Published: February 15, 2006
On February 20, Ms. Hemphill invited a radio astronomer to make a presentation to the Rose City Astronomers at their February 20 meeting; her visit was funded by the Rose City Astronomers and by her school. Catherine Garland's presentation was on the "Evolution of Interacting Galaxies." Dr. Garland spoke to a group of about 150. At that meeting, Ms. hemphill also introduced the Spitzer Teacher program. She had prepared a two-page handout of resources that can be "mined" directly from the Spitzer educational site. In addition, Ms. Hemphill had obtained some materials directly from Spitzer and set up a table of Spitzer and other materials for the RCA members. She talked to about 80 RCA members individually about the Spitzer program and resources before and after the presentation; almost all of the Spitzer materials were taken.
On Feb 21, 2006, Ms. Hemphill had a guest, Dr. Catherine Garland, speak to students in her second-period class and to other students and faculty on the infrared spectrum and how it is used in astronomy, on polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and on compact blue galaxies; about 25-30 were present. In addition, Dr. Garland spoke in the classrooms of two other teachers: she responded to questions on galaxies, infrared radiation, and black holes to students in a 6th grade class (~17 present). In the afternoon, she worked with preschoolers (~18), introducing them to astronomy topics. She will continue an email correspondence with the pre-school teacher on how to bring astronomy ideas into the curriculum. Since one of Ms. Hemphill's students is working on calculating galaxy masses and dark matter, Dr. Garland met with her to answer questions about student calculations and with two teachers to answer our questions about the work (February 20, 2006-3 persons).