The European Association for Astronomy Education (Abstract)

Volume 35 number 1 (2007)

M. Reichen

Abstract

(Abstract only) The still very young EAAE (officially founded in November 1995) is an association grouping astronomy minded “educators” (teachers, professional and amateur astronomers, etc.) whose main goal is the development of the place and role of astronomy teaching at various educational levels. An executive council of nine persons is in charge of the large-scale cohesion of the association, while two standing committees (financial support, communication network) and seven working groups (astronomical concepts, didactic materials, training of teachers, student projects, planetarium links, research on teaching materials, and public education) form the structure through which each member can contribute to the association’s actions. Each one of these groups is “multi-national” (members come from over twenty countries in Europe and elsewhere), and thus the adopted structure favors the emergence of an international network of teachers, one of the EAAE’s primary concerns. Different projects have been achieved or are on the way of achievement (such as the AOL “astronomy on line,” the creation of a summer school for teachers, simultaneous observations of solar and lunar eclipses by students all over Europe, development and testing of didactic material, etc.) partially showing the great educational potential of the EAAE.