The SkyWatch 2006 Astronomy contest is opening on Monday 20th of March 2006. SkyWatch Astronomy contest is an initiative that began in 2005 in the framework of the SkyWatch project with the support of the European Commission (European Science Week). This year contest is co-organized within the framework of the DSpace project, a project under the e-Ten program of the European Commission and the PENCIL project with the support of the European Distance E-Learning Network (EDEN) and the European School Network (EUN).
Teachers and students are invited to design lesson plans based on the use of unique astronomical archives that will be available from the DSpace Library (www.discoveryspace.net) and implement them in their classroom. Teachers will have to prepare a report to be send to the organizing committee of the SkyWatch contest. The important dates of the Contest are:
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Deadline of Submissions (1st Phase): 20th of April 2006
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Announcement of the 30 Best Projects: 1st of May 2006
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Deadline of Final Submissions (Second Phase, 30 Best Projects only): 26th of May 2006
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Announcement of the 10 best projects: 2nd of June 2006
The 10 best projects will be invited to be presented to the Science Teachers Conference in CERN on 15-17 of June 2006, organized in the framework of the PENCIL project. The costs of the travel and the accommodation of the winners will be covered by the organizing committee.
The finalists in Athens last year
For more details about the rules of the contest, examples of good practice, information about last year’s winners, submission forms are available in the DSpace Web portal (www.discoveryspace.net). Sample scenarios are already uploaded in the portal where also teachers can utilize their observations through the DSpace network of robotic telescopes. You can also find usable information about the contest in German and French in the Xplora portal at www.xplora.org.
