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The Charles Sturt University Remote Telescope Project: Astronomy for Primary School Students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2013

David H. McKinnon*
Affiliation:
School of Teacher Education, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW 2795, Australia
Andrew Mainwaring
Affiliation:
School of Teacher Education, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW 2795, Australia
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Abstract

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The Charles Sturt University Remote Telescope Project aims to make available to primary school students and their teachers a simple-to-use telescope and CCD camera set up over the Internet. Access to the telescope is supported by a 10 week curriculum unit of Astronomy activities. The telescope is not a robotic device. It is controllable in real time with images being transmitted to the user also in real time. Visitors to the site are able to view what is happening at the telescope without being able to take control of it. This paper describes the project, the software control system and the related curriculum activities. Discussion centres around how to ignite students' and teachers' interest in science and how projects such as this one may lead to more exciting coverage of important topics in the primary and lower secondary schools.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2000

References

Brown, J. C. 1998, personal communicationGoogle Scholar