Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter Bildung

Monday, 13 September 2021, 11:20   (virtual Edu)

astro-lab@home

Alexander Küpper, Sebastian J. Spicker
Gymnasium Frechen, HfMT Köln

Public interest in astronomical topics continues unabated, and the topics “stars”, “life in space” and “exoplanets” in particular fascinate young and old alike. With both teachers and students forced to stay at home, a major challenge now is to provide location-independent educational resources that work with what is available: smartphones and everyday materials. Since modern smartphones have many (accurate) sensors and (most) young learners already have a lot of experience with the devices, they make excellent tools. How astronomical analogy experiments with everyday materials can succeed at home in times of confinement is discussed in this contribution. As a further development or supplement to the original astro-lab at the University of Cologne, some possible experiments with smartphones and external sensors are presented in the subject area of exoplanets, which can be implemented (inexpensively) both at home and at school. Furthermore, a short preview of the astronomical board game "Stars and Stardust", which deals with the evolution of stars, will be given.