Abstract:

Astronomy is a multi-disciplinary science and is therefore particularly suited to teach science to young people and to motivate them to start a university science education. In this respect, the Vereniging voor Sterrenkunde, the major amateur astronomical association in Belgium, collaborated with the astronomy institutes of the major Flemish universities and with the Royal Observatory of Belgium in the organization of a summer school in astronomy, intended for students of the third grade of secondary school (16-18 years old).
In this paper, we describe the goals of the summer school, the overall approach, the elaboration of the detailed program and the rationale behind the program. We discuss why and how the collaboration between the amateur astronomical association and the astronomy research institutes was set up.
The school was given during five days in august 2007 at the premises of the Groep-T hogeschool at Leuven, Belgium. Twenty students, aged 16 to 18 years, attended the school. The program was a combination of theoretical lectures, given by professional researchers of the Belgian astronomy research institutes, and practical exercises, given by amateur-astronomers with a master-level astronomy training. In addition, an informal evening program was set up.
We also report the experiences, gathered during this summer school. We discuss how the collaboration between amateur- and professional astronomers contributed to the success of the summer school. Finally, we discuss how summer schools like this may contribute to stimulating students to enter a university science program.

Keywords:

astronomy teaching, summer school, professional amateur collaboration.