Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T11:02:18.987Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Astronomy education in Morocco–a new project for implementing astronomy in high schools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2006

Hassane Darhmaoui
Affiliation:
School of Science & Engineering, Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco email: [email protected], [email protected]
K. Loudiyi
Affiliation:
School of Science & Engineering, Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco email: [email protected], [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Astronomy education in Morocco, as in many developing countries, is not well developed and lacks the very basics in terms of resources, facilities and research. In 2004, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) signed an agreement of collaboration with Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane (AUI) to support the continued, long-term development of astronomy and astrophysics in Morocco. This is within the IAU programme Teaching for Astronomy Development (TAD). The initial focus of the programme concentrated exclusively on the University's Bachelor of Science degree programme. Within this programme, and during two years, we were successful in providing adequate astronomy training to our physics faculty and few of our engineering students. We also offered our students and community general astronomy background through courses, invited talks and extra-curricular activities. The project is now evolving towards a wider scope and seeks to promote astronomy education at the high school level. It is based on modules from the Hands on Universe (HOU) interactive astronomy programme. Moroccan students will engage in doing observational astronomy using their personal computers. They will have access to a worldwide network of telescopes and will interact with their peers abroad. Through implementing astronomy education at this lower age, we foresee an increasing interest among our youth not only in astronomy but also in physics, mathematics, and technology. The limited astronomy resources, the lack of teacher experience in the field and the language barrier are amongst the difficulties that we will be facing in achieving the objectives of this new programme.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

References

Gonzales, P., Guzmán, J.C., Partelow, L., Pahlke, E., Jocelyn, L., Kastberg, D., & Williams, T. 2004, Highlights From the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)2003(NCES 2005005), U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Also available at http://nces.ed.gov/timss/results03.aspGoogle Scholar
Ferlet, R., & Pennypacker, C. R. 2006, In: Heck, A. (ed), Organizations and Strategies in Astronomy, Volume 6, Strasbourg Astronomical Observatory, France. Astrophysics and Space Science Library Volume 335. ISBN 1-4020-4055-5. Published by Springer, 2006., p.275286CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radi, M., Marzouki, M., Essaghir, A., Abdelkarim, B., Jizar, A., 2004, Fi Rihab Al Ulum Al Fiziyaiya, Publisher: Es-ssalam Al Jadid - Addar Al Aalamiya lilkitab, Morocco.Google Scholar