Khagol Bulletin # 132 (Apr 2024) - ENG

| 12 | KHAG L | No. 132 - APRIL 2024 The core idea of the workshop was to revisit the various astronomy concepts taught in schools, discuss pedagogical approaches, and explore the basics of astronomy. The sessions were delivered by various resource persons from IUCAA and Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE - TIFR). The Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) Center India organised a two-day Teacher's Training Workshop on 16 and 17 February 2024. The workshop was targeted towards school teacherswho teach grades 5 - 10. In particular, there were sessions on phases of the moon (conducted by Moupiya Maji, IUCAA), eclipses (Sai Shetye, HBCSE), seasons (Asmita Redij, HBCSE), tides (Pritesh Ranadive, HBCSE), solar system (Prasad Adekar, IUCAA), lifecycle of stars (Surhud More, IUCAA), the scales of the Universe (Moupiya Maji, IUCAA), upcoming space missions (Kshitij Chavan, IUCAA), science toys (Rupesh Labade and Shivani Pethe, IUCAA) and interdisciplinary teaching practices (Asmita Redij, HBCSE). It was amix of lectures, hands-on activities, and interactive sessions. In addition, a sky-watching session was arranged for the A total of 46 teachers attended the workshop; 35 (selected from about 200 applications) were from the Pune region and 11 came from Chennai. We received highly positive feedback from the participants about the workshop. We also carried out a pre- and post-workshop survey with the teachers, and the data analysis shows that the sessions positively impacted the teachers. The workshop was coordinated by MoupiyaMaji andSurhudMore. participants in the evening. Events Outside IUCAA Workshop on Gravitation: Theory and Observation A workshop titled "Gravitation: Theory and Observation" was held at the IUCAA Centre for Astronomy Research and Development (ICARD), Depa r tmen t o f Phys i cs , Cooch Beha r Panchanan Barma University (CBPBU) on 03 January 2024. The Hon'ble Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Nikhil Chandra Roy, inaugurated the programme. The university registrar, Dr. Abdul Kader Safily, was present at the programme. Prof. Kanak Saha, IUCAA, Dr Arunava Bhadra, and Dr Tamal Sarkar from the University of North Bengal participated as resource persons in the workshop. The speakers discussed various aspects of current research initiatives in astrophysics and cosmology. Themain thrust of the workshop was to provide hands-on training on SciLab in astronomy to interested researchers and students. The workshop was a Research in Astronomy: Opportunities and Challenges - RAM IX The ninth Regional Meeting on 'Research in Astronomy and Challenges' (RAM 2024) was held at the Manipal Centre for Natural Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, from January 10-12, 2024, jointly organised and funded byMAHE and IUCAA. The Regional Astronomy Meeting on 'Research in Astronomy and Challenges is an annual One hundred twenty-two university and institute researchers participated in the three- day meeting. Among fifty-four abstracts, program that aims to provide a platform for researchers from universities and institutes, mainly from Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, to showcase their work and encourage future collaborations. t w e n t y - n i n e w e r e s e l e c t e d f o r o r a l presentation, and fourteen abstracts were selected for poster presentation. Additionally, there were dedicated discussion sessions on establishing a roadmap for inter-institutional collaborative research work, which is the key to addressing significant science problems. The me e t i n g wa s o r g a n i s e d b y De b b i j o y Bhattacharya (MAHE) andRanjeevMisra, IUCAA. huge success i n t e rms o f t he ac t i ve participation of more than eighty participants (post-graduate students, research scholars and faculty members) fromnearby colleges and universities. The workshop was organised by Ranjan Sharma (CBPBU) and Kanak Saha, IUCAA, Pune.