Presentation at the Science Communication and Society Department, Leiden University. 24 April 2012 More information: www.unawe.org/vt2012/

1. Astronomy in
Timor Leste
Celebrating the Transit of
Venus 2012

2. Project description
 June 6th, 2012:
 The last transit of our lifetime
 Only visible in some parts of the globe, Timor Leste is
one of them
 Universe Awareness is using this opportunity to
organize several educational activities in the capital of
Timor Leste: Dili
 The activities range from teacher training workshops to
science exhibition and public observing event

3. Goals
 Inspire children with the wonders of the
Universe, making it a great stepping-stone that will
trace their interest in science, help them broad their
mind and stimulate a sense of global citizenship
 Motivate children to become scientists and
technologists of the future
 Invite a new country to be a part of the UNAWE-
community
 Use this project as the kick off event to a series of
astronomy events in this new country

4. Team Supervisor: Pedro Russo
Ainil Abdullah Carla Natario
•UNAWE
Science
PhD Writing
Astronomy Assistance
•MSc Research
in Astronomy
Cindy Gunawan Jaya Ramchandani
•MSc
Astronomy
and Science-
BA Dutch Based Business
Studies •UNAWE
Internship in
Business

5. Where is Timor Leste?

6. Why Timor Leste?

7. Why Timor Leste?
 Recent independence: one of world’s
youngest country
 New to educational practices in science in
general and astronomy in particular
 We are hoping to open new horizons for
young and bright children of Timor Leste to
pursue scientific knowledge for their country

8. Timeline

9. Activities
 Children Day  need your ideas!
 Teacher training: introducing local teachers to
astronomical concepts, with a focus to the
Transit of Venus
 School visits: engaging children into science
through fun activities and games.
 Talk at the National University of Timor Leste
 Science exhibition and transit observation
 Follow up meetings

10. Activities
Science exhibition:
 The Transit of Venus
 Our Solar System
 The Stars
 The Milky Way
 Galaxies

11. Supports
• Portuguese school • Portuguese Ministry of • Leiden Observatory
• Portuguese Embassy Education and Science • LKBF grant
in East Timor • Media coverage
• Media coverage
• East Timor Ministry of
Education
• Alola Foundation Others:
• Timor Newsline • AstroBookDrive
• Baader Planetarium
• EurAstro
• PCs4Kids
• Astronomy Without Borders
• ASEAN Education • Monash Science Centre • IAU Office of Astronomy for
section Australia Development
• Astronomy • CSIRO Astronomy and • NASA Sun-Earth day
Department of ITB Space Science • Global Painting Project
• Individual contributors

12. Contributions so far
 Local accommodation (Portuguese Embassy)
 Local logistics (Portuguese Embassy, TL government, ITB)
 Telescope (ITB)
 Solar goggles (EurAstro, crowd funding)
 Solar filters (Baader Planetarium)
 Educational books (Astrobookdrive, Gradiva)
 Laptops (PCs4Kids)
 Earthballs (UNAWE)
 Galileoscopes (IAU)
 Global Painting Project (Eric Chisholm)
 Sun-earth day NASA
 Universe in a Box (UNAWE)

13. We Need Your Inputs!
Especially on:
 Activities with children
 Activities with adults

14. Thank you!
Visit us at:
http://www.unawe.org/network/nati
onal/tl/
Email us:
info@unawe.org