• NASA
  • IPAC

Summer Visit - 2022 - fIRes

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 fIRes team came to visit in July 2022. The 5 core team educators attended, plus 9 students.

Quotes

  • the fact that someone, somewhere (namely, you who write the grants and those that fund them) valued what we do and thought we were worthy of some extra investment, made me feel more effective and more confident and made me think forward to additional opportunities and accomplishments, rather than being saddled with the day-to-day deadlines and targets that typically dominate a teacher's thinking.
  • Though I've been teaching and preaching [the scientific method] for years, this is really the first time I've honestly done it (with A LOT of help and guidance, of course).
  • [student:] Before this experience I was aware that astronomers did work to progress in the science world, but I didn't realize just how much research, scientifically common knowledge, and effort was required for astronomers to do their jobs.
  • The importance of building a team relationship is the key to success. The benefits of working together at Caltech include being able to immediately receive feedback from the mentor astrophysicist and the other participants as well as being able to ask questions that occur organically in the midst of a conversation.
  • My advice for teachers is to allow students space to formulate their own ideas. Students need the opportunity to struggle and make mistakes alongside their teacher. It’s okay not to be the expert - it’s meaningful to model struggling right along with your students.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2022 - fIRes