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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

  • 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.
  • Programs such as NITARP keep good teachers in the classroom teaching and leading our next generation of scientists. Good science teachers need to be challenged, inspired, and motivated by the science they fell in love with as a student themselves. This happens when they are able to participate and engage in current, active, real experiences such as this. [... ]These programs make good teachers better, improve the quality of education they can deliver, and keep those highly trained, effective people in the classroom doing what they do best.
  • I loved seeing the progress of science as it unfolded. New results were shared, discussed, questioned, and next steps were stated that could be worked on the next week in some cases. It was amazing to see “science builds on itself” for myself. I was not expecting to have that opportunity.
  • [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.
  • While the direct impact [of NITARP] may be limited, in terms of numbers, the depth and complexity of what is learned by teachers and students in this program will make them leaders in their fields [..] A program like NITARP is essential in making a broader impact as teachers and students with such depth of understanding can better pass that experience on to their peers as ambassadors than any top-down professional development ever could.

Related Teams

AAS - 2016