AMACA: Astronomy education with a Multi-sensory, Accessible, and Circular Approach

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Toniolo, Rachele, Zanella, Anita, Cottinelli, Andrea, Liuzzi, Giovanni, Ricciardi, Sara, Grassi, Massimo, Monache, Stefano Delle
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Toniolo, Rachele
Zanella, Anita
Cottinelli, Andrea
Liuzzi, Giovanni
Ricciardi, Sara
Grassi, Massimo
Monache, Stefano Delle
author_facet Toniolo, Rachele
Zanella, Anita
Cottinelli, Andrea
Liuzzi, Giovanni
Ricciardi, Sara
Grassi, Massimo
Monache, Stefano Delle
contents The AMACA project (Astronomy education with a Multi-sensory, Accessible, and Circular Approach) develops multi-sensory activities for accessible education and engagement in astronomy. Despite promising innovations, existing resources are often poorly documented, designed for one-time events, expensive, and lack interdisciplinary collaboration, user testing, and broad dissemination. AMACA addresses these challenges by creating multi-sensory activities for education and outreach, with a particular focus on accessibility for people with sensory disabilities. A circular approach informs its educational structure: (1) a PhD course on multi-sensory astronomy outreach develops hands-on activities with the support of astronomers, psychologists, and organizations for the visually impaired and the deaf; (2) PhD candidates teach High School (HS) students how to deliver the activities; (3) HS students lead the activities at the Astronomy Festival "The Universe in All Senses"; (4) HS students train teachers to implement the activities in their classrooms. AMACA also develops tools to guide project development and track participants' learning. Key findings show improved communication and accessibility awareness among PhD candidates, increased emotional engagement with astronomy among HS students, enhanced public engagement with research and accessibility awareness, and high teacher satisfaction with the flipped-roles, hands-on approach. Overall, AMACA enhances accessibility and engagement in astronomy education across audiences.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_13326
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle AMACA: Astronomy education with a Multi-sensory, Accessible, and Circular Approach
Toniolo, Rachele
Zanella, Anita
Cottinelli, Andrea
Liuzzi, Giovanni
Ricciardi, Sara
Grassi, Massimo
Monache, Stefano Delle
Physics Education
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
The AMACA project (Astronomy education with a Multi-sensory, Accessible, and Circular Approach) develops multi-sensory activities for accessible education and engagement in astronomy. Despite promising innovations, existing resources are often poorly documented, designed for one-time events, expensive, and lack interdisciplinary collaboration, user testing, and broad dissemination. AMACA addresses these challenges by creating multi-sensory activities for education and outreach, with a particular focus on accessibility for people with sensory disabilities. A circular approach informs its educational structure: (1) a PhD course on multi-sensory astronomy outreach develops hands-on activities with the support of astronomers, psychologists, and organizations for the visually impaired and the deaf; (2) PhD candidates teach High School (HS) students how to deliver the activities; (3) HS students lead the activities at the Astronomy Festival "The Universe in All Senses"; (4) HS students train teachers to implement the activities in their classrooms. AMACA also develops tools to guide project development and track participants' learning. Key findings show improved communication and accessibility awareness among PhD candidates, increased emotional engagement with astronomy among HS students, enhanced public engagement with research and accessibility awareness, and high teacher satisfaction with the flipped-roles, hands-on approach. Overall, AMACA enhances accessibility and engagement in astronomy education across audiences.
title AMACA: Astronomy education with a Multi-sensory, Accessible, and Circular Approach
topic Physics Education
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.13326