Contact: Kevin Hand khand@cosmoseducation.org

Cosmos Education is an international, non-government organization dedicated to science and technology education in developing countries around the world. Our work consists of two components: working directly in schools to help students and teachers in the classroom, and delivering educational resources, books, and materials to the schools in our education network.

Our organization is run and managed by an international team of dedicated graduate students, scientists, and educators. Our headquarters are in Stanford, California, USA, and we have representatives in over one dozen different countries.

In June and July of 2001, Cosmos Education hosted the first Under African Skies Conference in Lusaka, Zambia and ran the first Under African Skies Education Expedition from Johannesburg, South Africa to Nairobi, Kenya.

The 2001 Under African Skies Eclipse Conference – scheduled to coincide with the first total solar eclipse of the millennium - was held at the University of Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia from June 19^th-21^st. The three-day event focused on science and technology research and education in Africa. Over 550 people from 15 different countries attended the conference.

The format of the conference consisted of two parallel tracks: a research track during which professors, students, and other interested individuals presented their research, and an education track during which students participated in hands-on learning activities. In addition, several full-conference events were scheduled to bring together all of the attendees for special lectures and presentations. Two examples of such events include a talk on the myths, folklore and legends of the Cosmos in Africa given by Professor Mtonga of the University of Zambia, and a performance re-enacting the legend of the solar eclipse of 1835 given by the University Theatre Group. Events such as these provide an important link for the students – connecting their heritage and history to modern day science.

Presentation topics during the research track ranged from developments in alternative energy to the link between science and religion. Presenters ranged from well known European and African scientists to young university students just beginning their careers.

Approximately two hundred of the participants were secondary school children from Zambian schools. These students worked in teams on hands-on activities related to science and technology. Cosmos Education provided daily transportation and food for the students from all of the schools.

The final day of the conference coincided with the first total solar eclipse of the millennium. Cosmos Education - with the help of Telescope House London, Rainbow Symphony, and Eclipse99.co.uk – provided free eclipse glasses and solar viewing to thousands of Africans.

The Under African Skies Eclipse Conference was a tremendous success and our feedback from teachers, students, and citizens indicated that we were effective and had a significant impact on education and research in the region.

The Under African Skies Education Expedition involved an international team of graduate students and educators traveling by land from Johannesburg to Nairobi. Along the way we visited over 35 schools, museums, and villages and gave presentations on science and technology to over 4000 students and teachers.

At each school we visited, our team gave a general, 40-minute presentation covering a range of topics - from a sense of scale for our solar system, to pollution and global climate change. Time was then spent on questions and the issue of careers and achieving one's goals and dreams. After the general presentation, our team would divide into groups of two and hold smaller, more interactive discussion sessions on specific topics. The students would break into groups and rotate from station to station every 15 to 30 minutes. In some cases we spent a little over an hour at a school, in other cases we spent several hours to the majority of a day at the school. The amount of time spent at each school depended on how much time the school could dedicate to our program.

For much of the expedition, our team size permitted breaking into several smaller groups and visiting several schools simultaneously. This worked well for the efficiency and effectiveness of our project.

Prior to finishing our program at each school, we would present the teachers and headmaster with books, posters, and educational materials. Over one metric ton of educational material was donated to schools in Africa.

Before leaving the school, teachers were interviewed to determine their response to our program and determine the extent to which our project was successful in their school. We asked the teachers about ways in which we can improve our program in the future and what materials can best help them in the classroom. Our Under African Skies 2002 Project will incorporate this feedback and thus hopefully be more effective in the classroom and as a resource.

After the completion of our 2001 Under African Skies project, Cosmos Education has been working hard to serve as a continuing resource for the schools visited during 2001 and 2000. Educational materials, books, posters, and magazines have been mailed to all of the schools. We have been in email and phone contact with several schools and teachers and we have received several letters of appreciation and thanks from schools visited during the summer. As we continue to help schools meet their basic needs. We are also developing plans and fundraising for Under African Skies 2002.

During our 2001 Under African Skies Education Expedition we worked with over thirty-four schools and museums and reached more than 4000 students between Johannesburg, South Africa and Nairobi, Kenya. This year we plan to return to the schools visited in 2001 and add an additional twenty schools to our expedition agenda. Achieving this goal will be a challenge, but given the success of Under African Skies 2001 and the experience gained by our team, we feel that over fifty schools is a difficult, but reasonable and reachable goal.

From June 15^th to July 19^th, 2002, our team will be traveling by land from Nairobi, Kenya to Johannesburg, South Africa. Once again, our team will be composed of talented individuals from around the globe who share a passion for education and the appropriate integration of science and technology in developing regions of the world. Last year our team consisted of 9 Americans, 3 Western Europeans, 1 Central European, and 9 Africans. In addition to continuing to develop the cultural diversity of our team, we hope to achieve a better balance of men and women on our team (last year the male to female ratio was approximately 5 to 1).

During our 2001 expedition we learned much about the resources and education curriculum of the countries visited. As a result, we have been working hard to develop a more effective and directed program for the classrooms we visit. More focus will be placed on integrating the teachers into the program and demonstrating interesting ways to convey the concepts described in the nationally prescribed textbooks. The teachers depend on such books for material, but unfortunately for the students these books rarely offer creative methods or experiments for learning difficult concepts. Filling this gap is central to the goals of Cosmos Education’s work in the classroom. We are constantly in search of educational materials and supplies to pass on to the schools in our resource network.

The 2002 Under African Skies Conference will take place in Nairobi, Kenya from June 11^th to June 15^th. The focus of this year’s conference will be on "Science & Sustainability – Applying Appropriate Solutions for a Global Society." Our reasons for choosing Nairobi as the venue for the Under African Skies (UAS) 2002 conference are numerous. First, Nairobi offers easy access for international travelers. Our international conference will bring together representatives from throughout the world and Nairobi provides a good central location for such an event. We hope to attract a larger audience this year – aiming for 700-800 attendees.

Second, Nairobi serves as an epicenter for offices of the United Nations and we hope our conference will bring together delegates from several different programs. In particular, we hope to get the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), the United Nations Education, Science, and Culture Office (UNESCO), and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA) working together. All three of these offices have youth networks consisting of college and graduate students. We hope that by bringing them together we can focus the talent and energy of these groups for the benefit of developing regions of the world.

Finally, Cosmos Education is in the process of negotiating venue space for the UAS 2002 Conference and several organizations and institutions in Nairobi offer attractive options. In particular, the Geography Department at the University of Nairobi has offered space at the university; the Kenyan Communications Commission headquarters may provide space for the event; and the Kenya Science Teachers College also presents an attractive alternative. The final decision for the venue will depend on the combination of convenience and cost.

This year the conference will consist of a three-track system as opposed to the two-track system employed during our 2001 conference. During the Eclipse Conference in Lusaka, two parallel tracks on ‘Education’ and ‘Research’ were run simultaneously for the three-day event. This year we will add a ‘Teaching’ track to the conference. While the ‘Education’ track will focus on engaging secondary students in hands-on science education, and the ‘Research’ track will focus on university and industry level research, the ‘Teaching’ track will focus on teacher training and developing interesting and effective methods for classroom instruction. Our aim is to help teachers become better at teaching their subject matter and to become more effective with engaging students in the learning process. (at teaching, at what they do, or similar).

The 2001 Under African Skies Project, including the education expedition and eclipse conference, cost Cosmos Education just under $47,100.00 USD. This year our projected budget is approximately $10,000.00 more than the 2001 budget. The primary reasons for this increase include more sponsorship and support for our team members from developing countries, additional funding needed for truck rental, more in kind donations requiring shipping, added expenses for the conference facility, and the addition of two days to the conference agenda.

Cosmos Education is a non-profit/non-governmental organization (NGO) registered under IRS code 501(c)3 through The Tides Center of San Francisco, California. The Tides Center has been working to assist new NGOs for more than two decades and has a positive, well-established relationship with major foundations nationwide. The Tides Center provides Cosmos Education with an Employee Identification Number (EID) and handles all of our taxes and legal paperwork. As Cosmos Education grows, Tides also provides the infrastructure needed for staff payroll, insurance, and benefits.

All donations and checks for Cosmos Education should be made out to ‘Cosmos Education – The Tides Center’. Checks should be mailed to Cosmos Education President, Kevin P. Hand, at:

Notification and acknowledgement of your tax-deductible donation will be made through the Tides Center soon after your donation is received.