International School Collaborations through the IAU Einstein Schools Programme
Abstract
The IAU100 educational projects celebrate the 100th anniversary of IAU and the 1919 Eddington eclipse expedition to measure the starlight deflection predicted by Einstein. One of the IAU projects, the Einstein Schools Programme has strong ties to the verification of the predictions made by General Relativity. The Einstein Schools Programme is designed to involve schools across the globe in exploring the role of gravity in modern astronomy. Students get the opportunity to be creative, draw connections from other subject areas of interest to science, and work together as a team. It is designed as well to capture the international collaborative spirit of IAU. More than 200 schools from 45 countries have signed up to form student and teacher teams to explore black holes, gravitational waves, and other gravitational phenomena. The project has a mentorship program that connects scientists to many of these schools. The mentor can help the teachers to more confidently explore gravity and astronomy topics with their students while serving as a role model to the students. In the programme, we have created a website with high-quality resources on gravity and astronomy. A newsletter is used to communicate regularly with the teams as they work to become certified Einstein Schools. We still have many challenges in working internationally and in creating collaborations. However, the significant successes of the Einstein Schools Programme in Puerto Rico in particular has given us many insights into how to expand and improve the programme. The Einstein Schools activities led by the University of Puerto Rico- Rio Piedras will be described and their applicability to the worldwide program will be discussed.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #235
- Pub Date:
- January 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AAS...23525208P