Chelen Johnson
Attended Kepler announcement of the new planets. Later that day teachers who were actually teaching in my high school e-mailed me to tell me about the planets just discovered. I had to tell them I'd known about that for hours. I was there at the announcement by the scientists involved.
The most interesting thing I did was to discuss the learning experience with the students who participated in last year’s project. Being in the final stage of their experience and reflecting on that process was the most fun for me. I truly enjoyed the sense of accomplishment they had gained while engaged in the experience. They were proud of themselves and seemed to be waiting for more.
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!
