On Thursday, November 29th, the attendees of the 26th SciFY Academy on “Teaching Astronomy using Digital Tools” that took place in INNOVATHENS had the opportunity to experience something unique. Researchers, educators, and students of exact sciences, especially Astrophysics, as well as people interested in Astronomy, attended this interactive event organized by SciFY – Science For You together with SciCo – Science Communication.

The seminar’s goal was to show how we can teach Astronomy in the digital age and bring students back to the science that allows them to dream. We had the opportunity to provide concrete ideas, practical ways, and digital tools to the country’s creative educators to help spread interest in Astronomy.

First, SciFY and specifically Vassilis Giannakopoulos presented us with educational games that we have created on the subject of Astronomy: the new free educational astronomy game for tablets and smartphones, “The Moondiver Xperience”, which the participants had the opportunity to try during the seminar. Then, Mr. Giannakopoulos presented us with 2 more Astronomy games through the Memor-i Studio platform, where everyone can easily create their own educational game.

SciCo then brought the participants into contact with experiential as well as digital teaching methods related to space exploration. They presented educational platforms where the participants were informed about games, digital exploratory learning scenarios, and citizen science projects to introduce students to the exciting world of Astronomy researchers. They also took part in experiential activities, using augmented reality applications where they saw our solar system in 3D and explored the red planet.

You can find the speakers’ presentations as well as watch the event’s video here.

A big thank you to INNOVATHENS and Sciso as well as to all of you who once again contributed to the realization of our vision for the free diffusion of knowledge!