We are thrilled to present the remarkable achievements of the Science (SESIM) team at the Timor-Leste National Commission for UNESCO (TLNCU) in early July. TLNCU-SESIM orchestrated a project called “Strengthening the Knua Prátika and nurturing future astronomers for Lorosa’e land (Timor-Leste)”, to organize a workshop withthe theme Workshop for Developing Astronomy education for the future astronomers and scientists in Timor-Leste.
The workshop isspecifically designed for physics teachers at the high school level across thirteen (13) municipalities. This unique training, a result of the collaboration between TLNCU and Institut Teknologi Sumatra (ITERA) throughthe International Astronomical Union – Office of Astronomy for Development (IAU-OAD) funding, was attended by 30 participants composed of twenty-four (24) teachers and 6 SESIM/KNTLU team for five days from July 1-5, 2024.
Aims of the astronomy seminar such as:
- Improving the knowledge and skills of teachers in Timor-Leste about astronomy related to other primary science fields and local wisdom.
- Increasing the confidence of teacher to teach astronomy and science and making their teaching materials and activities.
- Increasing the connection of teachers between different municipalities to the Knua Prátika (KP) in their municipality to share ideas and experience.
TLNCU-SESIM hopes that teachers can share the knowledge that they learned with their students in the school. The SESIM team feels stronger because they can collaborate and expand the interesting knowledge that links to astronomy with the teachers. Together we can contribute in various forms to support the quality of science education in Timor-Leste.
Some of the exciting activities were introduced during the 5-day workshop, such as general concepts of astronomy, including local traditional knowledge and stories of Astronomy; meteorology, cloud windows, website and android application of weather forecast; creating the Sun Clock/Sundial (equatorial), introducing the website of shadow day in Timor-Leste; the coordinates of earth and space, by using sextant and inclinometer and GPS; moon phases; the relation between the moon and tides; operate the telescope for sky observation, sun spots, android application for sky observation, sky map, astrophotography, light pollution; eclipses, the website for tracking the eclipses; etc.
We are optimistic that the students from the participating schools will benefit from the topics that their teachers learned from this workshop. This hope for student benefits is a driving force behind our efforts to improve science education in Timor-Leste.
Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from one world to another. (Plato)
The most remarkable discovery in all of astronomy is that the stars are made of atoms of the same kind as those on the Earth. (Richard P. Feynman)
