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Summer Visit - 2017 - CephC:LABS

The summer visit to Caltech is 4 days long and is the only time during the year of work when all the participants on the team come together in person to work intensively on the data. Generally, each educator may bring up to two students to the summer visit that are paid for by NITARP, and they may raise funds to bring two more. The teams work at Caltech; the summer visit typically includes a half-day tour of JPL, which is a favorite site for group photos. Reload to see a different set of quotes.

The CephC-LABS team came to visit in June 2017. The core team educators attended, plus 5 students.

Quotes

  • [...] this was a much different experience than taking a grad course, or doing a workshop on a campus. It reminded me of my undergrad physics courses (25+ years ago), where professors would often through big gems of knowledge a class, which you would take back to your dorm room and wrestle with throughout the week, although you were sure to get another packet of knowledge at the next lecture. I was able to get a glimpse into the experience of learning at an accelerated pace. It will help me this year as I make my revisions and consider what my students will experience as I lead classes this year, and also the rigor that must be maintained.
  • [Real astronomy is] Using physical evidence to construct models about the universe. Lots of computer screen time. A back and forth, non-linear process. One of the coolest things one can do with one’s time here on spaceship earth.
  • [student:] I was expecting the most amount of work I have ever done, and I was a little frightened I wouldn’t be able to keep up at all. The work proved to be intense, but not too much.
  • [student:] Everything could not have been done online, since we were able to be together we could much more easily help one another and actually trust one another. The group became much closer after spending a week together and I feel like we became very good friends.
  • I really enjoyed the role of the artists and computer savvy in communicating the science. Astronomers have done a great job of improving the communication and education through various visual representations.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2017 - CephC:LABS