UNAWE Indonesia project: Raising total solar eclipse 2016 awareness through educational packages

Abstract

On March 9th 2016, some regions in Indonesia witnessed the Total Solar Eclipse (TSE). At that time, Indonesia was the only mainland in the world that could observe TSE. This moment is extraordinary because its probability of being observed at the same point happens every 350 years. On a purpose of raising public awareness and engaging more participations, UNAWE Indonesia developed a handy material and sent the so called educational packages which provided essential information about eclipse, especially TSE. Each package contains of modul of TSE study and materials for simple TSE activity so people who received the package could observe TSE safely. In the delivery of this program, we established a collaboration partner, whom are teachers, as an 'eclipse ambassador'. The local partners were responsible for socializing the information for school or their community. We encouraged them to conduct an observation activity and ask them to fill an evaluation report. As a result, 48 out of 59 partners or equal to 81.3% of all partners has sent the evaluation of the package and documentation of the activity during TSE. They responded positively as it was easy to understand, functional, and convenient.