North America Archives - IAU Office of Astronomy for Development

LightSound Devices Open Up Astronomy to BVI Audiences

Ram Venugopal — Wed, 15 May 2024 08:51:49 +0000

The LightSound Project had a goal of building and donating LightSound solar eclipse sonification devices to audiences along the October 2023 annular and the 2024 total solar eclipse path (USA, Mexico, Canada). LightSound is a device that uses a light sensor to measure the brightness of light and the device then converts it to sound [...]

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Workshops Build Solar Eclipse Sonification Devices

Ram Venugopal — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 11:13:13 +0000

The LightSound Project is building and distributing solar eclipse sonification devices across the United State, Mexico, and Canada in preparation for the upcoming October 14, 2023 Annular Solar Eclipse and the April 8, 2024 Total Solar Eclipse. The project runs workshops to teach students and adults how to solder while building devices that are then [...]

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Overview: LightSound Project: Accessibility for the Blind/Low-Vision Community

Ram Venugopal — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 09:51:50 +0000

The LightSound Project began in 2017 as a way to make solar eclipses accessible to the blind and low-vision (BLV) community. LightSound is a low-cost, smartphone-size device that uses Arduino technology to convert light intensity to sound, giving BLV people another way to engage with an eclipse. During the 2017 eclipse, we deployed 3 devices [...]

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Sonification Project Improves Science Engagement

Ram Venugopal — Fri, 06 May 2022 14:33:11 +0000

The SYSTEM Sounds project produced 9 Sonification videos (True Love Waits, Saturn Harp, Jupiter’s Moons, Black Widow Pulsar, Black Widow Pulsar (Narrated), Music of K2-187 Exoplanets, Light Curves of K2-187, Entire Light Curve of K2-187, Moon Impacts). The videos have been viewed over 185 000 times on YouTube and the project was featured on space.com, [...]

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‘DIY Universe’ Virtual Summer Program Enriches Learning During the Pandemic

Ram Venugopal — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 14:47:56 +0000

Families rely on summer programs to provide enriching experiences, a supportive community, and to address gaps in learning. Due to social distancing constraints during the summer of 2020, youth faced months of unfocused, unstructured time during which it was expected that learning gaps would expand between those whose families were able to provide alternative enriching [...]

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Astronomy Outreach Program Helps Native American Students

Ram Venugopal — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 14:48:47 +0000

The goal of the Native American Astronomy Outreach Program (NAAOP) is to help teachers to get their students excited about STEM and STEM careers. One component of the program is Book Club, used to increase student interest in STEM, but also student literacy. Native students generally read below grade level, and yet reading is a [...]

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Overview

Ram Venugopal — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 07:04:00 +0000

It’s been more than 150 years and until today, Indigenous people in Canada continue to endure hard conditions (higher rates of unemployment, poor education, bad housing, and poor job prospects). One of the key issues is the lower levels of education and the higher dropout rate in high school and university. The 2019 ACIP pilot [...]

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Activities

Ram Venugopal — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 10:36:32 +0000

The project: – Visited young indigenous people in Quebec, Wendake, and Trois-Rivieres: 3 presentations were organized to present astronomy, Indigenous astronomy, and the career of the first indigenous woman to obtain a PhD in astronomy – Visited the festival of popular astronomy in Mont-Megantic: 3 groupes reached this festival and visited the professional Observatory of [...]

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Overview

Ram Venugopal — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 08:58:17 +0000

Even though 150 years have passed, and despite government efforts to improve the situation, Indigenous people in Canada continue to endure hard living conditions, such as higher rates of unemployment, poor education, bad housing, and poor job prospects. Several government efforts have tried to solve the problem, but these programs had limited success rates. One of [...]

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McGill Physics Space Explorers Program: Final report

Ram Venugopal — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 10:33:08 +0000

The McGill Space Explorers program (formerly Adopt an Astronomer ) has become an established program in the community. We have a steady partnership with several local primary schools, with a focus on under-resourced schools. Pairs of volunteers from the physics department visit classrooms (grades 4-6, ages 9-12) on average 5 times over the course of the school year. During [...]

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