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AAS - 2016

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 2015 and 2016 NITARP teams attended the 2016 January AAS meeting in Kissimmee, FL. The 2015 class was presenting results and the 2016 class was starting up. We had many alumni raise money to come back as well. We sent about 50 people to the AAS and had a grand time. Please see the special article on NITARP at the AAS, and a special article on NITARP alumni at the AAS. All of the posters we presented are here:

Quotes

  • [new teacher:] I have never seen the scientific research endeavor start to play out in front of me before. I think I can already, at least a little, better represent what it looks like to share scientific work.
  • Since starting with NITARP, my Astronomy Research Course has grown by leaps and bounds. Much of this has to do with conversation I have and connections I make at the AAS each year.
  • [This experience] solidified for me how kind and curious astronomers are. I think that going in to an experience like this as a K-12 educator, I expected to feel a little bit like an outsider, but that was never my experience. I found that all of the people I talked to at our poster were warm and genuine and just enjoyed hearing about our experiences and thoughts.
  • My NITARP experience reinforced my desire to build on my current classroom experiences and research how effective authentic research experiences are at the high school level, and especially with English Language Learners and other underserved groups.
  • Watching the students present the research we had been working on the last year was absolutely the best part of the experience for me. They made me so proud. [..] they charged straight ahead. Answering questions and holding their own with these professionals. They knew their limitations and when they reach them they admitted it and did not try and fake their way through.

Related Teams

AAS - 2016