Galle Astronomy Workshop

An astronomy workshop was held in Galle (South) Sri Lanka on the 26 – 27 of March 2010 for students and teachers of Sacred Heart Convent. The workshop was conducted by Sri Lanka Astronomical Association as a part of UNAWE – Sri Lanka, Saturn Observation Campaign, Dark-Sky Astro-Tourism project and pre-Global Astronomy Month (GAM) program.

The workshop is one of the long running annual programs in Southern Sri Lanka and this is the 7th consecutive time it’s been held. About 150 students and 20 teachers participated in the workshop.

Below is a photographic report of the program.

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Officials of Sri Lanka Astronomical Association started the 3.5hours journey to Galle (South) at around 3pm.

It has become more of a tradition to stop at the beach on the way to South

Sunset

The students welcome the officials with roses

students at the opening ceremony

head teacher of the astronomical society of Sacred Heart Convent

opening lecture: Observational Astronomy by Thilina Heenatigala

Teachers enjoying the beautiful views of Saturn and Moon

for most it was the first time to view through a telescope

students lining-up to catch the glimpse of Moon and Saturn

The younger students performed astronomy themed dramas which was a brilliant way to educate the kids by kids.

lets launch a rocket!

"solar system family"

a group of students who performed the Solar System family.

From grades 7 to 9, there's little astronomy included in the local curriculum. To cover the whole curriculum a lecture was delivered by Dimuth Prasad.

Dimuth Prasad giving a talk

After the lecture a group discussion session was held. Each group discussed various aspects of astronomy.

intense discussion

Group discussion was followed by a Q&A session.





Back to observations. Students learned how to identify constellations using star maps.

the students gave souvenirs to the conductors

And as usual didn't fail to stop by the beach on the way back to Colombo.