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AAS - 2011

The Winter American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting is the largest meeting of professional astronomers in the world. NITARP educators attend an AAS first to meet their team, then they go home and work remotely for much of the year, and then attend an AAS to present their results.  At any given AAS, then, we could have two NITARP classes attending - those finishing up, and those getting started. Reload to see a different set of quotes.

The 2010 and 2011 NITARP teams attended the 2011 January AAS meeting in Seattle, WA. The 2010 class was presenting results and the 2011 class was starting up. Special feature article on AAS attendees!  There were nearly 60 NITARP-affiliated folks, about 2% of the attendees at the AAS meeting!! We presented 9 posters. Also see Luisa's blog entry about this.

 

Quotes

  • I've attended many NSTA conference that focus on science education, but this purely scientific conference was an amazing opportunity. I gained a true appreciation for both the quantity and quality of research and work being conducted in the field of astrophysics.
  • I think it also was an invaluable experience for [my students] to see that it is "ok" to ask questions.
  • It was refreshing to learn that NASA wants scientists to get/stay in communication with the public, including schools, regarding the science being done. Engagements translates to representation and support from a grassroots mindset.
  • My takeaway lesson is that the students are much more tolerant of "issues" that make the research projects difficult to carry out and are generally content to be involved and learning something new.
  • Having the opportunity to get new ideas from my peers and discuss projects, activities and strategies helps me to grow and keeps me from becoming stagnant in my teaching. Programs like this are like gold to me because the financial situation in the district in which I teach is such that there is no money available to send our faculty to national conferences.

Related Teams

AAS - 2011