Cardiff project gives the Universe to school children in a box

  Cardiff University has embarked on a project which reaches out to Welsh primary schools with the aim of inspiring a generation of scientists from areas traditionally underrepresented in higher education. Funded by the Welsh Government's National Science Academy, the Universe in a Classroom initiative will provide 100 schools from across the country with educational toolkits and training to enable teachers to make teaching astronomy and space sciences to 4-10 year olds effective, engaging and fun. "Despite the studies which have shown astronomy and space sciences to be among the most popular school subjects for kids around the globe, many teachers and educators don't know when to start bringing these topics into the classroom," said Dr Haley Gomez, an astrophysicist from the University's School of Physics and Astronomy, who leads the initiative with her husband, Dr Edward Gomez from the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network. She continued: "That's where the hands-on teaching resource 'Universe in a Box' comes in. The kit contains over 40 hands-on activities described in an activity book, as well as the materials and models required to do them. "We provide the necessary support for primary school teachers by offering training days where they can explore the contents of the kit and activity book. Many of the activities are linked to the national curriculum, so the teachers have training and high-quality resources, giving them confidence when teaching scientific topics they may be unfamiliar with.