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Summer Visit - 2017 - SIRXS-DEEP

The summer visit to Caltech is 4 days long and is the only time during the year of work when all the participants on the team come together in person to work intensively on the data. Generally, each educator may bring up to two students to the summer visit that are paid for by NITARP, and they may raise funds to bring two more. The teams work at Caltech; the summer visit typically includes a half-day tour of JPL, which is a favorite site for group photos. Reload to see a different set of quotes.

The SIRXS-DEEP team came to visit in June 2017. The core team educators attended, plus 8 students.

Quotes

  • This experience has changed the way I think about astronomers and astronomy. I know I had an idea of the fact that astronomers used light of various wavelengths and didn't really use as much visible light. This has really brought that home to me and has opened my eyes to just how much data is out there yet to be examined.
  • [student:] The most surprising thing I learned was that astronomy involves lots of chemistry which wasn't obvious when you first think about astronomy.
  • I really think it is important the students see the astronomers and other people working at JPL and Caltech as people and that they see themselves participating in research in a real way. Unless they have been exposed to working scientists as part of their daily lives it seems that they have a different view as to what an astronomer is or should be – not even a full misconception as much as a missing conception. The time during the week and the talk by the visiting Caltech folks helps fill in that context.
  • The face to face interaction and real time collaboration is important for the teachers and students as we are learning new information and techniques.
  • I love the connections and sharing that happen between teachers, students, and mentors. This is the part that I believe makes a successful PD or E/PO project very successful – the interactions and networks that are formed between participants at all levels. It builds a working comfort level and common ground that helps drive and support further collaboration and communication.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2017 - SIRXS-DEEP