AAS - 2023

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 2022 and 2023 NITARP teams attended the 2023 January AAS meeting in Seattle, WA. The 2022 class was presenting results and the 2023 class was starting up. We had alumni raise money to come back as well. We sent about 30 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:

2022 Teams:

Ciambra et al., A More Complete List of YSO Candidates in AFGL 490
Benter et al., Survey of the Spitzer Enhanced Imaging Products (SEIP) Catalog for Potential Debris Disks Around Main Sequence M Class Stars
Bonham et al., NGSS Science and Engineering Practices in Secondary Education through Real Astronomical Research
Swigert et al., Teacher Roles within NITARP: a 13-month Research Collaboration

Alumni:

Granucci, "Does a Solar Telescope generate more interest in astronomy than Night Observing Telescope?" (talk)
Kniezewski, "To Rain or Not to Rain: Correlating GOES Flare Class and Coronal Rain Statistics" (poster and press release; student alumna!)

Quotes

One of my primary professional goals has always been to bring research into the classroom through my experiences. This has made me realize that it is possible to deliver those experiences directly to students. This will cause me to look further for these types of experiences that directly involve my students in research.
I had no idea, perhaps idiotically, how much data analysis went into astronomical research. I learned that in order to be a successful astronomer you need to be able to code and understand raw data very well.
[NITARP] also changed my ideas about the people who are astronomers and how astronomy gets done. Astronomy, I realized, might be more dependent on other fields than any other branch of science (or study in general): you need geologists, physicists, chemists, biologists(!), meteorologists, and engineers to successfully pull off many astronomical projects. It’s important to build good relationships with these people who could make or break your project. Fortunately, it seems most of these people are passionate about what they do: they’re working there for a reason!
Participating in NITARP provides teachers with a true nature of science experience. Most classroom educators have not experienced the shaky ground of not knowing the answer. It is a challenge NOT to be the expert and know all the answers when working with students. However, this is precisely where teachers can truly impact science education. Teachers experience a deep understanding of what it is like to be a student, model what lifelong learning looks like, and how to persevere through challenges.
NITARP gives kids a chance to move from the staged, contained, constrained world of science demonstration and rote learning methodologies to the messy, chaotic, beautiful, and sometimes nonsensical world of real science. Kids get a chance to learn about pushing at the boundaries of human knowledge where astronomers have to use real world data that does not necessarily fit any previous theory about what is supposed to happen. Teachers and students have to learn about the technology and use their brains to consider the meaning of this data, looking for trends and similarities to tease out possible explanations.

AAS - 2023

Quotes

Related Teams