Khagol_114

No. 114 - April 2018 17 LIGO-India Education and Public Outreach: The LIGO-India EPO (LIEPO) effort has been formally launched in February 2018, and is now hosted at IUCAA. Several activities have been started by the associated team. It has an online presence on Facebook and twitter aswell (@LIGOIndia). Science and astronomy workshops were conducted in Podar International School, Hingoli on March 12, 2018, and at ZP Girls High School, Hingoli on March 13, 2018 as a part of LIGO-India Education and Public Outreach. These events were for the students of classes 6 - 8. Ankit Bhandari and Rupesh Labade (both from IUCAA) were the resource persons for the workshops, and Bhooshan Gadre (IUCAAResearch Scholar) also interactedwith the students in special talks. He explained his journey until now, and also spoke about research as a career option and the essential traits needed. South Region Workshop on Zero Shadow Day: Sonal Thorve was a resource person at the workshop organised by the Tamil Nadu Science Forum and ASI POEC, at Pondicherry, during March 10 - 11, 2018. She was part of a session on role play in astronomy education. Astronomy Lecture: As a part of the summer camps organised by Muktangan Exploratory, Pune, an introductory lecture on Astronomy was delivered by Shivom Gupta on March 26, 2018. About 50 school students attended and enjoyed the session. Science Toys Demonstration, Sky-watching: Members of IUCAAPublic Outreach team visited the social projects: Lok Biradari Prakalp (for the development of tribal people), at Hemalkasa, Gadchiroli District, Maharashtra, and atAnandwan (a community rehabilitation centre for leprosy patients and the disabled from downtrodden sections of society), Chandrapur District, Maharashtra. OnMarch 29, 2018, with the help of local teachers, the teamorganised and conducted science toys demonstrations and sky-watching sessions for the tribal students of Lok Biradari PrakalpAshram Shaala. About 600 students from classess 1 to 11 participated, enjoyed the activities and interaction. On March 30, 2018, the team conducted the same activities for students with special needs aswell as for residents ofAnandwan.About 100 participants enjoyed and appreciated the activities. LIGO-India Education and Public Outreach