Published: May 15, 2009
White Bear Lake Area High School student Bryant Richardson was an integral part of the team presenting their research results and data at the American Astronomical Society's annual meeting in Long Beach, CA, in January. Upon his return to White Bear Lake, Bryant learned he had been accepted to the class of 2013 at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL. When the committee on admissions was notified of Bryant's effective participation in the Spitzer Space Telescope Research Program for Teachers and Students (now NITARP) he was deemed a high academic scholar and was given a scholarship to attend the University. He begins his academic study in the fall of 2009.
The NITARP/Spitzer studies on Variability of Galaxies and Interacting Cataclysmic Binaries have been integrated into the Advanced Topics course at White Bear Lake Area High School. Much of my success in the implementation of this curriculum can be attributed to my participation in variety of teacher research experiences among which are TLRBSE (Teacher Leaders in Research Based Science Education), an NSF-funded teacher enhancement program and NITARP (NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Project). These nationally recognized programs have provided me the opportunity to augment my knowledge and practical application of leadership skills, pedagogy and authentic research with the purpose to kindle students' fervor and passion for original scientific research and to mentor new teachers in the field of inquiry based science instruction. The number of students involved in astronomy research at White Bear Lake has increased dramatically in the past 24 months, with several graduating seniors now majoring in Physics, the Space Sciences and Engineering in college.
In the spring of 2009, Astronomy students at White Bear Lake embarked on a new project. Following their study of the Greek Astronomers, WBLAHS has teamed up with the fabrication laboratory at Century College to make a replica of the Antikythera mechanism, an antique calendrical device discovered in the wreck of an ancient Roman ship in shallow waters off the coast of Greece in 1901. We hope to present this project as part of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy Celebration.