, that is Erica's forte, however, it seems that a minor detail was incorrectly stated or interpreted and clearing it up will allow us to go ahead. That will be great result if that comes in, allowing us to buy significant resources for educating.
A great song. Read More!
The Society For Popular Astronomy
Today we are pleased to announce the formation of a formal partnership with The Society for Popular Astronomy
I have been a member for a year or two now and we are excited to be able to use their endorsement and their influence in schools. We look forward to introducing our students to them and to seeing us work together for the benefit of UK education.
If you are from a school and would like to know how the SPA and Beauty in the Universe can contribute to your educational efforts then please email us and we can send you some information. Read More!
I have been a member for a year or two now and we are excited to be able to use their endorsement and their influence in schools. We look forward to introducing our students to them and to seeing us work together for the benefit of UK education.
If you are from a school and would like to know how the SPA and Beauty in the Universe can contribute to your educational efforts then please email us and we can send you some information. Read More!
Young Astronomers and More Progress
This week has been a very good time for Beauty in the Universe. We have secured a further funding award from CVS in Burnley and we have hatched a plan to create a club for young astronomers, with the working title 'Little Beauties'. This means more work of course, but fruitful labour rather than a chore. I will build a separate website where children can get updates, learn to stargaze and download/watch videos about astronomy.
Things are going well and we are experiencing small scale successes that are already beginning to add up to a very substantial whole. Our next goal behind the scenes is to secure enough funding to lease office space and fund two full time positions that we can guarantee for at least twelve months, and then after that we will create two internships for school leavers. In schools the goal is to do an excellent job on our first contract.
In the long term our goal is to prove Centre for Cities wrong. We could not have made a better start. Read More!
Things are going well and we are experiencing small scale successes that are already beginning to add up to a very substantial whole. Our next goal behind the scenes is to secure enough funding to lease office space and fund two full time positions that we can guarantee for at least twelve months, and then after that we will create two internships for school leavers. In schools the goal is to do an excellent job on our first contract.
In the long term our goal is to prove Centre for Cities wrong. We could not have made a better start. Read More!
Beginnings
Beginnings is the de facto theme of 2010 for Beauty in the Universe. It sort of came about by accident really, but beginnings it is. We have begun our search for funding in earnest and have agreed several sources already, as always these things seem to take forever. We have begun a partnership with UCLAN, home of some of the smartest people I have ever met. We will work with them and their facilities to give students an experience to remember. We have something of a partnership with Sir Patrick Moore; he has sent us a letter of commendation. We have provisionally agreed to work with the Society for Popular Astronomy and that brings with it a connection to Jodrell Bank, a place I have been aware of for as long as I can remember. For five months' work, I think that is pretty damned impressive. We are now moving on to talking to Queen Guitarist Brain May, whom you may not be aware is a renowned astronomer and an expert on interstellar dust, and Sir Richard Branson who has recently founded Virgin Galactic.
Yesterday featured more beginnings. I delivered our first ever session in a local primary school to a class of forty year six students. The theme was... BEGINNINGS! The session featured an introduction with some cool pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope - that was such a joyous experience, to see how thrilled and utterly enthralled they were. We then conducted an experiment, followed by a long and in-depth discussion on the subject of Abiogenesis which was then neatly closed with the Clutching Stardust video. After that it was on to planetary accretion. We talked about Proplyds, nebulae and the creation of the Solar System. They lapped it up and I could have gone on all afternoon and they would have been fascinated.
Chalk one in the 'plus' column for Beauty in the Universe. Read More!
Yesterday featured more beginnings. I delivered our first ever session in a local primary school to a class of forty year six students. The theme was... BEGINNINGS! The session featured an introduction with some cool pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope - that was such a joyous experience, to see how thrilled and utterly enthralled they were. We then conducted an experiment, followed by a long and in-depth discussion on the subject of Abiogenesis which was then neatly closed with the Clutching Stardust video. After that it was on to planetary accretion. We talked about Proplyds, nebulae and the creation of the Solar System. They lapped it up and I could have gone on all afternoon and they would have been fascinated.
Chalk one in the 'plus' column for Beauty in the Universe. Read More!
Reaching Further
Yesterday was another pitch, this time delivered to Extending Schools Coordinators from across the region of Lancashire. This gives us the potential to extend our reach massively and the exposure can only be beneficial. The pitch was well received, particularly by a couple of the coordinators and we are starting to forge something of a small reputation, which is nice. At least people think our pitches are good and the phrase 'Clutching Stardust' is becoming iconic and memorable in a small way. We simply need to capitalise on this now and deliver the great experience we know we can. Despite this all happening relatively quickly we are dying to get on with this. This coming Tuesday I will be attending my son's school to deliver a session that will give them something of an idea what to expect, and that will be great. As soon as people see how mind-blowing this is then the sky is the limit. Erica and I are united in our belief in this.
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Genesis
So this is the first post, not only on this blog, but on on any of the Beauty in the Universe blogs. This comes after three months of planning, pitching and preparation, none of which was paid I might add. The good news is that all of this has gone very well and there is plenty of interest for the service we offer to schools. We have verbally agreed upon our first contract, to deliver sessions to a cluster of five primary schools in Burnley and then take a group of children away on a summer camp to Cumbria. The logistics of this will prove a challenge, and in the hands of lesser people this would be a problem (translation: I have no idea how I am going to do it). None of that matters though. We have got this far and are beginning to see the fruits of our labour.
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