In September 2017 in Barrancabermeja, Colombia, amateur astronomer Ronals Chinchilla Vélez collaborated with primary school teacher Farina Robles on creating a Solar System workshop using UNAWE materials.
A class of secondary school children from the school Liceo Nueva Generación engaged in activities and stories about the Solar System, the Sun-Moon-Earth system and learned how eclipses and seasons occur. The children learned to identify the movements of the Sun, the Earth and the Moon. Furthermore, they now understand the size of the Earth compared to the other planets. “These topics are very suitable for these students, who were about 7 years old.”
Exploring the Solar System in the classroom with Ronals Chinchilla Vélez.
Although it was not his first time teaching students this young, Ronals found it challenging to find the right words that the students could understand. “Perhaps children of those ages should be handled more with crafts than with theory.”
Hands-on materials aided Ronals in teaching the younger students about our wonderful Cosmos: “Resources from Universe in a Box, as well as the resources of Space-Awareness and the Earth Ball of UNAWE, helped in the demonstrations. We also used a model of the Sun-Earth-Moon system that I built myself.”
By using materials he already had, Ronals was able to organise this workshop for less than 4 USD, used solely for transport. He used materials from Universe in a Box, the Earth Ball and self-made materials. You can make a Universe in a Box yourself by using the Universe in a Box DIY Guide.
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