Activities
- In Rio Grande do Sul: Throughout the year 2023 and 2024, except from May to August (due to floods), the project arranged biweekly meetings with classes, 2-hour meetings, with an average of 25 students per class. Students and teachers involved with the classes participate in reading circles and do extra class activities. There was no covid problem involved.
- In Salvador: classroom astronomy activities, conversation with astronomer, watched documentary on the Hubble Telescope, visit to the Energy Museum, reading done by the teachers, presentation of reviews of the books that children took home
- In Rio de Janeiro: presentation of the project, exhibition of the books, printing of the little book ‘novas atividades’, omnibus for the visit of two schools @the exhibition in the planetarium
- In Cape Verde: fortnightly astronomy discussions
- Presented 5 workshops for school on reading books in November 2023 and, in 2024, 3 others will be presented in November.
Outcomes
The major result of the project is certainly to distribute a specialized literature into several schools, focusing on black and indigenous issues. Brazil is a country marked by epistemic racism. In addition, based on the letters sent by the children, it is noted the importance of working, in a positive way, the self-esteem of black and indigenous children, who are disqualified in Brazil, frequently treated as not people. Physics and astronomy became, from their report, a possibility for students formation. One of the undergraduate students in astronomy, participant of the project, decided to develop her honours on the topics discussed in the project. All the teachers involved in the project are unanimous in reporting the positive impact of the project on their teaching practice, since many of the issues of astronomy and ethnic-racial inclusion go unnoticed in daily school practice. The teachers also report, in their testimonies, the key role of the project to encourage children to keep reading and writing; and also about the importance of the project for the training of teachers who will keep working in basic education.