Chelen Johnson
This virtual team collects all independent research presented in 2008, and done by Spitzer alumni with students outside of a formal Spitzer team. Mr. Spuck's students worked on classifying galaxies in the Spitzer observations of the Taurus Molecular Cloud.
The NITARP experience inspires students to participate in research and inspires teachers to find a place in their work (either in a club, the classroom, or new programs) for authentic research. For me, personally, this year of working along with students to learn about black holes has shaped my pedagogical view that real research should be the basis for all science courses.
[...]It seems that becoming empowered in the language and the nature of inquiry and investigation was also life changing for our teacher participants.
I met a lot of people over the course of [my first AAS]. So many people were interested in chatting, especially with a high school physics teacher!
