Speaker
Description
Communicating astronomy to underserved communities is an adventure that requires collaborative efforts among stakeholders to ensure its goals are achieved. In Nigeria, our project team has conducted several outreach programmes and workshops to advance astronomy development in underserved communities and achieve the SDGs. These underserved communities include the rural regions, correctional facilities (prisons), and special needs. This project adopted the cascade approach for scalability and knowledge diffusion. From 2024 to date, this project has organised seven educator training workshops and twelve outreaches. The project team has visited four correctional facilities in Enugu and Anambra States, reaching over 350 inmates. To ensure inclusivity for students with special needs, the project team has organised workshops at selected tertiary, secondary, and primary institutions. The target audience determines the learning goals, approach and workshop activities. The project lecture and hands-on activities (including tactile and Braille) are centred on the pale-blue dot, the observable universe, the birth and death of stars, solar system planets, the working principles of telescopes, stargazing, cultural astronomy, and astronomy for mental health. This initiative has reached a total of 2,450 participants with a gender ratio of 55% female and 45% male. The project impacts were assessed using quantitative and qualitative methods. Adopting the use of pre- and post-assessment methods, there has been a significant 50.2% increase in understanding about astronomy post workshops and outreaches. The average post-assessment of the project activities showed a 76.2% interest in STEM among participants. The overall assessment of the objectives of the project has shown 79.6% success. There is a need to cover more geopolitical regions across Nigeria. The development of astronomy in these underserved communities is vital to fostering a greater understanding of the universe and inspiring future generations of scientists.
| Stream | Education, Development and Outreach |
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