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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

  • Real astronomy is being part mathematician, part computer hacker, part communicator, and a lot detective - putting the pieces together. It is messy, with results that may not be clearly interpreted. It involves looking from multiple angles with every tool you can find, looking for patterns and learning from lessons learned looking at other objects. Real astronomy involves focusing on a part of the astronomical processes, counting on other astronomers to do the same, so that all of the pieces can be put together to tell an ever improving story.
  • [student:] The best part of the trip was working with a real research team and helping each other figure things out that we didn't even have the answers to. Another fantastic part was learning so much, so fast. I enjoyed the fast pace because it kept the work interesting.
  • [student: Astronomers] do so much critical thinking and have to use their own individual judgement. I wouldn't have imagined that so many different astronomers could get differing answers and still all be technically correct.
  • As a teacher who loves doing projects with students, I was in a much different role this time. I have been taught to give quick help, activate students then move away as they engage. When I often want to complete the task and do it for them, that wasn’t what the students needed for growth. This time, I needed to stay engaged in the activity. This might seem subtle, but it was not for me. And usually, my personal projects are self-contrived.
  • Astronomy is rad. The way that astronomers use light to understand the universe is clever and math-y. The deepest truths about the universe are earned through patient, creative, sometimes tedious, skeptical scrutiny of data.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2017 - CephC:LABS