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Abstracts

STScI Education

Evaluation


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IDEAS * IDEAS 1997

1998 IDEAS Grants Program

Table of Contents

Curriculum/Product Development

Educational Programs on the Internet
Public Outreach/Public Understanding of Science
Student/Teacher Outreach
Student/Teacher Workshop
Teacher Resources and Training


DISCOVERIES IN SPACE: The Plasmasphere

Principal Investigator: Dr. Dennis L. Gallagher - NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center
Education Category: Curriculum/Product Development
Budget: $27,640

The act of discovery is exciting. New ideas and new experiences in science almost automatically elicit curiosity in students and people in general. We propose to develop prototype public outreach and educational materials that tells one of the many stories of space science and teaches science skills. Space weather has been used to relate the study of the connections between the Sun and Earth to the public. The story being told is focused on the hazards to people and machines that result from forces generated on the Sun. It's an engaging story, but is it the only story?

The answer is no. Each element of the Sun-Earth environment has its own story to tell. We propose to tell the story of personal discovery, of naturally produced radio waves, and the resulting discovery of the plasmasphere. History, geography, critical thinking, and scientific method will be taught as a natural part of the experiences gained through the telling of this story. From the radio sounds of whistlers, saucers, and tweeks named by 19th century telegraph operators to modern day high school students using inexpensive radio receivers in the hills above Los Angeles, students and the public will be drawn to the excitement of space sciences and their own discoveries about the Earth's space environment.

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INCORPORATION of SCIENTIFIC BALLOONING in SCIENCE EDUCATION

Principal Investigator: Steve Stochaj - New Mexico State University
Education Category: Curriculum/Product Development
Budget: $39,000

We propose to augment the science curriculum of the Roswell Public School District to take advantage of the proximity of a NASA scientific balloon base. NASA's launch site for large scientific balloons is Fort Sumner, a small village located in a rural section of eastern New Mexico. While this location is well known to experimenters, people in the surrounding area know little of it existence or purpose. We propose to incorporate the basic science related to balloon experimentation into the K-12 science curriculum of the Roswell Public Schools. This will include topics such as the properties of the atmosphere, weather, and communications, and will culminate in the construction of a balloon-borne instrument to be launched either as a piggyback experiment on a larger payload or on a small radio sonde balloon.

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ROCKS FROM SPACE: Meteorites in the Classroom

Principal Investigator: Dan F. Lester - University of Texas
Education Category: Curriculum/Product Development
Budget: $18,900

We propose to develop curriculum, activities, background information, and workshops for our new AISD "Rocks from Space" kit, which lets teachers bring real meteorites into the classroom. These deliverables are aimed at enhancing inquiry-based elementary level space and earth science programs, and introducing children to the explorers whose curiosity about the natural world has fostered our understanding. Our targets are K-5 teachers and students. Awareness about debris in the solar system, the cratering process and its effect on our planet, as well as our efforts to investigate it are key elements. Content will be matched to mandated skill and knowledge requirements, incentivizing use by educators. The experienced project team includes knowledgeable scientists, including an IDEAS-experienced researcher, a leading Austin elementary school science teacher, and the district science supervisor. This strong partnership and well leveraged budget, combined with an exciting story of discovery at a "local" impact event, maximizes potential for success. Our work is highly transferable, offering other districts an inexpensive route to making their own "Rocks from Space" kit, and distribution is an important part of our effort.

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INTERNET TOOLS for RESEARCH-BASED ASTRONOMY EDUCATION

Principal Investigator: Travis A. Rector - National Optical Astronomy Observatories
Education Category: Educational Programs on the Internet
Budget: $26,396

Inquiry-based learning is a required component of the NRC national science education standards at all levels for grades K-12. This formidable goal requires professional development for educators in pedagogy and content; and several programs exist to meet this need. One such program, "The Use of Astronomy in Research Based Science Education" (RBSE), is an ongoing program at NOAO that trains secondary-school science teachers on how to implement research-based science education in their classrooms through astronomy. However, RBSE has discovered that a lack of suitable software severely inhibits the availability of research-based astronomy education.

The software currently available is difficult to learn; thus programs like RBSE require extensive in-person training, limiting the availability of such programs to a handful of teachers that can be reached directly in a workshop format. We therefore propose to develop powerful yet intuitive astronomy research software that will not require substantial training, and make this software freely available via the Internet or CD-ROM. This will allow any science classroom nationwide with access to modest computing facilities to participate in research-based astronomy education. This software will give educators a necessary tool to develop research-based educational programs from available sources of data (e.g., data archives from NOAO, STScI and future missions).

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RADIO JOVE ONLINE OBSERVATORY

Principal Investigator: James Thieman- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Educational Category: Educational Programs on the Internet
Budget: $9,895

Radio JOVE Online Observatory is a project that will bring the radio sounds of Jupiter and the Sun to students and teachers via a radio observatory on the Internet. We plan to create an online radio observatory using the existing telescope facilities at the University of Florida Radio Observatory (UFRO).

There will be an interactive website to allow participants to listen to and access real-time data from radio receivers monitoring Jupiter or the Sun, and use the data with developed education modules for learning about radio astronomy. The Radio JOVE Online Observatory website will also include information on basic concepts in space physics, electricity and magnetism, and solar system radio astronomy. Teachers will find education modules using the data from Jupiter and the Sun, and resources for explanation of key concepts.

The JOVE project is a companion to the Internet INSPIRE (Interactive NASA Space Physics Radio Experiments) project which is also proposing to use the radio observatory online capability to provide real time Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio data of natural and manmade radio signals to the education community.

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RESEARCHING LIGHT POLLUTION with UPPER ELEMENTARY AGE STUDENTS

Principal Investigator: Larry Lebofsky - University of Arizona
Education Category: Educational Programs for the Internet
Budget: $19,240.91

The project would be implemented over two years: Year One would prepare teachers and students for nighttime observation; Year Two would prepare students to collect and share light pollution data. An orange or mustard cast hangs in the sky over many of the more densely populated areas of Earth. Light scattered in the atmosphere from the ground below causes this dingy cast, a form of light pollution called sky glow, and it makes viewing stars and other celestial objects difficult, if not impossible. We propose to explore the proliferation of light pollution through a nighttime data collection activity. Students will use basic observational techniques that they have already developed through a series of daytime activities called Astronomy With a Stick to study an area of the sky. They will use prepared star charts to locate prominent constellations and asterisms (groups of stars) and do star counts within these areas; they will submit their counts along with their location, date, time, and sky conditions via an Internet web site. The data will be correlated with population density to determine the relationship between population density and light pollution.

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DISCOVERY NIGHTS at the SPACE CENTER

Principal Investigator: René Walterbos - New Mexico State University
Education Category: Public Outreach/Public Understanding of Science
Budget: $8,557

This grant will provide seed money to organize, conduct and evaluate twelve months of quality museum programming, Discovery Nights, to teach basic astronomy and space science concepts to adolescents and their families. The goal of this program is to support lifelong learning in science while increasing science literacy and providing an opportunity for parents and children to spend quality time together. We will provide active learning opportunities that reinforce science skills in an informal setting. It is also our intent to furnish a platform for scientists to interact with the general public and clarify the scientist role. Partners in this project will assist the Space Center to make contact with underserved populations, youth "at risk", and the visually handicapped, and to reinforce school curriculum. This program will give underserved youth the opportunity to socialize, do challenging activities and interact with responsible adult role models. The museum will provide programs that are connected to reality, use hands-on learning, and are designed to motivate and encourage youth to pursue scientific and technical careers.

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STARWATCH: Observational Astronomy in Rural Appalachia

Principal Investigator: Lawrence A. Taylor - University of Tennessee
Education Category: Public Outreach/Public Understanding of Science
Budget: $20,638

The proposed project will facilitate the development of a public observational astronomy program in rural Fentress County, Tennessee. Dr. Larry Taylor and Paul Lewis have been involved in a number of space science education outreach efforts, including a very successful public observational astronomy programs at the University of Tennessee. They will aid York Institute high school science teachers in initiating a similar program at their school. York Institute is a very progressive high school with the necessary infrastructure to maintain a public program of this scope and nature. The requested grant money will be used to cover costs relating to teacher training and to purchase the necessary instruments and materials. The proposed project will not only meet the NASA OSS goal of improving science education and literacy in the United States, but will also meet the national and state education goal of successful community engagement by school systems.

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CHANGING the SCIENCE CULTURE at T.A. BROWN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL in AUSTIN, TEXAS

Principal Investigator: Mary Kay Hemenway - University of Texas
Education Category: Student/Teacher Outreach
Budget: $9,999

We propose to bring "hands-on, minds-on" science into the classrooms of T. A. Brown Elementary School in the Austin Independent School District. In general, the teachers have little experience in integrating science activities, especially astronomy/space science, with other subjects in the curriculum. The proposal will provide in-service opportunities for a small number of teachers, classroom support for presenting "hands-on, minds-on" activities by University undergraduate students, and outreach to other elementary school students and the local community. The school enrolls 587 children in grades pre-K to 5; 72% of the students are Hispanic, 17% are African-American, and 95% are low-income. Special emphasis will be placed on multi-cultural links to astronomy and space science.

The PI has broad experience in implementing teacher enhancement programs. The co- investigator was a participant in a year-long Astronomy Institute for Teachers and is in her first year as a principal. She brings both her experience as a bilingual elementary school teacher and her interest in strengthening elementary school science to this proposal. The project will serve as a pilot case for integrating the astronomy components of the new Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (state science framework) into an elementary school which has many special needs.

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EXPLORING the SOLAR SYSTEM at FISKE PLANETARIUM

Principal Investigator: Catharine Garmany- University of Colorado
Education Category: Student/Teacher Workshop
Budget: $9,960

Grade-school children are fascinated by the Solar System and the idea of exploring the planets. They are often aware of recent discoveries and want to learn more. Teachers can often capitalize on this interest with a field trip to a planetarium which provides an excellent opportunity to introduce a unit on astronomy. Fiske Planetarium has run a very popular program on the Solar System for a number of years, but the current program is almost 10 years old, and has both scientific and pedagogical flaws. The intense interest in the topic demands that we address this subject in a more appropriate manner. We propose to complete development of a new show in collaboration with several local teachers and educators. In addition, we will develop classroom activities that teachers can use to build a unit on astronomy and space science. These activities, some of which are already in draft form, will all be available on the web.

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LIFE in FAR-OUT ENVIRONMENTS (LIFE)

Principal Investigator: Michael Carini - Western Kentucky University
Education Category: Student/Teacher Workshop
Budget: $ 23,659

The purpose of this proposal is to stimulate interest in and excitement about science. We will hold workshops for high-school students and their teachers. The subject, life in space, is interdisciplinary and is expected to arouse the imagination of the students and teachers. Faculty from both Biology and Physics & Astronomy will help the participants think critically and creatively about implications of life in space. The students and teachers will work together as teams in hands-on activities. The participants will build a microscope and a telescope, which they will take home afterwards. The high-school students will be carefully selected in a process aiming at a 50% minority participation. Two of the University teachers are African Americans and will be able to serve as effective role models for minority students. The program is referred to as LIFE for Life In Far-out Environments.

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AURORA: Acknowledging Under Resourced Outer Reaches of Alaska

Principal Investigator: Sten Odenwald- Raytheon STX / Goddard SFC
Education Category: Student/Teacher Workshop
Budget: $24,023

Aurora have been observed for millennia by virtually all human cultures, from Alaskan and Scandinavian natives in the arctic regions, to observers as far south as the Mediterranean basin. Observing aurora is common happenstance for residents of most areas of Alaska, and as we approach the peak of the sunspot cycle in 2000-2001, many more dramatic 'auroral storms' will be visible. At the same time, remote 'bush' schools in Alaska which have the highest student drop-out rates approaching 100% by high school, are also in dire need of new curricular enhancements to maintain student interest in technical fields such as computers, math and science.

During the first year of our planned program, we will organize a 3-day summer teacher workshop in Seldovia, Alaska, to communicate the excitement of solar research, and demonstrate its potential for stimulating new learning opportunities in 'bush school' or interests that the community of students have that we can capitalize upon in designing new classroom activities. We will also bring teachers from remote schools into contact with recently developed astronomy and space physics educational products such as "Solar Storms and You!" a grand 7-9 workbook designed by the IMAGE/POETRY teacher and Student Consortium. We will also demonstrate how to make a soda bottle magnetometer for forecasting auroral storms, and what to look for in observing the aurora. During the second year, teachers will use "Solar Storms and You!" in their classroom and provide both feedback and new activities for subsequent publication and use by the other Alaskan schools. In an area such as Alaska, teachers in rural areas must be able to teach all subjects, and this makes our multi-curricular workbook and topic area even more appropriate.

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IDEAS: Central and Eastern Kentucky Institute to Improve Instruction in Astronomy and Space Science

Principal Investigator: Dr. Benjamin Malphrus - Morehead State University
Education Category: Student/Teacher Workshop
Budget: $38,449

The proposed IDEAS: Central and Eastern Kentucky Institute to Improve Instruction in Astronomy and Space Science will develop and/or enhance teachers (grades 5-12) competencies in astronomy and space sciences in Kentucky. The project will be implemented through a two-week summer workshop, a series of five follow-up meetings, and an academic year research project. The resources of Kentucky's only Radio Astronomy Observatory- the Morehead Radio Telescope (MRT), Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT) (via remote observing using the Internet), and the Kentucky Department of Education regional service centers will be combined to provide a unique educational experience.

The project is designed to improve science teacher's instructional methodologies by providing pedagogical assistance, content training by involving the teachers and their students in research in radio astronomy, providing access to the facilities of the Morehead Astrophysical Observatory, and by working closely with a NASA-JOVE research astronomer. Participating teachers will produce curriculum units and research projects, the results of which will be published on the WWW. A major goal of this project is to share with teachers, and ultimately students, the excitement and importance of scientific research. The project represents a partnership of five agencies, each matching the commitment financially and/or with personnel.

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ASTEROIDS: Using a NASA Mission and Media Hype to Focus Attention on Astronomy

Principal Investigator: Beth Ellen Clark- Cornell University
Education Category: Teacher Resources and Training
Budget: $10,000

We will take advantage of our involvement with the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission to develop education through astronomy by instructing teachers about asteroids with the same inquiry-based lessons they will use to teach their students. We hope to correct popular misconceptions of asteroids as catastrophic impactors and focus interest on the role of asteroids as original building blocks of the Solar System.

We will offer two workshops for 20 middle school teachers. During Workshop I we will teach asteroid basics: comparing actual meteorites to Earth rocks, creating models, making measurements, discussing theories of asteroid formation and outlining possible changes to existing theories which the NEAR mission may produce. During Workshop II we will use a computer program to enhance inquiry-based lessons relating Kepler's Laws to asteroid orbits while exploring the effects of gravitational nudging on stable orbits. We will look at actual NEAR images of asteroid 433 Eros, and (via the web) at current asteroid search programs.

We hope to stimulate interest among the teachers, and through them, their students, in the upcoming stream of data promised by the NEAR project in 1999-2000.

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CONNECTIONS: Image Processing, the Mars Project, and Science Teacher Development

Principal Investigator: John A. Grant, III- NASA Headquarters/Buffalo State College
Education Category: Teacher Resources and Training
Budget: $39,859

This pilot project blends space and astronomy content with technological literacy through a summer workshop on Image Processing (IP) for teachers from Buffalo City schools, Buffalo State College and teachers of the Regional Math/Science Upward Bound Program. Teachers will incorporate IP into their courses, including the summer program of the Math/Science Upward Bound Program. Teachers will instruct students on the use of image processing. Second, the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium director with the aid of our astronomer and a research assistant will design a planetarium show around the Mars project data and IP, and construct an interactive Web site for teachers and students. During the following school year, teachers who were trained will bring their students for a planetarium show. Each spring students will have the opportunity to present their processed images at the Annual Science Congress held at Buffalo State College. The process will be repeated for a second year with new teachers and their students.

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HANDS ON the UNIVERSE in MISSISSIPPI (HOUMS)

 Principal Investigator: Mehri Fadavi- Jackson State University
Education Category: Teacher Resources and Training
Budget: $25,000

The goal of HOUMS is to provide state and regional professional development in astronomy education for middle and high school (7-12) teachers. HOUMS is an educational program that enables students to investigate the universe while applying tools and concepts from science, mathematics, and technology. Using the Internet, HOUMS participants request information from observatories around the world and automated telescopes, download these images and others from a large image archive, and analyze them with the aid of user-friendly image processing software. This project also will implement NASA's Office of Space Science (OSS) Education and Public Outreach Strategy.

The project will organize two, fifteen-participant, 5-day teacher workshops for middle and high school in-service teachers in the State of Mississippi during the academic year of 1999-2000. The trained teachers will be expected to impact 1500 students annually. These teachers will be granted 6 graduate credits. The project personnel have in depth experience in human resources development efforts and, specifically, teacher enhancement workshops. The project will be implemented by Mississippi Science Partnership, a novel collaboration of stakeholders in education. The program will be evaluated and its experience widely disseminated.

The project is expected to cost $81,655 of which, $40,000 are requested from IDEAS, with the remaining funds coming from Jackson State University and Participants' school districts.

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IMPROVEMENT of ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE INSTRUCTION THROUGH EARLY-TEACHER TRAINING

Principal Investigator: David Kuehn - Pittsburg State University
Educational Category: Teacher Resource and Training
Budget: $10,000

In an effort to provide local students with more meaningful science and mathematics instruction, we propose to focus our efforts in the training of pre-service and early in-service elementary teachers. We plan to augment the normal sequence of methods courses taken by students majoring in elementary education with a series of coordinated lessons, a summertime workshop, and follow-up activities during their professional semester. The additional activities and training will be directed at reinforcing content learned in their required science courses, introducing new hands-on activities focused on astronomy and space science, and showing the interdisciplinary nature of science investigation as an important and fundamental human activity.

During the summer workshop, we plan to mix pre-service teachers with early in-service teachers and an experienced master teacher so that the all may improve their science-teaching content by working with an astronomy researcher and, perhaps more importantly, share experiences and ideas about implementation of science and mathematics lessons.

The ultimate goals of the project are to [1] increase the quality and amount of astronomy and mathematics teaching in the elementary grades, [2] increase elementary school teachers' enthusiasm about teaching science, and [3] provide elementary teachers with age-appropriate, hands-on astronomy activities that can be used in conjunction with an astronomy or space science unit.

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LITTLE THOMPSON OBSERVATORY TEACHER TRAINING

Principal Investigator: Andrea Schweitzer - Little Thompson Science Foundation
Education Category: Teacher Resources and Training
Budget: $8,100

The Little Thompson Observatory is the first observatory to be built as part of a high school and accessible to other schools remotely via the Internet. This observatory is the second member of the Telescopes in Education (TIE) project. Construction is nearly completed and first light is expected in fall 1998. The observatory is located on the grounds of Berthoud High School in northern Colorado.

We would like to provide training sessions so that K-12 teachers and schools can make full use of the new facilities. We propose to have workshops for a dozen teachers each semester for two years, with an initial project goal of involving 50 teachers. Teachers trained in the use of the software may access the telescope remotely from their classrooms for both daytime monitoring of sunspots and evening observing. Extensive support for this project is provided by Berthoud High School, the Thompson School District, the city of Berthoud, and volunteers in the community.

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PROJECT MARS: Mars Activities and Resources for Students

Principal Investigator: Larry Lebofsky - University of Arizona
Educational Category: Teacher Resources and Training
Budget: $39,859

We propose a teacher resources and training in-service program focused on past, current, and future Mars exploration. Two two-week sessions will be offered, accommodating a total of 32 teachers and science resource specialists, grades 5--12, from Pima County, AZ. Participants are expected to have some background in teaching Earth and Planetary Sciences. At the project's conclusion, they will: 1) understand the geology of Mars in comparison with other terrestrial bodies; 2) understand the process of planetary exploration --- what we know, what we want to know, what we have learned; and 3) have prepared five resource kits for classroom use.

Program staff will provide background content information and software instruction, and will lead five activities. Participants will engage in hands-on and computer-based activities and staff-guided pedagogy discussion sessions.

Teachers will receive either two graduate-level college credits from the University of Arizona or professional development credit from their school districts. They will site test the workshop activities with their students during the academic year. An electronic newsletter will keep participants up-to-date about ongoing Mars missions and will also allow dissemination of feedback about classroom experiences by workshop participants.

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SOLAR OBSERVING: A Model Curriculum for Middle School Teachers and Students

Principal Investigator: Mark Moldwin- Florida Institute of Technology - Florida Academy of Science
Education Category: Teacher Resources and Training
Budget: $28,420

We know from research that children have trouble conceptualizing the earth as round and understanding the relationships of the planets in our solar system. Unfortunately, few teachers in the elementary and middle schools have very high comfort levels with astronomical subject matter either. This pilot project joins the Orlando Science Center's Teacher Leadership Center and Professor Mark Moldwin, Associate Professor of Physics and Space Sciences at the Florida Institute of Technology and a member of the Florida Academy of Sciences, in a project designed to assist teachers presenting information about planetary phenomena, to support them in their efforts, and to aid them in encouraging their students to develop inquiry skills related to space sciences. The project encourages teacher use of informal science techniques in classrooms and enhances use of astronomical observation to facilitate discovery learning. These activities will be sustained through collaboration between the Orlando Science Center's TLC, Dr. Moldwin and the teachers; facilitated through the mechanism of OSC's website. The project will be delivered to teachers from the six county region of Central Florida, (Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Brevard, Lake and Volusia Counties) an area which is home to many businesses and industries related to space sciences and technologies.

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WHAT DO ASTRONOMERS DO? An encounter with the methods of observational astronomy for K-12 teachers.

Principal Investigator: Remington Stone - University of California/Lick Observatory
Education Category: Teacher Resources and Training
Budget: $9,982

We propose a unique program to train K-12 teachers in the scientific method and critical thinking using observational astronomy techniques. We will recruit teachers from the San Jose Unified School District for two intensive 2-day programs, divided into K-5 and 6-12 sections, at Lick Observatory with subsequent curriculum development sessions at the school district headquarters. These workshops will allow teachers to experience what professional astronomers do and help them incorporate that knowledge into their curricula.

After some basic instruction in astronomy, the program will emphasize how experiments in astronomy are planned and executed. Workshop participants will formulate an astronomical hypothesis and analyze spectrographic data acquired with the 1-meter Nickel Reflector, thereby learning the widely applicable steps of the scientific method and critical thinking skills as well as astronomy-specific knowledge, technology, and techniques. After each observatory workshop, there will be a follow-up session where the participants will integrate their new knowledge into their current science curricula. The course materials, astronomical data, and resulting lesson plans will be compiled into a website, creating a substantial resource for science teachers in the San Jose area and elsewhere.

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