The Turning Eyes to the Big Sky project offered schools in southwestern Montana a unique opportunity to strengthen science instruction. The project implemented, in a formal setting, a nationally established informal science curriculum on light and optics, the Hands-on Optics Terrific Telescopes curriculum. Terrific Telescopes was implemented in eight middle-school classrooms and reached 166 students during the 2010 to 2011 school year. As part of the project, we conducted a teacher workshop and assessed student learning outcomes and teachers’ experiences with the curriculum. The goals of our assessments were to improve our understanding of how students learn key optics-related principles, provide evidence of the learning outcomes of Terrific Telescopes, and find out how teachers adapt the curriculum for use in formal settings. Our research established that students in every classroom learned optics concepts, uncovered student ideas about telescope optics, and identified ways to support and supplement the curriculum for use in classrooms.
The Turning Eyes to the Big Sky project offered schools in southwestern Montana a unique opportunity to strengthen
science instruction. The project implemented, in a formal setting, a nationally established informal science curriculum on
light and optics, the Hands-on Optics Terrific Telescopes curriculum. Terrific Telescopes was implemented in 8 middle school
classrooms, reaching 166 students during the 2010-11 school year. As part of the project, we conducted a teacher
workshop and assessed student learning outcomes and teachers' experiences with the curriculum. The goals of our
assessments were to improve our understanding of how students learn key optics-related principles, provide evidence of
the learning outcomes of Terrific Telescopes, and find out how teachers adapt it for use in formal settings. Our research
established that students in every classroom learned optics concepts and identified ways to support and supplement the
curriculum for use in classrooms.
Several factors make observational astronomy difficult for pre-college students and teachers. (1) not many schools have teachers trained to use and maintain astronomy equipment; (2) school usually happens during the day and observing normally is a night-time activity; (3) the scourge of light pollution has hidden the stars from many students living in or near cities; (4) there is a general lack of access to expertise when needed. In addition, physically disabled students cannot climb ladders, to access the telescope eyepiece.
Internet access to computer-controlled telescopes equipped with digital cameras can solve many of these difficulties. This enables students and their teachers to access well-maintained, robust Internet-controllable telescopes in dark-site locations and to consult more readily with experts. We present the results of technical solutions to Internet-control of telescopes, by Software Bisque, the New Mexico Skies Guest Observatory and the Youth Activities Committee of the Astronomical League in collaboration with Denver University Astronomy. We jointly submitted a funding proposal to the Institute for Connecting Science Research to the Classroom, and conducted a pilot program allowing high school students to access a CCD-equipped, accurately-pointing and tracking telescope, controllable over the Web, with a user-friendly skymap browser tool. With suitably placed telescopes worldwide, observing from the classroom in daylight will become feasible, as we have demonstrated with Australian and Eurasian student users of the New Mexico Skies Internet telescope.
We report here on a three-month pilot project exploring this solution, conducted Feb-May 2002. User interest proved phenomenal, while user statistics proved diverse and there were distinct lessons learned about how to enhance student participation in the research process. We thank the Institute for Connecting Science Research to the Classroom for a grant to the University of Denver in partial support of this effort, and acknowleedge in-kind support from the estate of William Herschel Womble. Details at website www.du.edu/~rstencel/stn.htm.
Conference Committee Involvement (1)
Optics Education and Outreach II
12 August 2012 | San Diego, California, United States
Course Instructor
WS1115: Learning How Light Works: Reflection
The purpose of this workshop is to introduce K-12 teachers and those who are interested in providing optics outreach to a make-and-take kaleidoscope activity which will teach students about one of the basic properties of light, reflection. Kaleidoscopes are engaging devices that create amazing images using multiple reflections, and this workshop provides step by step instructions for assembling a kaleidoscope and illustrates how multiple reflections lead to the patterns observed in a kaleidoscope. By using the mirrors within the kaleidoscope and a few basic lessons, students will understand the law of reflection.
The workshop has been developed to align with the newly published Next Generation Science Standards and is appropriate for use at the Elementary Level 4-PS4-2: Waves: Waves and Information (4-PS4-2) or can also be used for Middle School students for MS-PS4-2: Waves and Electromagnetic Radiation. Each participant will receive a kaleidoscope kit to assemble during the workshop.
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