Project report Ad Astra Academy is a unique project that brings the excitement of exploration to students in poor regions of the world. We exploit curiosity, an essential human trait, to promote inquiry-based learning and unlock their potential. 20 kids from Rio de Janeiro’s City of God favela were selected to participate and, through a […]
Category Archives: Latin America + Caribbean
A documentary based on the project was screened at the Borrego Springs Film Festival. More information at: http://www.borregospringsfilmfestival.org/2019festival/2018/12/6/the-mars-academy The Mars Academy Director: Hank Leukart Four scientists travel to Brazil’s City of God, an impoverished Rio de Janeiro neighborhood, where they spend two weeks in a local school teaching kids about science. There, they surprise the kids […]
Behold the Sky is an ongoing project that consists in lending solar PST telescopes and education material (AstroKits) to teachers that are also trained in solar astrophysics topics. The project offers pedagogical advice for the teachers on how to perform empirical science activities with their students. The project acts mainly in regions of socio-economic vulnerability, […]
“Amazon: Celebrating Astronomy” is a proposal to include the Amazonas in the celebration of the following dates: 50th anniversary of the arrival of man on the Moon, Centenary of the IAU and Eclipse of Sobral-Prince. Throughout 2019, this proposal will make use of the digital planetariums, telescopes (solar and nocturnal), pedagogical laboratory of Astronomy and […]
Ad Astra returned to Rio de Janeiro’s City of God in July of 2018, to continue the mission of inspiring young explorers to pursue their curiosity using the theme of planetary habitability. Partnering with the Instituto Presbiteriano Álvaro Reis (INPAR), the Ad Astra curriculum followed a 1-week format, culminating in a capstone project using data from NASA’s […]