Reach out

The WOW factor

Case Rijsdijk
Astronomer, educator and science communicator, South Africa

I really believe that getting people: teachers, adults, children to actually DO something is an extremely powerful communication tool. Running workshops for teachers and children is a great way to share your passion for astronomy in particular, but science in general. Over the years I have found that by getting both teachers and their students to actually make things is extremely rewarding. Being able to see a simple cardboard model showing the apparent path of the Sun across the sky, and seeing why it rises at different places in the course of a year invariably brings out a "wow"! Even something as simple as sticking an orange onto a pencil and using a torch for the Sun so that they can see the Moon's phases is amazing. When running workshops my experiences over the years have shown that the following are useful pointers to success.

• Make sure that you can make the thing or that the experiment or demonstration that you are doing works! There is nothing worse then getting youngsters excited about something and find that the experiment/demonstration doesn't work.

• If the participants are going to make something, try it out before hand and find out the tricky bits or where they might need some additional help - different age groups have very different abilities.

• Be organised; make sure that everything is laid out ready for them to start. Also make sure that all the work places have the same materials like scissors, glue, string or whatever is required. Arrive early and give yourself plenty of time to prepare.

• Explain what it is they are going to do, why they are doing and what it will show them when they are finished. Best to have a completed sample ready. Often I make the same thing as the workshop progresses so that the participants can see what the thing is supposed to look like at various stages.

• Lay out the table, benches or whatever, so that you can see everybody from one point - this means that they can see you too! This is important when you want to explain something.

• Encourage them to ask questions whenever they get stuck - you can tell them that you also had a problem here or there the first time.

I have found that there are many reasons why workshops are successful, but to me the most important one is that the children, teachers, whoever, actually get to take something home and there they talk about it: they can show their parents, siblings or children what they did and what they learnt.

Outreach is a powerful and valuable tool, whether it is a full blown workshop, an educational programme or just a simple night-time 10-minute chat, they are appreciated and remembered.

"A colleague who took a small telescope into the remote rural areas of South Africa, came back and said, "I have extremely powerful memories of excited children looking at the Moon in the clear Karoo sky through the 200-mm telescope, being able to name stars for the first time, and identify the constellations, there were lots of wows, oohs and ahs! Such experiences leave one with little doubt about the value of these projects"

Whilst doing open nights for the Observatory and some people are looking through telescopes, I find a little 'naked eye' astronomy works well, and for this a green laser of 15 - 50 mW is ideal and will certainly produce WOWS. The illusion of 'touching' the stars is a real winner and is something that people never forget. Often I get the chance to do an impromptu night time chat about the stars and the laser is indispensable: I carry it with me wherever I go - along with my cell-phone, wallet and diary!