In line with the vision of UNAWE to use the beauty and grandeur of the Universe to inspire young children and encourage them to develop an interest in science and technology, an outreach activity was held in Barangay Escopa II, Project 4, Quezon City, Philippines on 25 April 2015 by UNAWE Philippines (headed by Philippine UNAWE Student Ambassador Camille Ballesteros) in collaboration with University of the Philippines Astronomical Society and Kaisahang Buhay Foundation, Inc.
34 children aged 4 to 12 participated in the event. They learned about concepts of the Solar System and made their own pocket Solar System model. They were also taught about constellations and asterisms and later on made their own version of a star pattern. This was followed by an activity about the effects of asteroid and meteoroid impacts on Earth and on the Moon using pebbles and flour, an activity from UNAWE's award winning resource Universe in a Box.
After the lectures and activities, organisers held a solar observation and moon observation using refracting telescopes for the children. The initial one hour observation planned became 3 hours because of the interest and excitement the children showed when viewing the Sun and the Moon.
“The whole outreach was tiring but it was very satisfying given the result of the event”, says organiser Camille Ballesteros. “The children's excitement whenever they view the surface of the Moon or the sunspots of the Sun were enough to wipe away the extreme heat of that day. Also, the enthusiasm that the children show in learning new things regarding astronomy is the greatest achievement of the event.”
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