Chelen Johnson
The StarChasers team will be looking for new young stellar objects (YSOs) in the constellation Cassiopeia where other people have already found a few YSOs; StarChasers will be looking to see (a) if the published list of YSOs seem to be real YSOs, given additional data, and (b) if they can find additional YSO candidates.
You really do become co-learners with the students.
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.
The experience I had at the 2012 AAS meeting as well as the entire NITARP experience will change the way I teach astronomy. Having spent 5 days meeting and discussing authentic scietific research with so many people from many different facilities was extremely rejuvinating as an educator.
