Practise what you teach

The ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre is currently under construction at ESO headquarters in Garching, due to open to the public in 2017. As well as providing engaging shows and exhibits for both students and the public alike, it will also provide support to educators seeking to make astrophysics engaging in the classroom. As part of this mission, the ESO Supernova team are providing Teacher Training workshops, and these events are already successfully up-and-running, in the build up to the Supernova's opening. On 1 July 2016 high-school teachers and other educators gathered at ESO headquarters for a day-long Teacher Training on Kepler’s Laws and Modern Astronomy. Participants engaged in introductory talks with workshops exploring enquiry-based methods for studying those scientific concepts. They were also provided with educational material for use in the classroom.

Here educators put into practise the classroom activities provided by Cecilia Scorza, a doctorate from Haus der Astronomie and ESO, during her interactive lecture and workshop “Kepler and the search for a second Earth”.