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AAS - 2019

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 2018 and 2019 NITARP teams attended the 2019 January AAS meeting in Seattle, WA. The 2018 class was presenting results and the 2019 class was starting up. We had 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. All of the posters we presented are here:

2018 Teams:

NITARP Management:

Returning Alumni Teams:

 

Quotes

  • I am trying to make my astronomy class more discussion-based and trying to make it more inquiry-based. I was able to network with other teachers and got some ideas of how to move away from lecture. Although lecture has some usefulness I really want to try to be more inquiry driven.
  • NITARP has made me really hungry for intense, in-depth experiences—I can no longer imagine doing the sort of basic PD sessions that many local school systems offer to their teachers.
  • From my experience in the [another] program, I already knew how smart astronomers are. What surprised me a bit was to see that being smart, even for a Ph.D. astronomer, is not a destination, but an ongoing journey.
  • This will be a tough professional development to beat. Not only did I make a great network with other educators, but it reinforced the importance of inquiry-based learning and the importance of there not always being an answer.
  • [student:] [NITARP] has helped me see that the science isn’t just for a class or a science project but, can actually be used in real life. So this will help me focus more and find other ways to apply the things I learn.

Related Teams

AAS - 2019