Our Team
The research team is composed of academics, educators and astrophysicists, who bring with them various expertise in both science and education.
Saeed Salimpour
Saeed is has a background in Astronomy/Astrophysics (focussing on Cosmology), Education and Design. His research focuses on Cosmology Education, Representation, Data Visualisation, VR/AR, Curriculum Development and Student Research in Astronomy. His goal is to bring the science and beauty of Cosmos to everyone, whilst working at the interface of Science, Art and Education. He believes in “being curious for the sake of finding things out!”.
Professor Russell Tytler
Russell is currently involved in a number of ARC projects involving teacher change and student learning and reasoning through a representation construction inquiry approach. His research focuses on bringing contemporary science practices into the classroom in more authentic ways, through this approach and through linking schools and community scientists. His call for a ‘re-imagining’ of science education has received considerable publicity and support across Australia. He is the Chair of Science Education at Deakin University
Dr. Michael Fitzgerald
Michael is an ARC DECRA Research Fellow at Deakin University and project astronomer at Las Cumbres Observatory. He combines a long background in both astronomy and education research at both high school and undergraduate university level. His research focus is on the provision of learning experiences that are authentic in nature, plausible in implementation and efficient in communication and which deliver the educational outcomes for students and teachers. He is the lead investigator of a high‐school level astronomy education program (“Our Solar Siblings”) providing training, materials and support to teachers and students accessing robotic telescopes. Michael is also lead investigator on a range of national and international Astronomy Education projects.
Prof. Urban Eriksson
Urban Eriksson is an Professor in physics, specialising in astronomy education research (AER) at Uppsala University, Sweden, and Director for the National Resource Center for Physics Education. He has a background in astrometry and extensive experience in AER – teaching astronomy at university level for over 20 years. He is chair for the International Astronomical Union (IAU) working group for Astronomy Education Research and Methods, and editor of the Astronomy Education Journal. His research revolves around novice and experts learning astronomy via disciplinary discernment from semiotic resources used in the discipline of astronomy, including extrapolating three-dimensionality from 1D and 2D resources, such as astronomical imagery and simulations presented on flat screens, planetarium and in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).
Discover The Cosmos in Your Classroom
If you would like to implement this course in your classroom feel free to get in touch with us.