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Roettger's Astronomer's Education Notebook
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Minneapolis AAS education session - notes

Session 18: Astronomers Outside the University (30 May 1994)

18.01 Less is More: Conducting Astronomy Workshops for K-12 Teachers
18.02 An Expanded Planetarium Outreach Program in Chicago
18.03 Educational Programs at the Lake Afton Public Observatory
18.04 A Satellite Operations Class for Teachers
18.05 Electromagnetic Radiation: A Curriculum Unit for High School Students
18.06 Astronomers in Public Planetaria
18.07 One Step and Ordinary: Reaching the Middle Teachers
Discussion

Two caveats:

  1. These are from the notes I took at the meeting. After getting filtered through my brain (twice), they may vary from what the presenters originally said. (Corrections are welcome.)
  2. My notes got sketchier as time went on, so verbiage does not correlate with interest.

18.01 Less is More: Conducting Astronomy Workshops for K-12 Teachers
D.B. Slavsky (Loyola U.)

  1. There's a "National Faculty" group which sends professors into school districts (mostly in the Humanities).
  2. School supervisors tend not to know what we (astronomers) do. Teachers have a better idea, but their interests may differ from ours. They're not our graduate students; they're going back into the classroom the next day (they need to learn *during* the workshop).
  3. Don't try to teach all of astrophysics in 2 days. Teachers tend to be interested in the Solar System, planets, Earth and the sky, eclipses, phases, constellations, maybe some cosmology and other things. Stick to one activity or set of principles per day, and go for mastery. Simpler is better. Like pencil and paper (you didn't really think they had money for expensive computer software, now, did you?). They may be limited (sharp ends of a stick can be used as weapons...).
  4. After measuring (as with a simple astrolabe), they *want* to graph the results. Math teachers don't always know how scientists graph data - teach them to fit the *line* to the *data*. Sundials get good response.
  5. While curriculum development can be exciting, stick to your specialized areas. We don't need to generate curriculum; there's lots of good stuff around, and teachers will modify it anyway. Concentrate on implementation. Increase what the teachers *do* (spend less time lecturing).
  6. Follow-ups are important, stay in contact with your teachers. Many states have Science Alliances.

18.02 An Expanded Planetarium Outreach Program in Chicago
E.D. Carlson (Adler Planetarium)

(I originally wrote these notes for Adler staff, who had a preview of Eric's talk. I hope to fill this in later.)

18.03 Educational Programs at the Lake Afton Public Observatory
D.R. Alexander (Wichita St. U. and Lake Afton Public Obs.) and G.R. Novacek (Lake Afton Public Obs.)

  1. Lake Afton P.Obs. was founded in 1979 as a purely public observatory. It was funded by 4 organizations (and he recommends this far above funding from a single source, since they've had partners drop out).
  2. Public observers *can* understand and enjoy science. They need to see the real thing, though. The telescope must be rugged (people *grab* it when they walk up).
  3. There must be other stuff for them to do besides wait in line. L.A.P.O. has developed a variety of exhibits (make a telescope, fun with light, computers).
  4. Interaction with staff is *vital* - it's a personal experience for visitors, where they "have a chance to ask the questions that everyone carries around inside them but rarely has a chance to ask."
  5. Rather than random viewing, they use themes: how far is far? Life story of a star, Galileo's observations. This gives *context* for the night's observing.
  6. They're open Fri, Sat evenings (Sun. in summer). Photo nights once/month; Friends night 1/mo., special events, school programs...also people can reserve personal time.
  7. School field trips by themselves are not educationally useful. In-school integration is vital. They use:

18.04 A Satellite Operations Class for Teachers
I. Hawkins (CEA/UCB), S. Lea (SFSU), R. Battle (UCB Grad. Ed./CEA), J. Moriarta (UCB/CEA), and R.F. Malina (CEA/UCB)

  1. The Center for Extreme-Ultraviolet Astrophysics (CEA) holds a class for in-service teachers. They have a 2-hour lecture once a week plus a three-hour lab once a week for a full semester. They use Astronomy and Education graduate students. The teachers get hands-on experience, problem- solving skills, and learn how to use a Sparcstation (Unix-based computer workstation). (This last is hard to get going, but they get weekly practice.) They create lesson plans and put them on the World Wide Web (network) using Mosaic (a very friendly interface, similar to Hypercard on the Macintosh). The teachers get to be scientists and do research. They have guest speakers. The School of Education evaluated the program.
  2. Comments: this is a unique teaching experience. It breaks the isolation of teachers. It's hard to cover all the material of interest and still have time for the teachers to develop lesson plans. Evening classes are good but the time commitment and scheduling are difficult. The teachers had a wide range of abilities (this was challenging). Teachers spontaneously decided to link their lesson plans *with each other*, and figured out how to do it.
  3. Pacific Bell is wiring (for internet) those schools requesting it. There's a chicken-and-egg problem: access to the internet, and information on it. Work both ends toward the middle.

18.05 Electromagnetic Radiation: A Curriculum Unit for High School Students
N. Levandovsky (Galileo HS/CEA), I. Hawkins and R.F. Malina (CEA/UCB)

  1. Students think science is the most difficult subject.
  2. Try radically different approaches, like using Incan Quipass (knotted-rope artifacts) to code information in an unusual and compact way, or putting the electromagnetic spectrum on trial.
  3. Organize the process as independent work in small groups; present as a class poster session or science conference.
  4. Lesson plans for the above are on WWW/Mosaic.

18.06 Astronomers in Public Planetaria
K. Garmany (U. Colo.)

  1. There's a dichotomy between research astronomers and planetaria - neither has been terribly interested in the other. We need closer ties, such as Alan Gould's e-mail list
  2. Need to have a balance between problem-solving and content; need activity-based learning.
  3. Working with classes:
  4. A one-day workshop is useless without follow-up

18.07 One Step and Ordinary: Reaching the Middle Teachers
E. Roettger (Adler Planetarium)

(I didn't take notes during my talk, but have written up what I tried to say.)

OPEN DISCUSSION

When running a workshop, ask teachers: What are you here for? They may have a variety of goals, and may not share yours.

Sigma Psi is getting into scientist/educator/corporate connections.

Don't be arrogant (if you visit a classroom) - it has a negative effect. If they don't have the background, start with what they do have, and work from there. Don't insult them or try to intimidate them with your brilliance. (If you can't figure out how to use their concepts and language, maybe it's time to revise your assessment of your own brilliance.)

Listen to teachers; they're professionals, too. Stick to what you know and get advice from teachers. Partner with science museums; they know how to translate science for the public.

Make it as UNSOPHISTICATED as possible for the classroom - don't make the students feel dumb. This is less a problem at the elementary level - those kids haven't yet been socialized to fear what other students think of them. You can make them feel smart - (speaker) starts with an artist's rendition of the Solar System and asks "what's wrong with this picture?" They may not know the specialized jargon, but they're smart. They may not realize that what they know is physics: In winter (speaker: Slavsky?) puts a "Sorry, the heat is out" sign in the classroom and puts space heaters in the front. Students cluster around the heaters. They understand the difference between radiation and convection.

Answer THEIR questions rather than trying to cover a lot of ground. If you 're doing the Solar System but only get out to Venus, that's okay.

Amateur astronomy groups get lots of requests for volunteers for school visits.

The challenge is to get down to the level of the public and "try to slide into the mind of a student or a teacher."

Success takes time, energy, commitment.

How do we get the University's reward structure to acknowledge education? The Deans understand, but it's the department that counts, and the acid test is how departments do their hiring and tenure. Ideas: there's more money for education now - the climate is changing (but professors may count peer respect much higher than funding). Students can vote with their feet in a university setting.

Go (back) to the Astronomer's Education Notebook or Elizabeth Roettger's Homepage.

Created 14 March 1995, last revised 15 June 1997

by Elizabeth E. Roettger, roettger@ix.netcom.com


URL: http://www.nthelp.com/eer/session_notes.html