Chelen Johnson
Luminous Data Miners: Using ultraviolet images from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) satellite and infrared images from the Spitzer Space Telescope to find a correlation between the color and luminosity of gas emission and dust emission around supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies.
For me, [this project] was a real partnership between scientists and educators. All questions and suggestion were taken seriously and with respect.
My NITARP experience has made me rethink my entire approach to science education. Many of my students expect me to do the work and pretty much hand it to them all wrapped up and neat. Science education must involve a great deal of discovery by the student and not a string of topics with definitions.
The most interesting thing I learned was that it is possible for very young students to wrap their heads around complex “higher level” science if they are motivated and engaged.
