Multisensory planetarium. The Universe as You Never Sensed It

This is a poster presented at the 6th Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education, organised by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE, http//astro4edu.org). Title: Multisensory planetarium. The Universe as You Never Sensed It Presenter:Di Giacomo, Federico (National Institute for Astrophysics) What if anyone could observe the night sky regardless of their physical abilities? This project means to offer a common perceptual and cognitive framework to all users, sighted, deaf and blind or visually impaired (BVI) alike. The planetarium consists of a plexiglass hemisphere on which stars up to the fourth magnitude are represented by metal bars that, when touched, activate visual, tactile and acoustic stimuli. The acoustic stimuli (used to represent magnitude) are intended to introduce a perceptive equivalent for BVI users, while the haptic ones introduce quantitative features (distance and magnitude) that can only be known through instrumental observations. The multisensory planetarium opens new perspectives for inclusive education, offering everyone the opportunity to explore the sky. About the 6th Shaw-IAU Workshop:The 6th Shaw-IAU Workshop took place:12 - 15 November 2024. The Shaw-IAU workshops focus on astronomy education for primary and secondary school students and teacher training both in universities and in service. This year's workshop featured two special topics: an exploration of the first two years of the James Webb Space Telescope for the scientific topic, and the crucial aspect of evaluation in educational contexts as the non-scientific topic.More details can be found on: https://astro4edu.org/shaw-iau/Keep up to date with future Shaw-IAU Workshops and other opportunities at the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education by joining our mailing list https://astro4edu.org/mailing-list/Follow the IAU OAE on Bluesky and Facebook under @astro4edu