Dodd Middle School, Freeport, New York
7, 8
Mr. Doyle was part of the 2012 NITARP class.
Mr Doyle writes:
I am pleased to inform you that Rajiv Chanda won the first place award in the Nassau County Science Fair sponsored by Molloy College. His project was titled: Looking Inside XX Cygni. Rajiv was part of the 2012 team HR4AGN.
Mr. Doyle writes:
I am very pleased to inform you that Leah Hochman, my seventh grade student was awarded First Place in the Long Island Science and Engineering Middle School 2014 Fair. Her project was titled "Investigating the Ages of Globular Clusters in the Milky Way".
Mr. Doyle and his students from NITARP 2012 attended a local STEM Celebration and displayed the posters their team completed last year. Rajiv and Rebecca were there to talk about their work and "show off" and represent NITARP.
All four main NITARP 2013 teams submitted research proposals. Several NITARP alumni helped review them.
Mr. Doyle reports that his school website has an article on his team. Nice job!
There was a connection for me, and I hope my students, between what at times can be very tedious number crunching and theoretical concepts to practical application of data towards discovery.
The experience has and will continue to help me develop more effective uses of NASA/JPL resources for me and to promote professional development.
NITARP has exposed me to the huge amount of data available and how to access it. I have data to work with for decades, and I have learned new ways to work with it.
I never met a scientist who did not want to discuss their work.
For me, [this project] was a real partnership between scientists and educators. All questions and suggestion were taken seriously and with respect.
My NITARP experience has made me rethink my entire approach to science education. Many of my students expect me to do the work and pretty much hand it to them all wrapped up and neat. Science education must involve a great deal of discovery by the student and not a string of topics with definitions.
Thank you for such a first class learning experience.
I was somewhat intimated at the prospect of working with Caltech scientists... however I found my first experience one that eased all my trepidations and instilled excitement for the work I will be doing.