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NOAO Scientists Receive IDEA Grant (1Mar95)
(from Director's Office, NOAO Newsletter No. 41, 1 March 1995)

Several NOAO scientists have received funding through the NASA/STScI
IDEA (Initiatives to Develop Education Through Astronomy) Program to
develop "Active Learning Exercises in Planetary and Solar Astronomy for
K-3 Students."  Working with educators at the Satori School in Tucson, we
plan to develop a unique, creative, hands-on active learning curriculum to
teach eight basic solar and planetary astronomical subjects to K-3 students
and teachers.  The planetary group includes Michael Belton, Elizabeth
Alvarez, Nalin Samarasinha, and Beatrice Muller. Topics include "The
Living Solar System," "Build Your Own Comet," "Crashes and Hazards,"
and "Space Resources."  Solar astronomers Frank Hill, Doug Rabin, and Bill
Livingston will present "The Natural Sun," "The Sun as a Clock," "Sunspots
and Solar Rotation," and "Solar Music (helioseismology)."  These concepts
will be presented via student-created experiments and multi-media
presentations by the astronomers. Planning sessions with the Satori staff have
already begun to insure the learning exercises are developed and presented in
a developmentally appropriate manner. Classroom presentations will take
place during the 1995 spring and fall semesters for a total of 12 weeks. In
addition to the classroom activities, students will participate in a tour of
Kitt Peak and also create a tile mosaic of the solar system for display at
the Kitt Peak Visitor Center. Lesson modules will be disseminated at the
completion of the project, both on paper and electronically through the
World Wide Web.

Suzanne Jacoby, Project Coordinator

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