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AAS - 2016

The Winter American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting is the largest meeting of professional astronomers in the world. NITARP educators attend an AAS first to meet their team, then they go home and work remotely for much of the year, and then attend an AAS to present their results.  At any given AAS, then, we could have two NITARP classes attending - those finishing up, and those getting started. Reload to see a different set of quotes.

The 2015 and 2016 NITARP teams attended the 2016 January AAS meeting in Kissimmee, FL. The 2015 class was presenting results and the 2016 class was starting up. We had many alumni raise money to come back as well. We sent about 50 people to the AAS and had a grand time. Please see the special article on NITARP at the AAS, and a special article on NITARP alumni at the AAS. All of the posters we presented are here:

Quotes

  • [This experience changed the way I thought about astronomers] Quite a bit. I was not exactly sure what astronomers did. What I mean is how they worked. I thought they all knew about stars and the formations they formed in the night sky. Not so. Turns out they know generalizations about most stuff but quite a bit about their area of expertise. It was interesting to ask an astronomer questions that was not in their field and have them answer, “well that is not an area I know much about…here is what I think…but it would be best if you go ask ….. that is their area.”
  • [student:] I think the AAS meeting seems really fun and makes the idea of doing research as a job more exciting. I like how much networking astronomers get to do at these meetings, and it was great to get a chance to experience this while still in high school.
  • The NITARP experience inspires students to participate in research and inspires teachers to find a place in their work (either in a club, the classroom, or new programs) for authentic research. For me, personally, this year of working along with students to learn about black holes has shaped my pedagogical view that real research should be the basis for all science courses.
  • [student:] It’s very rare that high school students actually get the chance to experience something this real in science class. All the labs have predetermined right answers, which is great for teaching content, but real science doesn’t have a “right” answer, it’s about finding new answers, challenging the old answers. Science isn’t about being “right” it’s more about “what if?” and “I wonder”. It’s new to not have to worry if you have the “right” answer.
  • In my astronomy classes, I am [now] much more likely to refer to current research in my discussions in class. In addition, I routinely use astronomy archives in my astronomy research class -- examples include, Catalina Sky Survey, SIMBAD, ADS, NED, and VSX. I am aware of the power of these archives because of NITARP.

Related Teams

AAS - 2016