Wildflowers in the Sky
Astronomy for Mid West Schools
Project Outline
Wildflowers in the Sky is an educational project linking schools in the Mid West region of Western Australia with the CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility and other partner organisations to expand student understanding of astronomy. Students are engaged by hands-on activities and inquiry-based learning to observe the day and night sky using a range of technologies from the unaided eye through to remotely controlling telescopes via the internet. They actively collaborate with students in other schools and work with young scientists and educators from ATNF.
The Mid West region of WA is the site for next-generation radio telescopes being developed by Australian and international astronomers. These include MIRANdA and the MWA (MIRA Widefield Array). This site has also been proposed by Australia as the site for the SKA, the Square Kilometre Array, that would be the largest and most powerful and sensitive radio telescope in the world.
Partner Organisations
ASISTM projects require a collaboration of one or more non-school organisations with a cluster of several schools. All of our partner schools are located in the Mid West region of Western Australia but are separated by hundreds of kilometres.
Schools:
- Cue Primary School
- John Willcock College, Geraldton
- Meekatharra District High School
- Meekatharra School of the Air
- Pia Wadjarri Remote Community School
Other Partners
- CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility
- CSU Remote Telescope, (Charles Sturt University, Bathurst)
- Scitech, Perth
- WA Department of Industry and Resources
Other Links
Acknowledgements
Wildflowers in the Sky - Astronomy for Mid West Schools is a Round 2 ASISTM (Australian Schools Innovation in Science, Technology & Mathematics) project funded by the Australian Government through DEST. Additional support is provided by the various partner organisations and schools.
The material in this section has been written by Robert Hollow.