By Story & photos by Stephanie Tumampos | Special to the BusinessMirror
HOW does one foster art and creativity in teaching astronomy and space science? In the recent Tareptepan 2015 Art and Music festival held at Costa Pacifica in Baler, Aurora, the question “How do you involve art in science?” was answered by a workshop that involved the Earth, technology and the rest of the cosmos.
The idea started when the main sponsor and organizer of Tareptepan 2015, former Sen. Edgardo J. Angara, wanted to include science and climate change in the workshops with a touch of art. Thus, astronomy and space science was included in the two-day workshop of the festival.
Astronomy and space science involves topics that range from the core of the Earth to the stars and the cosmos, the technology we use today and what is beyond the solar system.
The workshop started with showing the Earth through the Universe Awareness (Unawe) Earth ball. It was then used to acquaint the participants, which included students and a teacher. The use of the Unawe Earth ball gave importance to the only planet known to hold life. Many scientists are still looking for the possibility of life in other planets or celestial objects by finding water on its surfaces. So far, no explorations have given answers to theories of our origin. Are we really from the stars? Are we really made up of stardust?
Since the Earth is the only place that people can live in as of now, it is significant to address climate change. The workshop showed the different layers of the atmosphere and which layer starts to trap greenhouse gases that warms the Earth and changes the temperatures to another degree. This was shown with the use of salt, food coloring and an empty bottle of drinking water.
The next activity showed Newton’s three laws of motion in the principles of rocketry, where the participants were grouped into three and made their own water bottle rockets. The materials used were empty soda bottles, electrical tapes, clay and plastic bag for the water bottle rocket.
Nozzles, pump and a launcher were used to propel the rockets by using water as fuel and air as pressure. A quick demonstration of a free online desktop planetarium, Stellarium, was also shown to the participants so they could learn on how to navigate the night sky and the rest of the cosmos.
The workshop, besides teaching astronomy and space science, intended to make the students participate and learn more through interactive activities with the use of materials that can be seen in the kitchen. This was to improve the current classroom teaching and debunking the notion of buying expensive materials in order to teach science. Participants in the workshop gave their feedbacks.
“This was really a good day of discussing a lot of things. Experience is a lot better when students are involved with hands-on activities,” Janelle Bucud of Aurora National Science High School said.Alden Belen of the same school said, “I gained new knowledge, especially about astronomy, the cosmos, the basic applications of physics principles.
I hope there will be another workshop like this in the next Tareptepan festival.” The word Tareptepan was culled from the local word “tareptep,” which means ripples that are created with the slightest touch. The Tareptepan 2015 festival was participated in by hundreds of students from Baler. Workshops in painting, photography and voice lessons were also held.
Image credits: Stephanie Tumampos