Glen Mackie, PASA, 17 (2), 113.
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Title/Abstract Page: STaRS: Space science Teaching
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Introduction
STaRS, (www.vuw.ac.nz/
mackie/STaRS.html) the Space science Teaching and Resource Site, was a pilot programme developed by astronomers and educators at Carter Observatory and was funded by the Science and Technology Promotion Fund of the Royal Society of New Zealand. This fund supports activities that promote science and technology as offering rewarding education and career options; and enables public debate to be informed by and about science and technology. The preferred target audiences of the fund are (in order of priority) 1) children aged 8 to 12 years of age and their key influencers: parents and teachers; 2) senior secondary students and their key influencers: parents, teachers and career advisors; and 3) the general public. STaRS is targeted at the first and third classes of these preferred audiences. Carter Observatory already provides an astronomy education service (Leather et al. 1998) for visiting school groups. Some pre-existing classroom activities have been modified for use in STaRS, new activities have been developed and existing activities on the World Wide Web (hereafter the Web) have also been selected. STaRS was also developed to increase the visibility of New Zealand astronomy and astrophysics programs and research to all New Zealanders. In October of 1998 the professional astronomy community of New Zealand presented a 10 year strategy, "New Zealand Astronomy and Astrophysics in the first decade of the new millennium", (summarized in Cottrell and Mackie 1998), to the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology Foresight Project. One of the main strategy recommendations was "Improved public promotion and outreach" that included closer links between the professional astronomy sector and New Zealand astronomy educators, and improved outreach of research and technology results to the public, education and industry sectors. The Web is a powerful tool for astronomy education and promotion. New Zealand is an ideal country for its use due to a number of contributing factors. It has one of the highest per capita levels of Internet connectivity (both public and schools); since 1995 astronomy has been an integral part of the national schools curriculum (Leather et al. 1998) at all levels; and it has a poor level of research funding in comparison to similar population and socio-economic countries (Cottrell and Mackie 1998). Recent related articles about the Web include Pasachoff (1998) on its role in astronomical teaching and Mackie (1999) on its efficient use and resources useful to New Zealand astronomers. STaRS version 1.0 was released on the 31st March, 1999. STaRS version 2.0 was released on the 30th of June, 1999 (the end date of the Science and Technology Promotion Fund contract) and includes design and content changes based on user comments over the 3 month life of version 1.0. Next Section: STaRS Astronomy Activities and
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