After School Astronomy Clubs are fun ways to engage students in the wonders of astronomy outside the constraints of the normal school day. They aremost effectively runby a co-leader teamconsisting of a teacherand an astronomerbut can by run by justabout anyone with an interest in astronomy and the time and energy to spend connecting kids with the cosmos. They are generally run on school premises, at the end of the school day, in a classroom or science lab and are most suitable for children in grades 3 and higher. They may also include night time observing sessions such as “Family Astronomy Nights” and field trips to planetariums, observatories, and museums. Through a grant form the NASA IDEAS program, The Maryland Science Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, and Raytheon have partnered to develop resources for running after school astronomy clubs in the US and abroad. Our goal is to create a self sustaining network of school based astronomy clubs by providing science content, activities, funding opportunities, community connections, best practices, and perhaps most importantly, a means for these clubs to become visible to this new community and easily share information.http://afterschoolastronomy.org

Science Contentis provided from a wide range of web resources that are evaluated for content and grade appropriateness. Teachers don’t have time to search the web for quality resources so ASAC provides these categorized by discipline area: •Cross Discipline Astronomy Topics•Galaxies, Stars, and the Cosmos•Sun Earth Connection•Solar System•Constellations•Seasons•US and International Space Agencies•US Mission Pages•Ground Based Observatories•Astrobiology…….and more! 

Club ActivitiesASAC has lists of club activities that have been successfully used by club members. Member clubs can submit their own activities for posting on the web site. Community Based AstronomyWe have compiled a list of many Community Based Astronomy related organizations. These include professional societies, amateur astronomers, NASA education programs and fields centers, museums, and many other space science organizations. Club members can also submit their own lists of groups they work with. http://afterschoolastronomy.org

Running A ClubASAC members can find information on starting and running a club, sample club syllabi, funding opportunities, contact information for member clubs through our ASAC registry, our ASAC news group (afterschoolastro@yahoogroups.com) and materials such as club flyers and newsletter articles.  

Class SyllabiNot sure where to start? A full set of detailed session by session, grade appropriate agendas, checklists, activities, and materials, developed by our master space science educators is available for download and use.

Grant ResourcesFunding for materials, equipment and other resources is available to help clubs gat started.

http://afterschoolastronomy.org