From Pasargad To The Night Sky: A Scalable Astronomy Teacher Training Programme In Iran
TalkAstronomy Education in Schools in Practice (Primary Schools)
7th Shaw-IAU Workshop
Tuesday Nov. 18, 2025
UTC: 11:15 a.m. - 11:25 a.m. America/New_York: 6:15 a.m.- 6:25 a.m.
Wednesday Nov. 19, 2025
UTC: 9:15 p.m. - 9:25 p.m. America/New_York: 4:15 p.m.- 4:25 p.m.
Maryam Papari (Director of Mehr observatory, NAEC for Iran)
Lack of teacher training remains a key barrier to astronomy in Iranian primary schools. We organised a two-day OAE-funded workshop in Pasargad County, trained 20 teachers through hands-on lectures, low-cost instrument building, planetarium immersion and dark-sky observation. The programme fused compact content blocks (solar system, constellations, motions) with a building craft model of the Sun, Earth, and Moon system and planispheres, practised safe solar and stellar viewing. Post-course surveys indicated 66% efficacy gain and 83% intent to teach astronomy. Within twelve weeks, teachers reached 900 pupils, made astroEDU paper models and held multiple guided night-sky observations. We discuss cultural framing and pathways to replicate the model in underserved Iranian regions for scaling.
About Maryam Papari
"I am Maryam Papari, Director of Mehr Observatory, under the supervision of Ministry of Education, a graduate in Educational Sciences from Teacher Training University, and I am active in the field of astronomy education and outreach in Iranian schools, with a special focus on teachers and students.
