Sunday 23 August 2020

Astronomy GCSE and Astronomy for Everyone

I taught Astronomy GCSE for 13 years at Coleg Llandrillo Menai (Abergele Campus). It was an extremely popular course. I made many great friends over those years and while this course is, sadly, no longer offered at Abergele College, I have been gradually writing resources for students of Astronomy GCSE to use, which will become available dyring 2023. I am taking the time to develop these further and explore options for developing not just GCSE resources but a suite of courses and resources including webinars, for all levels of interest in Astronomy. I am also in the process of developing maths resources which will be tailored to the Astronomy GCSE course, and which will make accessible some of the more challenging aspects of GCSE astronomy.

Some of these resources will be free, and others will cost varying prices, depending on content and length of the course. There will be something affordable for everyone.

I have also taught maths, first in secondary schools (11 years) and for then for 13 years in Further Education. I now provide online maths tuition by Zoom. I am also a specialist teacher, and an autism consultant (I work with an amazing group of people (www.reachoutasc.com). I am looking at developing resources which make astronomy more accessible for learners who have specific learning differences such as dyslexia, slow processing and those who have/are autistic. I am myself autistic, and I understand the challenges of how we think so differently from many people. I also have a Diploma in Dyslexia and Specific Learning Difficulties (though I prefer to refer to these as 'differences' rather than difficulties/disorders/conditions etc. Thinking differently is a positive not a negative. We experience difficulties, not because it is us who are 'wrong' but because this world is geared for those who think differently from us. 

There are exciting times ahead. I will be giving updates as the months go by. 

See my facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/astrogcse/

Clear skies to you all.

Hilary Forbes