Chelen Johnson
This virtual team collects all independent research presented in 2015, and done by NITARP or Spitzer alumni with (or without) students outside of a formal NITARP team.
I was somewhat intimated at the prospect of working with Caltech scientists... however I found my first experience one that eased all my trepidations and instilled excitement for the work I will be doing.
It was amazing being, not just an attendee of the conference, but a real part of it through the poster presentations.
NITARP totally changed the way I teach, and I am grateful. Spreadsheets and data infuse my lessons. I assign kids to create spreadsheets to demonstrate that they really know how to, for example, apply trig to a problem, and then use those spreadsheets to use their solution to answer a question.