Maths-it is rocket science is a exciting course aimed at teachers of primary age children we’re presenting at Armagh Planetarium this summer. We will show teachers how to bring the wonders of the Universe into the classroom!

Image of earth and moon

Earth and Moon: This image was taken by NASA's NEAR probe as it flew by the Earth-Moon system in January 1998. We can show you how to make a scale model of these worlds in the classroom. (Image Credit: NASA)

Armagh Planetarium is pleased to announce ‘Maths – It Is Rocket Science’, a Summer Course for all primary school teachers.

By signing up to the course Armagh Planetarium Primary Teachers can gain key insights into using Space to develop numeracy skills. This course would be of particular interest to newly-appointed maths coordinators and may be especially beneficial to newly-qualified teachers and those seeking to add extra expeience to their CVs.

The European Space Education Office (ESERO) Ireland, is offering places for teachers on a 5 day professional development. The course ‘Maths – It is rocket science’ will take place at Armagh Planetarium, Ireland’s leading centre for astronomical education, between August 22nd and 26th.

The objective of the course is to assist participants in using teaching approaches that develop numeracy skills in an integrated way across the curriculum, specifically through science and geography, with an emphasis on the theme of Space. The focus will be on enquiry-based learning.

A limited number of bursaries to cover costs for teachers travelling to the course from outside the normal commuter range are available. The course will begin with hands-on sessions based around the Discover Primary Science and Maths activities, and participants will explore ways to improve their students’ mathematical skills while also gaining a further appreciation of the possibilities that exist in the science and geography curricula.

Having been developed using the International Space Station Education Kit from the European Space Agency (ESA) and in keeping with the course venues the Space and Astronomy related themes of the week will be explored in great detail. Armagh Planetarium is an accredited Discover Primary Science and Maths Centre and offesr curriculum relevant programmes for primary schools both on-site and through outreach programmes. Space is proving to be a key topic area in the teaching of science and maths to primary students and the range of on-site exhibits and facilities at Armagh Planetarium provide the perfect tools with which to learn more. This course will feature lots of hands-on demonstrations of activities and experiments to capture anyone’s attention.

For a course programme and course fee please contact Colin Johnston (Phone : 028 3752 3689, email: info@armaghplanet.com)

(This course is also being presented by our colleagues at Cork’s Blackrock Castle Observatory on 4-8 July 2011)


2 Comments

admin · June 10, 2011 at 20:16

Thanks for your good wishes, I’m really sorry you can’t make it (but remember it’s on in Cork in July too).

Knockloughrim Primary School · June 6, 2011 at 20:14

Wow what a fun opportunity. Sadly our teachers return back to school this week in August or I know at least one that would be there !! Best of luck with this !!!

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