UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA, PHYSICS DEPARTMENT AT THE COMMONWEALTH AFRICA YOUTH CENTRE
Event Name:
BASIC SPACE SCIENCE SEMINAR FOR HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS TEACHERS
Event Description:
This was a seminar organised to prepare high school Physics teachers to organise some events at their respective schools and to encourage them to use the week to teach space physics in class.
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Report on the Results:
The seminar was officialy opened at 08:30 hrs local time by Prof. D Theo, University of Zambia . It end at 17hrs with presentations of certificates to participantnts. It was expected that participants would organise WSW events during the week at their respective schools. 12 high schools from different provinces of Zambia participated in the event We had renowned speakers drawn from the University of Zambia. Notable was Prof. P.C. Jain, UNESCO Chair in Renewable Energy and Environment. He talked about issues of climate change. His presentation was inspiring as he looked at the history of the work in climate change of the Energy and Environment Research Group (EERG) of the University of Zambia which he leads.He highlighted some of the publications, the teaching of climate change at the university and the future plans in postgraduate studies. He then looked at global warming: causes, projections, impacts, mitigation and adaptation. Dr H.V. Mweene, the Head of Physics Department, presented amazing information on general space science that left every one looking for more and wishing the seminar could continue one more day.The other presentation on Space Science Applications was done by Mr. Hansingo K, a specialist in the area of atmospheric modelling. He looked at space in general, the earth's atmosphere,weather, communication and magnetic data acquisition systems (MAGDAS). My presentation (Prospery C. Simpemba) was on Space Science Groupings where I introduced a number of organisations and their activities. Among these were the UNOOSA, UNCOPOUS, Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), World Space Week Association, Space Generation Zambia Chapter (SGZC) and the Astronomical Society of Zambia. The seminar broke into small groups to discuss the teaching of space science in high schools in Zambia and each group came to give a report through a chosen raportuer. Finally, we discussed activities for World Space Week at which it was agreed that the participating schools would organise some functions to celebrate WSW 2008. The participants requested that the seminar should be an annual event. It was the first time that Zambia was participating in World Space Week activities. Towards the end of the seminar, Mr N. Mwiinga led the delegates on a conducted tour of the newly installed University of Zambia Magnetic Observatory equipment. Report by PROSPERY C. SIMPEMBA, WSW National Coordinator - ZAMBIA e-mail: pcsimpemba@yahoo.com