Universe Awareness (UNAWE) is an international outreach activity that inspires young children from underprivileged environments with the beauty and scale of the universe. UNAWE broadens children’s minds, awakens their curiosity in science and stimulates world citizenship and tolerance. Games, songs, hands on activities, cartoons and live internet exchanges are devised in partnership with UNAWE communities throughout the world for children from the age of 4 onwards. UNAWE enables the exchange of ideas and materials through networking and interdisciplinary workshops. Universe Awareness is imagination, excitement and fun in the universe for the very young.

Background

The International Office (IO) is in charge of coordinating the international programme. A National Action Committee (NAC) develops, implements and runs UNAWE in each partner country (see below).

Project development

Universe Awareness is expected to be implemented in 2009 in about 12 partner countries with additional activities taking place globally.

As of August 2007, the countries officially associated with UNAWE or in the process of becoming partner countries include Chile, Colombia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, The Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Tunisia and Venezuela. Materials developed internationally will be produced in roughly 8 languages, see timeline below.

In addition to this timeline, each partner country is planning national activities. Pilot projects are already in place in India, Spain, Tunisia and Venezuela. As of August 2007, UNAWE is being initiated in Indonesia, The Netherlands and Germany.

Deliverables

• Drawing the Moon competition: During 2009, UNAWE will launch a worldwide lunar observation competition for children between 4 – 10 years of age. The drawings will be published online in a way that highlights the variation of the inclination of the lunar crescent according to the point of observation. Participation will be made easy, as entries can be submitted in a number of low cost formats (incl. e.g. mobile phone photos of drawings or drawing sent by post)
• Online resources: All the resources described here will be made available online in electronic format. Each partner country will be encouraged to have their own website, which will contain materials, activities and news in their own language. Those sites will be publicised through the international website and through bi-monthly newsletters. The materials and activities to download will be replicated in as many languages as possible on the international website.
• Children’s books: UNAWE Children’s book will contain indigenous astronomical legends from around the world and science mixed in beautifully illustrated children’s books that lend themselves to story telling, acting, art classes, science classes and more for all age ranges between 4 and 10, and even beyond.
• Activity booklets for implementers: The UNAWE community from about 15 countries contributes an increasing number activities and models that are constantly updated and improved on, based on experience. UNAWE also collects songs, dances, artistic and creative activities children can engage in as well as scientific experiments, models and guidelines for observations and follow-up activities. The growing pool of UNAWE materials will be compiled into booklets of activities that will be illustrated, translated and made available on the UNAWE website
• Posters: Building upon the stories and illustrations developed for the book, the same material will be laid out in poster format, exploiting the grandeur that can be conveyed in that format. The posters will be beautiful, colourful, entertaining and informative. A sheet with complementary information, suggested activities and related games will accompany the poster. We aim at producing a series of 5 – 10 posters.
• Games: Games are an essential part of UNAWE. Games are an entertaining means to convey a number of values and a vast quantity of information. We have identified four categories: board games, card games, building games and role-play. Each has different requirements. In 2008 and 2009, we wish to design and produce 5 board games and 1 – 2 card games. Building games and role-play will be included in the Activity booklets.
• The Universe in a Box: Imagine opening a box that says “The Universe, Yours to Discover”... The idea behind the Universe in a Box (UiB) is that of a starting point for Universe Awareness activities. In order to achieve that, we will propose an “à la carte” database of ingredients, of which books, booklets of activities, models or instructions to build models, a CD-Rom with free software, a Galileoscope, an object of beauty, posters, games, etc. We will propose a number of template UiBs particularly suitable for certain environments and age ranges, and cover all topics from the moon to the universe.
• Cartoons: Entertaining adventure cartoons for young children on an astronomical backdrop of the most beautiful images of modern astronomy will be produced and localised into a number of languages and cultures. Between 2008 and 2009, we wish to produce a series of 5 animation films of 5 about minutes each.

Timeline

March 2008

• Incorporation of the UNAWE Foundation in the
• Netherlands
• Publishing of a ‘Join Package’ for interested countries
• India: IYA meeting, discussion of national UNAWE strategy
• Spain:

• Printing of the UNAWE children’s book
• Launch of the Spanish UNAWE resource website

April 2008

• Kenya: Initial training and visits to organisations followed by 10 days of implementation tests and by a second visit to debrief and draft a strategy.

May 2008

• First international bi-monthly UNAWE Newsletter
• Publication of Materials Workshop report
• Publishing of the 1st UNAWE activity booklet c v
• Indonesia: Star Party campaigns start again

July 2008

• 2nd UNAWE Newsletter

August 2008

• India:

• 2 – 3 day workshop for materials design
• Starting the collection of folk tales for an Asian UNAWE Children’s book.

• UNAWE International:

• Perseids Skypecast
• Launch of online UNAWE Materials database.

September 2008

• 3rd UNAWE Newsletter
• 1st UNAWE book
• 1st UNAWE board game

November 2008

• South American Regional UNAWE Workshop
• 4th UNAWE Newsletter

January 2009

• UNAWE International: 5th UNAWE Newsletter

February 2009

• 2nd UNAWE book
• 1st UNAWE card game
• 2nd UNAWE activity booklet
• 2 UNAWE posters

March 2009

• 6th UNAWE Newsletter
• Launch of the Drawing the Moon Competition

April 2009

• UNAWE Communities worldwide: Participation in the 100 Hours of Astronomy
• 3 UNAWE Posters

May 2009

• 4th UNAWE Multidisciplinary Workshop: Training and Implementation
• 7th UNAWE Newsletter
• 2 UNAWE board games
• India: Asia UNAWE Children’s Book available

June 2009

• Closing of the Drawing the Moon Competition
• 3rd UNAWE activity booklet
• 3 UNAWE posters

July 2009

• 8th UNAWE Newsletter
• Solar Eclipse Skypecast
• 3rd UNAWE Children’s book
• 2nd UNAWE card game

August 2009

• Perseids Skypecast
• 1st UNAWE animated cartoon

September 2009

• 9th UNAWE Newsletter
• Publication of the entries of the Drawing the Moon Competition on the website
• 4th UNAWE activity booklet
• 2 UNAWE posters
• 2 UNAWE board games
• Spain: Announcement of the winners of the Drawing the Moon Competition

October 2009

• UNAWE International: 2nd UNAWE animated cartoon

November 2009

• UNAWE International: 10th UNAWE Newsletter

December 2009

• UNAWE International: 3rd UNAWE animated cartoon

January 2010

• UNAWE International: 11th UNAWE Newsletter

March 2010

12th UNAWE Newsletter

4th UNAWE animated cartoon

May 2010

• 13th UNAWE Newsletter

June 2010

• 5th UNAWE Multidisciplinary Workshop: First results and evaluation
• 5th UNAWE animated cartoon

July 2010

• 14th UNAWE Newsletter

Contact Person

Project Website: http://www.unawe.org/

Files

	Newsletter March 2008 (.pdf format, 670 KB)
	Report from December 03, 2007 (.pdf format, 237 KB)
	Watch the video presented by S. Levin at the Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007 conference (.mov format)