Space Science: UK and SA schools

Lisa Wright, University of Cambridge
conference logo

Overall plan
Term 1 follow-up work
Term 2 follow-up work
Term 3 follow-up work

This is a year-long videoconferencing project between two schools in the London area of the UK and two schools from the Cape Town area of South Africa and the University of Cambridge. We plan to hold six videoconferences between October 2004 and July 2005, connecting the schools with Cambridge - on Oct 21 and Dec 1, Jan 27 and Mar 15, Apr 28 and Jun 21, all conferences starting at 13.15pm UK time (so the Oct, Apr and Jun VCs will start at 14.15pm SA time, and the Dec, Jan and Mar VCs at 15.15pm) and lasting for between 1 and 1 1/2 hours.

The first VC of each pair will be an opportunity to develop a new aspect of the topic, with an interactive conference between Dr Lisa Wright of the Institute of Astronomy and the students. Students will be given questions to discuss and short tasks to carry out, and we hope they will also ask questions of their own during these VCs.

At the second of each pair of VCs, students will be asked to give a presentation of the work they have done since the previous VC, and answer questions from the other schools and from the speaker. Some ideas will also be given for students to think about further before the next VC.

Discovering Space

Astronomy picture of the day

During the videoconferences we will study the Solar System, the Milky Way and finally the Universe. On this journey, students will find out about some of the mathematical and scientific ideas involved.