Chelen Johnson
I actually felt like I was able to accomplish something that would have some meaning to the scientific community.
Participating in NITARP has made me more confident about teaching Astronomy and communicating to students about how archive Astronomy research is done. They are surprised to learn that even THEY could do Astronomy research. My students and I had such a experience (they LOVED the JPL tour) and I'd love to participate again because I have some new students that I think would love this program!
I think the best part about the trip and NITARP as a whole is the chance to do authentic research and learn the methods and techniques used to tease as much information out of the data as possible. It still amazes me (and this is what I try to instill in the students in my astronomy classes) that we can learn so much from a tiny point of light if we are just clever enough to know how to look at it.