DCDC17 | Using historical astronomical observations in school outreach - Royal Astronomical Society
Channel: ResearchLibrariesUK
Date: 20/12/2017

Comets and Caroline Herschel: using historical astronomical observations in school outreach activities

Sheila Kanani, Outreach, Education and Diversity Officer, Royal Astronomical Society
Sian Prosser, Librarian and Archivist, Royal Astronomical Society

The Royal Astronomical Society is committed to increasing its public engagement activities to promote the understanding of astronomy and geophysics, and seeks to use its collections as part of its outreach activities. This paper discusses the process followed by the outreach officer and the librarian as they planned a new primary school workshop about comets and Caroline Herschel, from choosing an audience to selecting an astronomer whose working papers could be related to current developments in astronomy, and deciding how to interpret the history and the science using primary sources, science demonstrations and drama.