34th Annual Report (2021-22)

82 ASTRONOMY CENTRE FOR EDUCATORS Teaching Learning Centre and National Resource Centre Refresher Course on Astronomy and Astrophysics The Refresher Course on Astronomy and Astrophysics (RCAA 2021) for college and university teachers, which was organized concurrently with the Introductory Summer School on Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSAA 2021), was held during May 10 – June 11, 2021. Due to the prevailing pandemic situation, RCAA was held online with the participants interacting via Zoom. The presentations were also live streamed via YouTube. About 200faculty members, and early career researchers from colleges and universities across the country were invited to participate. In addition to the lectures, which covered some of the basics and also many frontier areas of research in astronomy and astrophysics, there were a number of hands-on activities, which the participants could do at home. The participants conducted these activities in groups, which also facilitated their learning from one another. The activities included astronomy-themed experiments using gadgets available at their disposal, assignments based on Stellarium, an open source planetarium software package, and making pedagogical videos on astronomical topics they learnt during the course. The astronomy-themed experiments were based on understanding radio wave A section of the participants of the Refresher Course on Astronomy and Astrophysics