Teachers demonstrate the lunar phases at Wrexham training session.
The Universe-in-a-Box has been handed out to the first batch of Welsh primary school teachers!
On Wednesday 12th March, 18 teachers from across North Wales gathered at the University of Wrexham for a “Primary Science” CPD event; a day of astronomy activities and science education training with the Universe in the Classroom and AstroCymru educational projects; from rocket launching to demonstrating the phases of the Moon and the seasons.
The teachers travelled from their primary schools all over North Wales, including Anglesey, Bangor and Wrexham. Each teacher took a Universe-in-a-Box back to their school where it will be used with students aged between 4 and 11 years; to inspire them with the Universe, give them an opportunity to put to work their scientific investigation skills and teach them some fundamental science.
The Universe-in-a-Box can be used to teach children about the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, the Constellations and the Solar System; plus the activities can be transferred to art lessons, English lessons, Geography lessons and History lessons.
The day of training allowed primary school teachers to familiarise themselves with the materials in Universe-in-a-Box, practise the activities, plan science lessons using the resource and ask questions. Training events with teachers from such a range of schools and regions offer the added benefit of networking: sharing of ideas and best practise.
Teachers from Anglesey at Universe in the Classroom teacher training
The teacher training event in Wrexham was the first of many to be run by the Universe in the Classroom project over the next year. If you are a welsh primary school teacher and are interested in taking part in the project and receiving a selection of free, high-quality educational resources, please contact us at unawe@astro.cf.ac.uk.
This “Primary Space” CPD event was organised as part of another National Science Academy-funded STEM education project, “AstroCymru”, based at the University of South Wales (info@astrocymru.org.uk), and teachers were funded by Enthuse grants administered by Techniquest Cardiff (for more details contact andrea@techniquest.org).
