Khagol_115

No. 115 - July 2018 09 Astronomy Lectures at JVP participants later went on to conduct these activities with their students and arranged public programmes on the Zero ShadowDay at their own respective places. IUCAA SciPOP supported a summer programme in Basic Course in Practical Astronomy, organised by the Jyotirvidya Parisanstha (JVP), Pune, on May 17, 20 and 21, 2018. Lectures on Astronomy topics were delivered by IUCAA personnel: Samir Dhurde on Multi-wavelength Astronomy, Shivom Gupta on Exoplanets, and Akanksha Tiwary on Gravi tat ional Wave Astronomy. About 30 astronomy enthusiasts participated in and benefited fromthe course. Regional Workshop on Zero Shadow Day Teachers' Training IUCAA SciPOP personnel with the help of Rayat Shikshan Sanstha, Satara Region, organised a Teachers' Training Programme at Satara, during June 25 - 26, 2018, for science teachers from Zilla Parishad schools. About one hundred teachers from 13 Talukas of Satara District participated enthusiastically. These teachers discovered how basic concepts of Physics and Astronomy can be taught using simple hands-on activities. Sonal Thorve coordinated and conducted the training with the help ofMaharudraMate. The Central and Northern Regional Workshops on Zero Shadow Day were organised by ASI POEC at Mumbai and Raipur on April 21 and 22, 2018, respectively. These workshops were aimed to make formal and informal science educators aware of the very exciting astronomical phenomenon - the Zero Shadow Day - that occurs twice a year within the tropical latitudes. Samir Dhurde was the resource person at the workshop hosted at the Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, organised by the V + Chhatisgarh Vigyan Sabha. Sonal Thorve a ended the workshop hosted at Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Mumbai. They conducted sessions, introducing to teach astronomy using ro l e -p l ays and hands - on ac t i v i t i es wi th participants, who were mostly school teachers. The la er enjoyed ge ing to know this novel event and also the teaching methods that can be used to engage students in learning astronomy concepts. The hands-on activities included tracing the apparent motion of the Sun using shadow of a gnomon, and were we l l apprec iated. Al l