AAS - 2018

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 2017 and 2018 NITARP teams attended the 2018 January AAS meeting in National Harbor, MD. The 2017 class was presenting results and the 2018 class was starting up. We had 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. All of the posters we presented are here:

2017 teams:
- Science Poster - Evans et al., "Identifying Young Stars in Cepheus C"
- Education Poster - Stalnaker et al., "NITARP: Bridging the Gap Between the Traditional Science Classroom and Authentic Research"
- Science Poster - Rowe et al., "A Search to Uncover the Infrared Excess (IRXS) Sources in the Spitzer Enhanced Imaging Products (SEIP) Catalog"
- Education Poster - Orr et al., "NITARP: An Example of Effective Archive Data Based Research in the Classroom"
Returning Alumni teams:
- Science Poster - Johnson et al., "Relative Age Dating of Young Star Clusters from YSOVAR"
- Science Poster - Sweckard et al., "Software Development for Asteroid and Variable Star Research"
NITARP Management:
- Evaluations And Impact (presented as education poster): Rebull et al., "An Authentic Research Experience in an Astronomy Education Professional Development Program: An Analysis of 8 Years of Data on the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP)"

Quotes

[student:] I thought that astronomers looked through telescopes. I was greatly proven wrong, and it was incredible to see how misguided I was.
The NITARP experience has already changed the way I work in my classroom. I try to provide actual data to my students to use whether we are studying Earth science, physics, or astronomy. I also have changed my lab exercises so that it requires students to develop their own strategies to solve a problem. I also have reworked many labs so there isn’t a finite, correct answer.
Beyond my classroom, I see other teachers in the department and school realizing a greater potential regarding what can be done at the secondary level. Much of my activity has led to focused discussions in lieu of our weekly planned in-service time. More teachers are coming around to the idea of engaging students in more real-world science, and the need for our own participation in opportunities for educators to explore modeling and research opportunities.
The reality is that the US needs more programs like NITARP, and should consider ways to make it easier for organizers of these programs to renew and grow what works. These programs need to be supported financially to encourage more secondary teachers to join, and also help high school students consider futures in STEM fields.
NITARP is an invaluable experience. I am extremely fortunate to have participated.

AAS - 2018

Quotes

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