For six-weeks, a group of interns brought the Universe in to the classroom. Working together, they reached hundreds of young students. From stars, solar system to constellations, many hands-on topics were explored.
Association internationale des étudiants en sciences économiques et commerciales (AIESEC) is the world’s largest student-led organisation, a non-profit, non-political platform for youth to enhance their skills. Universe Awareness (UNAWE) Sri Lanka is a programme dedicated to bring the joy and knowledge of the universe to children. Together with AIESEC Sri Lanka, Jayawardenepura Local Committee and UNAWE Sri Lanka launched the project ‘Universe in the Classroom’ where interns and volunteers will use the ‘Universe in a Box’ resources to reach out to young students to learn and enjoy basic astronomy with a hands-on approach.
The first phase of the project, named ‘Astrovaganza’ gathered 12 international and local students. It was coordinated by Thishan Pavithra, a student of University of Jayawardenepura and supervised by Thilina Heenatigala, coordinator of UNAWE Sri Lanka programme.
UNAWE Sri Lanka hopes to continue ‘Universe in the Classroom’ in more rural areas with collaboration of AIESEC.