Astronomical education in Armenia

Abstract

Astronomy pupils in Armenia get their first ideas on astronomy at elementary schools. Astronomy as a distinct subject is taught at all secondary schools in the country. Teaching is conducted according to a unified program elaborated jointly by professional astronomers and astronomy teachers. Unfortunately only one hour per week is allotted for teaching astronomy, which obviously is not enough workload to hire specialized astronomy teachers at every school, and at many schools this subject is tutored by non-specialists. Many schools partly compensate this lack of teachers by organizing visits to the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (BAO) for pupils, where they also attend short lectures on astronomy. In some schools optional training in astronomy is organized by amateurs, for the purpose of a deeper understanding in astronomy.

During recent years annual competitions for revealing gifted pupils in astronomy have been organized. These competitions have three rounds, namely, in schools, in districts and the final round is, as a rule, held at BAO. The national winners successfully participate in and win prestigious prizes at international astronomical Olympiads as well.

At Yerevan State University (YSU) there is a department for astrophysics, which was set up in 1946 and is operating to date. This department trains specialists for a career in astrophysics. Only one or two students graduate from this department yearly at present, while in the 1980s a dozen specialists were trained every year. BAO serves as the scientific base for the students of YSU as well, and a number of staff members from BAO conduct special courses for YSU students. YSU provides a Master's degree in astrophysics, and BAO is granting a Doctor's (PhD) degree since the 1970s.