NASA/IPAC Teacher
Archive Research Program

I've been involved in many professional development activities and this is by far the best one I've ever done

Chelen Johnson

Team Red Shift: Using Spitzer Space Telescope images to find clusters of galaxies at a large distance from the Earth.

The middle schoolers [from NITARP 2012] fielded questions from an astronomer from the Keck observatory like old pros -‐ very professional! I can’t wait to see my students do the same.
I already had a pretty good idea of how astronomers do science, but NITARP helped me see more exactly how data is collected, processed, and analyzed. It helped me also see that I can do astronomy myself, and can make a contribution beyond my own classroom. Not only can I analyze astronomical data to find scientifically useful results, but I can publish my work as a poster and be part of this community. I did not feel like a stranger or usurper or even out of place – it felt like I belonged.
My students were really impressed when I gave them just a summary of some of the stuff we did and saw [at the AAS]!