Education

Education in astronomy occurs in many places, and is not limited to the classrooms of our schools. We believe that astronomy is the broadest of sciences, covering a spectrum that extends from the observation of our skies to affecting segments in the history of our human civilization.
For those who do not study astronomy, this will seem like an exaggeration. But it would be enough to just place a small bit of curiosity into the minds of people regarding this vastly important subject to see how this fascinating science generates a sense of wonder in all people, and thus make us realize that with a small spark any person is able to be encouraged into asking questions, each of which goes deeper and deeper until these questions become philosophical in nature.
In this section of our site we wish to offer several types of pedagogical resources, which range from basic classes in astronomy, to working and striving to understand the urgent problems facing of our civilization which are linked to our natural environment.

Resources for educators:	Astronomy Software:
Partnership Agreement Related to Science Engagement Opportunities for the NASA Mars 2020 Project	Stellarium (free)
In Support of Astronomy Education Research	Practical Projects:
The Arizona State University Infiniscope Project	Craters and Meteorites
Astronomy Education in the United States	The Reasons for the Seasons
Commercial Crew 2019 Artwork Calendar Contest	Experiments with a Software Defined Radio Telescope
Solar System Ambassadors (SSA) program	NASA: Activities for the Classroom
The Scientific Method: Steps, Terms and Examples (video)	Tomatosphere™ Seed Investigation
A Sickness Over The land	Link suggested by K12 student Sawyer and her teacher Olivia, from the “Summer Earth and Space workshop”: https://www.elevators.com/space-elevators-astronomy/
Astronomy Courses:	Light Pollution:
Bruce Betts’ Online College Intro Astronomy Course 2017	International Dark-Sky Association
Free Online Lectures and Courses for Astronomy	What is Light Pollution?
Astronomy – State of the Art	The Problems of Light Pollution
MIT Course: Introduction to Astronomy	Serious Effects of Light Pollution
Astronomy: Exploring Time and Space	Light Pollution Is Getting Worse Every Year. That’s Bad For Your Health
Dangers in astronomy:	Climate Change:
NATIONAL NEAR-EARTH OBJECT PREPAREDNESS STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN (pdf)	FOURTH NATIONAL CLIMATE ASSESSMENT
Anticipating the dangers of space	How the OISM Petition Project casts doubt on the scientific consensus on climate change (“30000 scientists sign against man made global warming”)
Safe Solar Observing	Climate Kids (NASA)
A Scary 13th: 20 Years Ago, Earth Was Blasted with a Massive Plume of Solar Plasma	The Discovery of Global Warming
Frightful Nights Under the Stars	Four degrees of separation: lessons from the last Ice Age
Exploding Stars: Is Earth at Risk?	The World Passes 400 PPM Threshold. Permanently
Earth impact hazard	What’s the Difference Between Weather and Climate?
Is the Universe Too Dangerous for Lif e?	Next year or the year after, the Arctic will be free of ice
How dangerous is space debris?	Climate risks heat up as world switches on to air conditioning
Asteroid Impact – Could we save the Earth in time ?	The EPA’s Climate Change Page Is Just Gone Now
	Why air conditioning is a vicious circle
How to:	Climate Change and dangers to life
The AAVSO Solar Observing Guide	Insect collapse: ‘We are destroying our life support systems’
Visual Observing Manual	What’s happening to the oceans’ phytoplankton?
	Phytoplankton Population Drops 40 Percent Since 1950
Planet definition:	Scientists Warn Multiple Overlapping Crises Could Trigger ‘Global Systemic Collapse’
What is a Planet?

How you can help us? What we need?
You can help in many ways, even as an active volunteer! Or with non-monetary donations, by donating telescopes, computers, binoculars, microscopes, tablets, and anything that can contribute to any child’s education and happiness. You can also serve as an essential supporter for students and teachers, like as a transcribers for video translations and close caption. If your skill is to speak more than one language, feel free to assist translating, including sign language. And if you want to add and improve your technical knowledge, you are welcome to manage our website. If you are a law student, you can improve your knowledge and help with all the problems that a private foundation can find in their way.
And finally, of course, you can help us with money. Any amount it’s going to be really appreciated!

We just introduce a petition:
We encourage you to read and sign it. It’s about the constellations of low earth internet satellites (including Starlink) and the pollution of the night sky; this is a common interest for all of us. We intend to send this petition to all the companies and CEO’s. We need all your support! Please use this link to sign it:
Call to Internet satellite constellations companies to prevent the pollution of the night sky, and to help and collaborate with astronomers.
Don’t forget to talk about to your friends and family, thanks!
(Para ver la peticion en español haga click aqui)

There are even some stars so remote that their light will reach the Earth only when Earth itself is a dead planet, as they themselves are dead, so that the living Earth will never be visited by that forlorn ray of light, without a living source, without a living destination. Often on fine nights when the park of this establishment is vacant, I amuse myself with this marvelous instrument (telescope). I go upstairs, walk across the grass, sit on a bench in the Avenue of Oaks, and there, in my solitude, I enjoy the pleasure of weighing the rays of dead stars.”

Villiers de L'Isle-Adam

The importance of this issue is not in dispute: there is no doubt about the effects that global warming is already causing in society, and more importantly, in nature.
IGAEF announces its partnership with “GW from Miami” to focus on this important issue. GW from Miami is a channel in Spanish, aimed at Latinos in both the USA and Latin America, and has its own Facebook page and YouTube channel. On this channel, weekly hour-and-a-half talks are given on the climate crisis, with scientific news and clarifying comments on what is presented. The level of the talks is for the general public, which makes it easier to understand the details and causes of the climate crisis, regardless of the educational level of the listener.
The broadcasts on the Facebook page are live on Sundays at 8 pm (Eastern time in the USA) and the videos are recorded there and then edited and published on the respective YouTube channel.
We invite you not only to attend the talks (where you will have the opportunity to adequately document the topic, and to ask any questions about it) but we would also appreciate your help in spreading the word about the channel and supporting it with your likes and subscriptions.

We are thrilled to announce our first journey to help kids who love science and education. Your donation will be a great way of adding an asset to a curious child. IGAEF will create an event in a selected school to give away the tablets on your behalf. We and the kids thank you in advance for supporting their education. The tablets will have downloaded kid friendly applications of Astronomy, Math, Geography, Physics, Chemistry tools, and science in general. Please go now to the button “Donate” on the left of this page and help us in this cause!

Citizens Science Projects right for you:

Join the science projects for people like you, and help science to discover new things!!!

CosmoQuest: Help them make maps of our Solar System.

SETI@home is a scientific experiment, based at UC Berkeley, that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data.

The Zooniverse enables everyone to take part in real cutting edge research in many fields across the sciences, humanities, and more. The Zooniverse creates opportunities for you to unlock answers and contribute to real discoveries.

NASA’s CubeSat Launch initiative (CSLI) provides access to space for small satellites, CubeSats, developed by the NASA Centers and programs, educational institutions and non-profit organizations giving CubeSat developers access to a low-cost pathway to conduct research in the areas of science, exploration, technology development, education or operations.

Project PHaEDRA: Smithsonian Digital Volunteers; Transcription Center. At Harvard College Observatory (now the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), women computers studied glass plate photographs of the night sky…

Einstein@Home: a program that uses your computer’s idle time to search for gravitational waves from spinning isolated compact objects (among which are pulsars) using data from the LIGO gravitational wave detector.

SCOPE: At SCOPE, you have the opportunity to explore this topic by observing stars, comparing their features to those of the Sun, and classifying them. Many of these stars have never been classified; you can be the very first person to measure the temperature of a star! This is discovery in the purest sense of the word.