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Francesco's Legacy in Education and Outreach

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Francesco's Legacy in Education and Outreach Mem. S.A.It. Vol. 88, 509 c SAIt 2017 Memorie della Francesco's legacy in education and outreach P. Boncinelli1 and L. Casetti2;3 1 I.S.I.S. “Gobetti-Volta”, via Roma 77/A, I-50012 Bagno a Ripoli (FI), Italy e-mail: [email protected] 2 Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universita` di Firenze, and INFN, sezione di Firenze, via G. Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy e-mail: [email protected] 3 INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, I-50125 Firenze, Italy Abstract. Francesco has always been keen on sharing scientific knowledge with the public, in schools and in public events. We recall some aspects of Francesco’s outreach activity in the later years and highlight his legacy in this field. 1. Introduction – experimentation and development of new teaching methods; Besides being a renowned researcher and uni- – support in finding of both national and versity professor, Francesco was really pas- European funding, in order to improve and sionate about sharing scientific knowledge enhance the scientific equipment available with the public, coherently with his view of in schools, and to develop specific projects science as part of the broader human culture. in the field of astronomy. Everyone who witnessed a public conference delivered by Francesco knows how talented he In recent years, a number of secondary was, and speaking of all of his important con- schools in the Florence area have been in- tributions in this area would require too many volved in these activities, mainly, but not pages. Hence we shall concentrate on the later only, Licei specialising in scientific studies. years only, considering first his activity related Structured courses in astronomy, as well as to schools, and later the outreach activity for specialised seminars on specific astronomical the general public. topics, have been held by university profes- sors and researchers. Besides, some important 2. Education projects were devoted to the training and the updating of secondary school teachers. Some Francesco has carried out several activities examples are described here. in schools with the collaboration of his col- leagues at the Arcetri Observatory: 2.1. “Astronomy from four perspectives” – specific courses for students; (2013–2016) – diffusion of the most recent results of sci- entific research; This project was developed in the framework – exchange of experiences between univer- of a bi–national collaboration between Italy sity and school teachers; and Germany. It was organized by two Italian 510 Boncinelli & Casetti: Francesco’s outreach universities (Florence and Padua) and two 2.2. “Light from stars” (2014–2016) German ones (Heidelberg and Jena), with the financial support of the “Wilhelm and Else In 2014 the ISIS “Gobetti – Volta” (Bagno Heraeus Foundation”, a German non–profit a Ripoli – Florence), the Liceo Scientifico foundation committed to promote research and “L. Da Vinci” (Florence) and the Department training in the natural sciences, particularly of Physics and Astronomy of the University of physics. The project was addressed to high– Florence, with the essential cooperation of the school teachers and teacher students in astron- Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory (INAF), de- omy and physics, and it was a sort of frontier veloped a two–year joint project aimed at in- crossing in several respects. It included con- troducing secondary school students of the last ventional elements, but, in addition, it led to a two years to the fundamentals of photometric horizontal exchange between participants from and spectroscopic analysis applied to astron- different countries and cultural areas, and to a omy. The project exploited innovative teaching vertical exchange between participants in dif- methodologies, involving both school and uni- ferent phases of their teacher education or pro- versity expertise, and, for this reason, was co– fessional life. All members were exposed to founded by the Italian Ministry of Education precious experiences and a broadened view on (MIUR) as “initiative for the diffusion of their tasks in practical school teaching and aca- the scientific culture” (project PANN14T2– demic education. 00906). The program consisted in a 4–year cyclical The main phases of this project consisted series of training seminars, each year focused in: on a different subject area in astronomy and as- trophysics. Participants attended a number of seminars locally at their seat, followed by a 7- day final meeting in summer, held in rotation – a basic theoretical course on photometry at one of the four organizing nodes, according and spectroscopy, with applications to as- to the specific expertise of each University: trophysical investigation and research; – observational stages at some Italian obser- vatories (Arcetri, Loiano, Asiago); – experiences of Virtual Observatory (VO) 2013 – Cosmology: University of Heidelberg; at school, exploiting public astronomical 2014 – Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN): databases available online; this phase re- University of Padua; quired also a specific training of school 2015 – Gravitational Wave Astronomy: teachers by university researchers; University of Jena; – purchase and development of scientific 2016 – Birth of Stars and Planetary Systems: equipment suitable for school laboratories University of Florence. (portable telescopes, spectrometers, digital cameras,...). A number of 15 members for each node at- tended the four final meetings. Furthermore, during this project, a group of Due to his long–term experience in re- students from the ISIS “Gobetti–Volta” had the search and teaching, Francesco was one of the opportunity of visiting the astronomical site leading promoters of this international project. of La Palma (Canary Islands, Spain) and the He both followed all the organizational phases Italian “Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG)” and took part as a lecturer in several seminars facilities, interacting with the research staff as well as in the annual meetings. working there (Fig. 1). The visit was organized As a consequence of the great success of with the crucial support of Francesco, who un- this first 4 year project, a second edition is in expectedly departed just a few weeks before it progress. took place. Boncinelli & Casetti: Francesco’s outreach 511 least, to enhance the overall cultural prepara- tion of students, and, consequently, to develop their critical abilities and skills in any branch of knowledge. The last one, in particular, repre- sented a key point in Francesco’s commitment in schools, and not only, considering his per- spective of astronomy as one of the fundamen- tal components of human culture. 3. Public outreach Speaking of Francesco’s contributions to pub- Fig. 1. “Gobetti–Volta” students visiting the TNG site (April 2016). lic outreach in the later years, a remarkable event we can start with is the end of the world. More precisely, the would-be-end-of- 2.3. “Astronomy” as a school subject the-world as predicted by the Maya prophecy to occur on 12-21-2012. On that (cold and wet) Trying to carry on Francesco’s example and night Francesco invited the public to the ter- heritage, the ISIS “Gobetti–Volta” has set up a race of the Arcetri observatory to discuss to- school project which introduces “astronomy“ gether with the astronomers about the possi- as an optional curricular subject in its Liceo ble ways the world could really end, astro- Scientifico, from School Year 2017/2018 on. nomically speaking. The observatory was so Students attending such classes are going to crowded that people had to be rejected at the follow a 60–hour per year course, for the whole doors, and incidentally the world did not end. 5–year secondary school duration, which will A successful outreach event requires both ideas deal with the study of astronomy from a multi- and organization: one of the main teachings by disciplinary point of view, considering its sev- Francesco was that outreach, just like scientific eral cultural aspects. research, is a collective endeavour and talent As a consequence, the scientific and tech- alone is not sufficient, you need good organiza- nical approach to the subject, traditionally fol- tion too. To this end, Francesco was one of the lowed in both Natural Science and Physics promoters of the Associazione Astronomica study plan, will be placed side by side to Amici di Arcetri (AAAA, or the four A’s), modules of Italian and international literature, where Arcetri researchers and staff, University as well as Latin, History, Philosophy, History professors and other people interested in sci- of Art, concerning astronomical subjects. The ence communication gathered and that man- role of English as the communication language aged the outreach activity of the Arcetri obser- in modern science will be highlighted, too. vatory in the last decade. Francesco soon be- Additionally, extensive experimental activities came not only the president, but the heart and will be carried out outside school at several as- soul of AAAA. The four A’s are one of the tronomical and observation sites, with the help many things that Francesco left us to take care of professors and researchers of the University of and grow. of Florence and the Arcetri Observatory, who will also support school teachers in their edu- 3.1. The Sky Theatre cational work. This project has a twofold aim. First of The natural arena of AAAA activities has been all to arouse the students’ interest increasing the Teatro del Cielo (the Sky Theatre), a Greek- their preparation in scientific subjects, in par- style theatre
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