2. Educational Activities with the Faulkes Telescopes Dr Sarah Roberts

3. Ft FT Project began in 2001 with funding from Dill Faulkes Why? Inspirational projects in maths, science and ICT Address failing interest in these areas In 2005, FT project was taken over by LCOGTN as part of Wayne Rosings project to build a global network of robotic telescopes Now known as FT project in the UK and Ireland, and LCOGTN elsewhere in the world Projects in UK, Russia, Poland and Portugal….. Project History

4. UK Education FT/LCOGTN Initiatives: Projects and Activities Twinning schools in UK/US Themed Observing Days Portals - FANG and asteroids Teacher Training Online Training School-based Support Centres In schools: After-school Astronomy clubs GCSE Astronomy groups School workshops - Arts/Science week

5. Projects and Activities Introductory Activities Using the software Planning an observing session Simple imaging Worksheets Measuring impact craters in Google Earth/Mars Earth and Beyond Light and Optics Projects & Observing Programmes Asteroids Astronomical Imaging Galaxies Supernovae Themed Observing

6. Themed Observing Days Collaborative projects for a number of schools through the day Projects include: Mosaic of M101 Lifecycle of Stars poster Asteroid Rotation

7. Mosaic of M101 11 schools from UK, Russia and Poland each given 3 areas of galaxy to observe Schools could make mini-mosaic, larger mosaic completed at end of night

8. 10 schools from UK and Poland were given specific objects to observe which showed stars at different stages of their lives Schools could process their own images, as well as have their images on the final poster Lifecycle of Stars

10. Asteroid Rotation 10 schools from UK plus Hawaiian users observed 2 asteroids in one night Magnitude of asteroids were measured with Astrometrica and light curves produced

11. FANG (Faulkes Atlas of Nearby Galaxies) Asteroids Portals

12. Focus Group and School- based Support Centres Focus Group – group of teachers who give us advice on resources etc. Involved in Support Centre network Support Centres will work at a local, national and international level to help build a community of educators and observers 11 schools have asked to be support centres 1 fully trained and supporting users 4 currently undergoing training

14. Online Training Courses currently online: Introductory Courses Astronomical Imaging Coming soon…. Asteroids Lifecycle of Stars

16. British Council Projects 13 schools and education centres across the country SN follow-up program FT/LCOGTN in Poland

21. 24 schools in 5 regions 5 6 5 4 4 FT/LCOGTN in Russia

22. Ekaterinburg Approx. 120 school students and 30 university students participated in project. Imaging open clusters and star forming regions previously imaged in IR Successfully applied for time on 6-metre telescope for further observations

23. Moscow Extra-curricular study groups at the Astronomy Dept. of Moscow City Palace of Children and Youth Creativity Observed PNe in collaboration with other Moscow schools Presented work at: Qualification Improvement courses for Physics & Astronomy teachers Childrens Conference Moscow Region Astronomy Teachers seminar

24. Samara 4 schools Main aim - make and process observations of spiral and interacting galaxies 34 school students in total were involved Presented results at a number of conferences 1 st and 2 nd prizes given to students involved in the project at Samara Region Scientific Conference of Astronomy Students

25. St Petersburg Educational Objectives: Motivate study of Astronomy and Sciences Cross-curricular links (e.g. English language) Hands-on skills from Astronomy lessons Get students acquainted with research methods used in modern science Looked for double asteroids and double trans-neptune objects Carried out observations at Pulkovo Observatory due to school internet connection not working Students from 6 th and 11 th forms took part

26. FT/LCOGTN in Portugal Hunting for open clusters around O stars Developed in a Portugese High School together with NUCLIO and mentored by a professional astronomer Students conduct the project in class-time From a list of known O stars, students chose open clusters which would be suitable to observe before observing them with FTN

27. Number of Users In the UK we have: Approx. 585 schools registered, 40 in Ireland Overseas we have: Poland – 13 schools and education centres Russia – 24 schools Portugal – 4/5 schools Now registering users for archive accounts – no telescope time, but access to data archive www.faulkes-telescope.com