Two NASA IDEA Grants Awarded
NOAO staff members were recently awarded two NASA IDEA Grants, one for a multi-cultural program involving teachers at a Tohono O'odham school and the other for development of classroom materials suitable for secondary science classes. Michael Belton's NOAO-based Galileo Imaging Team received funding for "Integrating Space Exploration with Interdisciplinary Curricula at a Tohono O'odham Middle School." Coordinated by Elizabeth Alvarez del Castillo, math, science, and communications teachers at the school are already working with the scientists to integrate planetary and space science topics into the lesson plans for the next academic year. The second grant brings together a professional science writer, a science educator, and scientists for "Bringing Hot Topics in Astronomy into the Classroom" through the development of instructional materials with popular appeal. The initial effort, coordinated by Suzanne Jacoby of the NOAO Educational Outreach Office, will capitalize on the current and anticipated high level of public interest in comets. Lesson modules will be based on an original article suitable for the popular press, packaged with accurate background information and lession plans and activities to facilitate the learning.
Pieces of Knowledge
Our current involvement with students and teachers at the Miles Exploratory Learning Center, a K-8 school in the Tucson Unified School District, is winding down as the academic year comes to an end. Middle school students from Miles worked with Tucson artist Linda Haworth and NOAO astronomers over an eight week period in the spring 1996. An important goal of this outreach project was to engage students in the process of science and convey the notion that science is a gradual and sometimes disjointed accumulation of knowledge. One product of this classroom work, a set of tile mosaics with astronomical themes, is currently on display in the KPNO 4-m Visitor Gallery. In astronomy, the growth of knowledge rarely comes as a sudden burst of illumination. Rather it can be likened to the assembly of a giant puzzle, pieced together like tiles in the student created mosaics.
Eight astronomers visited the three middle school classrooms at Miles and presented topics which included "The Composition and Ages of Stars," "Build Your Own Comet," "A Map of the Milky Way," and "The Size and Age of the Universe." Linda Haworth worked with students in the classroom on "Conceptualizing an Abstract Idea" and "The Design and Construction of a Tile Mosaic." Comet Hyakutake made its spectacular appearance during this time as well, adding an exciting element of scientific discovery to this shared learning experience.
Suzanne H. Jacoby, NOAO Education Officer