IAU Office of Astronomy for Education
National Astronomy Education Coordinator Team for China, Hong Kong
NAEC Annual Report – July 2022 to July 2023
Team Chair and Contact Person: Exodus Chun-Long Sit
(Internal Vice-President of Starrix, Hong Kong)
Professionalise Astronomy Education:
• Organized and presented at Hong Kong Science Festival 2023 (HKSciFest) Public Lecture by Hong Kong Space Museum, with “ASTROx Music: Protecting Our Starry Night: 20th Anniversary of International Dark Sky Week” - Apr 2023
• Presented at the 3rd Annual Conference of the African Astronomical Society (AfAS-2023) in South Africa, with “STEM+A@Astronomy: Teaching Astronomy by Building Blocks with Future Skills and Design Thinking”, 3rd African Astronomical Society Conference - Mar 2023
• Presented at RASreach 2023 education and outreach training event by the UK Royal Astronomical Society, with “ASTROx IDEAS: How to Integrate Astronomy Education into Interactive Classroom and Science Communication” - Jan 2023
• Presented at International Conference on Music Education Technology 2023 (ICMdT2023) by the Education University of Hong Kong, with “Learning Science through Music: Innovative Approaches on Composing and Rearranging Cantonese Songs into Popular Science Music Videos” - Jan 2023
• Presented at Astronomers for Planet Earth Symposium 2022 through Metaverse platform, with “STEM+A@Astronomy: How to Integrate Astronomy Education into Interactive Classroom and Social Innovative Project” - Dec 2022
• Presented at Communicators and Outreach Conference by UK Institute of Physics, with “ASTROx STEAM Education: Innovative Approaches for Science Communication and Public Outreach” - Nov 2022
• Presented at Global Hands-on Universe Conference 2022, with “ASTROxInclusion: Multiple Intelligence and Diversifying Learning in Astronomy Communication” - Aug 2022
• Presenter at Global Hands-on Universe Conference 2022, with “ASTROxTelescope: Teaching Astronomy by Building Blocks” - Aug 2022
Symbolic character 音樂天文仁 (ASTROMAN) for STEM+A@Astronomy project
Astro-Music Lecture about Night Sky on April 2023 at Hong Kong Space Museum
Provide Access to Good Resources:
• Published useful materials about astronomy education and dark sky advocacy in Hong Kong STEAM educational newspaper column “Sunny Campus” (around 10,000 copies for each publication) with topics including STEM+A@Astronomy, inclusive science communication, stargazing manner, Astro@Home, multiple intelligence and design thinking https://exodussit.blogspot.com/search?q=%E9%99%BD%E5%85%89%E6%A0%A1%E5%9C %92
Continued with the foregoing column, the most recent publications were related to Exodus’s expedition journey in the Arctic Circle (Sweden, Norway and Finland in the Nordics) in Jan 2023, such as the effects of Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) on the astronomical research on Aurora Borealis and comparison of the Bortle Scale in different Arctic regions
• STEAM Online Column in Metro Education Plus (one of the largest Hong Kong media) https://metroeducationplus.com.hk/35671/?fbclid=IwAR23McToKCFSaSm3VIYsWH4PgQi2d 3GsUkSL39kVSuaWe65G6n359Z003rU
Selected Episodes of the STEAM educational newspaper column “Sunny Campus” about the Arctic Expedition in the Nordics
Promote Astronomy in Curricula: (STEM+A@Astronomy Project in Formal Education)
• As a National Astronomy Education Coordinator (HK), Exodus founded Hong Kong Light Pollution Rescue Team and Starry Night Defenders, which are student-led social innovation teams aiming to raise awareness of dark sky and promoting popular science by approaches of taking practical actions and solving real-life problems.
It reaches more than 13,000 views and thousands of audiences with transmedia promotion. The teams also contributed and showcased in Dreamstarter Pitching Day, Dreamstarter Fair 2023, and the university's Coding and STEAM Fair 2023.
Starry Night Defenders
• Official Page https://dreamstarter.collaction.hk/s/StarryNight
• Curiosity Journey https://dreamstarter.collaction.hk/s/StarryNight/objective
• Light Pollution Rescue Team
• Official Page https://www.collaction.hk/s/lightpollution
• Curiosity Journey https://www.collaction.hk/s/lightpollution/objective
In the last few years, our STEM+A@Astronomy had designed more than 20 astronomical activities for primary students about night sky digitally and experientially via Design Thinking
https://dreamstarter.collaction.hk/s/StarryNight/objective/6815
https://dreamstarter.collaction.hk/s/StarryNight/objective/6814
OAE Networking:
• Poster Presentation of “ASTROx Sustainability: Student-Led Social Innovation Project Achieves Sustainable Development Goals” at 4th Shaw-IAU Workshop with proceedingsNov 2022
• Poster Presentation of “STEM+A@Astronomy: How to Motivate Students to Learn Astronomy?” at 4th Shaw-IAU Workshop with proceedings - Nov 2022
• Organized and presented a guest Lecture of “STEM+A@Astronomy: Learning Astronomy and Space Science by DIY Building Blocks” through the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Broadcast during the 100 Hours of Astronomy and World Space Week 2022 - Oct 2022
• Presented at IAU Office Meeting ( Office for Astronomy Outreach, OAO) at IAUGA 2022, with “Inspiration of IAU 100: New Approaches of Astronomy Communication (in Hong Kong) during COVID-19” - Aug 2022
• Presented at Scientific Session (Division C Meeting: Education, Outreach and Heritage) at IAUGA 2022, with “ASTROxSEN: Inclusive Science Communication on Interdisciplinary Astronomy Education and Outreach (Special Education)” - Aug 2022
• Presented at Scientific Session (Focus Meeting 2: Towards a World Standard for Dark and Quiet Sky Protection) at IAUGA 2022, with “Dark Sky without Borders: Besides Astronomers, How to Interact and Build Consensus with Stakeholders from Other Disciplines?” - Aug 2022
NAEC Hong Kong had explored different approaches and platforms with transmedia science communication, featured in television, radio broadcast, online media, newspaper columns and so on. The following links had included some of our efforts:
https://exodussit.blogspot.com
https://sitexodus.wixsite.com/astronomy
https://exodussit.wordpress.com
https://bit.ly/3uP8VcQ
Selected Featured about Astronomy Education and Public Education
From Jun 2023 STEAM Columnist about Astronomy Education in “Metro Education Plus” (新城教育+), Metro Broadcast Hong Kong
May 2023 Guest on Radio Programme “Climate Watcher” (大氣候) on Arctic Expedition in the Nordics about Aurora Hunting, Astrophotography and Dark Sky Approaches, Radio Television Hong Kong
Apr 2023
Guest on Radio Programme “筆請字來” (interviewing writer in each episode) about Exodus’s Popular Science Book “Decoding the Starry Night: A Guide to Stargazing and Astrophotography” , Metro Broadcast Hong Kong
Apr 2023 Guest Host of Radio Programme “Free as the Wind” (講東講西) on Science Communication on Dark Sky and Astrophotography, Radio Television Hong Kong
Oct 2022 Guest of informative TV programme “Now Report” (經緯線) about astronomical observation and night sky protection, ViuTV
Aug 2022 Guest Host of Radio Programme “Free as the Wind” (講東講西) on Stargazing Experience and Astronomy Education, Radio Television Hong Kong
For more information about being featured:
https://bit.ly/3pi8iZV
https://exodussit.blogspot.com