Hyderabad :
Interest in astronomy among city kids seems to be skyrocketing with various clubs observing growing participation of children in their projects.
Buzzing with ‘celestial’ activity, these clubs have gone beyond the routine stargazing outings and have created their own extension of traditional astronomy expeditions. Solar walks, astrophotography, history of astronomy are the latest add-ons to the clubs which seem to have caught the fancy of curious school kids.
‘Spaceadhyaan’, which promotes interest in astronomy among children, will mark the World Space Week starting Friday, and has tied up with city schools to conduct various astronomical programs. The week-long activities lined up include comet making competitions, workshops on mythology and stars and interactive orbital simulations.
The group has collaborated with NASA to upload videos of the activities as and when they take place in the city. The astronomy club of ‘Spaceadhyaan’ has gained popularity in the recent past and currently has a student strength of 500. “The interest in astronomy among children has swelled thanks to Indian astronauts making great progress in the field and recent occurrences like the mission to Mars,” said B Padma, director-member at ‘Spaceadhyaan’.
The Planetary Society of India (PSI) has also been trying to grab the attention of schoolkids by organising group sightings of celestial events. This week, the PSI will hold a three-day astronomy workshop for girl students from government schools to teach them basics of astronomy to boost their interest in the science.
Schools too are building their in-house space clubs to encourage interest in astronomy. Like NASR girls’ school, which sent 30 of its students to the US Space and Rocket Centre in Alabama last year, and regularly holds such events for students of its space clubs.
“The children were creating their own rocket models and exploring the insides of space shuttles as part of the project. It is heartening to see despite being one of the oldest sciences, astronomy still captures the fascination of children,” said Komal Singh, teacher at NASR.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad> City Schools / TNN / October 02nd, 2013