2. newsletter

Dear reader,

This is the second newsletter dedicated to the transnational project STARS (Successfully Teaching AstRonomy in Schools) that publishing house of primary and secondary schools´ textbooks EXPOL PEDAGOGIKA ltd. has started to implement in November 2017 in cooperation with six other partners from three European countries – Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

This is the way how we would like to give you information about what we have done so far in the project, how are we continuing and what lies ahead of us.

We believe that together we will succeed in achieving our goal – to support the teachers teaching astronomy at lower secondary education. Various researches have shown the fact that in most education systems in Central and Eastern Europe, teachers struggle to highlight the interrelation of subjects due to lack of resources and sometimes even information on certain topics. This is extremely valid information with regard to the instruction of astronomy-related subjects.

Continue to follow us on the web and social media!

STARS partners

This project has been co-funded with the support of the Erasmus+ Programme, K2 action, Strategic Partnerships in School Education. Project Agreement Number: 2017-1-SK01-KA201-035344

The current publication reflects the author´s view only and neither the Slovak National Agency, nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

Since November 2017, the publishing house of primary and secondary schools´ textbooks EXPOL PEDAGOGIKA ltd. situated in Bratislava has started to implement the transnational project STARS (Successfully Teaching AstRonomy in Schools) whose aim is to support the teachers teaching astronomy at lower secondary education. There are six partners from three different countries participating at the project together with us – Slovakia, Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Our aim is to equip teachers with comprehensive methods and tools to improve their teaching practices, as well as concrete ideas of how to present a given topic in astronomy-related curriculum.

What have we done in the project so far?

At the beginning of the year 2018, partner schools from Slovakia, Czech Republic and Bulgaria conducted a survey among pupils and teachers at the lower secondary education to assess the level of their knowledge and skills regarding Astronomy. Based on the survey results, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen and Bulgarian Astronomical Society prepared a structure of the first intellectual output (O1) – Methodological Handbook for Teachers. They have been working on the first version of methodical materials during the first six months of 2018. This version will be presented to other project partners at the 2nd Transnational meeting in Pilsen. We have also prepared and distributed our 1^st online newsletter with the information about the project, its partners and planned activities to the wide database of contacts.

New partner has joined the project

There was an important change that has happened in the project STARS – the change of one of the project partners. Sofia High School of Mathematics “Paisiy Hilendarski” left the project and it has been replaced by the other school with the same education focus. The new partner of the project STARS has become High School of Mathematics Academician Kiril Popov from Bulgarian town Plovdiv. We are looking forward to further cooperation!

What is going to happen next in the project?

In the following period, we are going to prepare for the 2^nd Transnational project meeting which will take place in the city Pilsen on 20^th – 22^nd August 2018. At the meeting, partners from UWB and BAS will introduce the first version of created methodical materials (O1) to all partners and they will have the possibility to discuss and suggest improvements to authors. Based on these improvements and suggestions a final version of methodical materials will be created. During the autumn 2018, partner schools in each country will test and evaluate the methodical materials in practice.

Where can you find us?

More information about the project STARS and what is currently happening is available at our official webpage and at our Facebook profile:

• web: http://www.project-stars.com/
• FB: https://www.facebook.com/pg/project.stars.erasmus/posts/?ref=page_internal