Funded Projects
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- COVID19
- Other Projects
Solar Powered Foot-activated Hand Washing Water Dispensers (Kenya)
Two astronomy students from Meru University of Science and Technology (MUST) have developed a foot-activated hand washing dispenser with a motorized valve that is solar-powered. The device will improve safety during the COVID-19 crisis and is likely to prompt pupils to wash their hands more often as they marvel at the operation of the device. In addition, this will provoke their curiosity regarding the sun as the source of energy and the working principle of the device. The project team plans to fabricate and distribute the handwashing kits to 4 public schools around Meru University of Science and Technology with the average capacity of 500 pupils each
Teacher Training on Teaching Science (Physics) and Mathematics using Astronomy and Astrophysics (Uganda)
The project will continue the training of teachers initiated by the Network for Astronomy School Education (NASE) training in 2019. The training be conducted online and the teachers will be supported with materials and mobile data
Development of online astronomy lessons for students in Ghana (Ghana)
The materials available can be accessed by all people who are interested in astronomy and are not within our group of students and pupils, hence providing a wider outreach
The project will develop online lessons in astronomy and share with students through social media. The lessons would be deployed weekly and questions and feedbacks from users addressed. Lessons will include, a virtual tour of the 32-metre radio telescope at Kutunse, in Accra, hands- on- activities, introductory and intermediate topics in astronomy and techniques like teaching students python programming and applicable software.
New Planetarium shows in the era of Coronavirus (Arabic speaking countries)
The project will produce a series of new original planetarium shows in Arabic. These five shows will be in the various fields of science, physics, biology, chemistry, earth sciences and computer science, but connected by astronomy. In addition, educational brochures on astronomy and sciences will be developed and distributed to the public attending the planetarium shows. The content will be gender neutral and in fact motivate girls to pursue science careers by introducing fitting role models whenever possible.
Starlore Film Production
With APA being one of the main sponsors together with National Research Foundation (NRF) , the Stalore Film Production is to produce a short (~6 minute) full-dome planetarium show about African Starlore, featuring various cultures and languages of southern Africa. The plan is to release a ‘flat’ 2D version of the fulldome film to be playable on all standard screens. In addition to local planetaria, this film will be distributed free of charge to the network of 4250 planetaria worldwide to celebrate our African Astronomy heritage on a global stage and to develop a global sense of Ubuntu: we are all under one sky.
This project has a massive potential impact considering that each year over 140 million people visit the 4,250 planetaria of the world. Furthermore, by ensuring that mobile planetaria across South Africa are able to show our film and the potential of additional translations beyond this project, we can expand our reach to even more diverse and remote audiences.
The film will be largely (>60%) animated and will include multiple stories based on traditional Khoi and San starlore. An example of one such story is a potential fulldome version of ‘Moon’s Message’, produced by the SAAO and African Tongue (see English version here: https://youtu.be/ciLoIwznC6Q). "Moon's Message" is one of three African Starlore animations recently completed by the SAAO and African Tongue. The animations are currently provided in four languages: Khoekhoegowab, isiXhosa, Afrikaans and English with hopes to expand these offerings in the future into additional national and minority languages. The project will be released at the end of May 2021.