Khagol # 125 - Jan 2020 - Eng & Hindi

| KHAG L | No. 125 - JANUARY 2021 | 08 IUCAA SciPOP in collaboration with the Astronomy Club, Department of Science Education, Samtse College of Education, Bhutan, organised a Workshop on Teaching Science and Astronomyon December 7, 2020, for teachers. The focus of the workshop was to introduce a few teaching methods in astronomy more efficiently. These included DIY hands-on astronomy and learning astronomy using easily available material. Samir Dhurde and Sonal Thorvewere the resource persons, andwas coordinated by the former. Workshop on Teaching Science and Astronomy Maitri Bhoogolashi In collaboration with the District Institute of Education and Training, Thane, Maharashtra, an online teachers' training was organised by IUCAA SciPOP, on November 18 and 20, 2020. This training was designed for Geography teachers. It involved theory followed by hands-on activities to teach astronomy concepts involved inGeography syllabus in high school. Different software and applications were also introduced to teachers to make Geography classes more fun and insightful. Around 200 teachers from Zilla Parishad schools in and around Thane participated in the training. Sonal Thorve was the resource person, who also designed and coordinated with the help of DIET, Thane. The language of communicationwasMarathi. IAUS367: Education and Heritage in the Era of Big Data in Astronomy An online, live interaction activity named, SciFun Zone was started from December 8, 2020, and it would be a 10 week long Toy Story with Science activity till the end of February 2021, with about 400 school students of classes 5 to 9 participating from home. This activity has been in collaboration with the schools in Goa. Every week two videos from the Toy Story series on our YouTube channel are sent to the students. The students get one week to listen to the stories, collect material and make the toys. All the students submit the videos of themselves making and playing with these toys in classroom, an online platform. Then, there is a weekly interactive session of one hour with the students, where team discuss more about the scientists in the respective videos, the toys and the science behind them. Every week a list of most interactive and innovative students is featured on the IUCAA SciPOP Facebook page. The school teachers evaluate the videos in the classroom every week. A winner is going to be chosen by the schools depending on the performance in these 10 weeks and he/she would also receive a trophy on February 28, 2021, the National Science Day. The activity is being coordinated by Shivani Pethe. SciFunZone