Project ASTRO
The 2011-2012 academic year marks the fourth year of Baltimore Project ASTRO, a program led by Towson University in partnership with the Maryland Science Center and the Space Telescope Science Institute. Project ASTRO is a program that has been run by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) since 1994 to link professional and amateur astronomers with local K-9 teachers and students to bring inquiry-based astronomy activities to classrooms. Local Project ASTRO networks currently operate in 19 other regions throughout the U.S., but this is the first program serving the Baltimore area, with its high concentration of space science professionals and amateur observers.
For more details about the National Project ASTRO program, see their web site at
As a Project ASTRO site institution, Towson University (TU) is responsible for recruiting educator and astronomer partners and for bringing them together for an annual workshop. At the workshop, partners are provided with materials from the ASP, and they learn how to forge effective collaborations, how to make use of local astronomy resources, and how to implement hands-on, inquiry-based astronomy activities in their classrooms. The material supplied by the ASP consists of a DVD including 133 field-tested hands-on activities, from programs and projects around the US, 17 topical guides to the best sources of information in print and on the web, 52 background articles on astronomy and education, 10 recommended sequences of activities to help students learn some of the topics most often found in the K-12 curriculum. For more information about this DVD and other available resources from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, see their website at
The specific goals of the program are to bring direct benefits to both teachers and students by:
- Promoting active learning methods in science classrooms that engage both teachers and students and improve student attitudes towards science;
- Offering role models for students by showing them working examples of who scientists are and what they do;
- Providing professional development for teachers through workshops, in-service training, and one-to-one partnerships with local content “experts.”
Benefits of Project ASTRO participation:
- Each Project ASTRO teacher can reserve a classroom set of Galileoscopes (6 telescope kits for students) if they plan to facilitate a lesson on telescopes with their students.
- Each Project ASTRO teacher can reserve a classroom set of SunSpotter Telescopes (8 telescopes) to use in their classes.
- Each Project ASTRO teacher can contact Dr. Don Thomas (former astronaut and director of Towson University’s Hackerman Academy). Please contact James Reynolds, Towson University Project ASTRO coordinator to arrange a time for Don to speak with their classes.
- Each Project ASTRO teacher can request (free of charge) Science Resources and Kits from Towson University’s STEM Education Resource Center (SERC) http://www.towson.edu/physics/scienceeducation/SERC.asp
- Each Project ASTRO teacher can schedule a Portable Planetarium event for their classes to attend.
- The Project ASTRO astronomer partner will purchase up to $100 of resources needed to support Project ASTRO inquiry-based activities implemented in the teacher’s classroom.
Project ASTRO targets teachers and students in the Baltimore City Public Schools System (BCPSS). Over the past 4 years, the schools that we have partnered with are:
- Arlington ES/MS,
- Arundel ES/MS,
- Baltimore Community School HS,
- Baltimore Rising Star Academy ES/MS,
- City Neighbors Charter School ES/MS,
- Franklin Square ES/MS,
- Friendship Academy of Science and Technology M/HS,
- Garrett Heights ES/MS, Garrison MS,
- Hampstead Hill Academy,
- Harriet Tubman ES,
- Medfield Heights ES,
- Renaissance Academy HS,
- Roland Park ES/MS,
- William C. March MS,
- Windsor Hills ES/MS,
- Yorkwood ES/MS.
The astronomer volunteers represent the following astronomy organizations:
- Harford Astronomical Society,
- Maryland Science Center,
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center,
- Space Telescope Science Institute,
- Towson University,
- Westminster Astronomical Society.
We now support 17 educator-astronomer partnerships and the program has impacted approximately 1,800 underrepresented and underserved students in BCPSS since its inception.
If you are either a BCPS teacher or an astronomer (or a scientist/engineer with broad knowledge of astronomy) and you are interested in this partnership model, please contact The Towson University Project ASTRO Coordinator or one of the Towson University Project ASTRO Directors:
| Towson University Project ASTRO Coordinator |
James Reynolds
Department of Physics, Astronomy, & Geosciences
Towson University
410-704-4729
jreynolds@towson.edu |
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James Reynolds & Project ASTRO Partner Tameshia Farley |
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| Towson University Project ASTRO Co-Directors |
Dr. Jennifer Scott
Department of Physics, Astronomy, & Geosciences
Towson University
410-704-3017
jescott@towson.edu |
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Dr. Jennifer Scott & Dr. Alex Storrs at the 2011 Project ASTRO Workshop |
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Dr. Rommel Miranda
Department of Physics, Astronomy, & Geosciences
Towson University
410-704-3014
rmiranda@towson.edu |
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Dr. Rommel Miranda at the
2011 Project ASTRO Workshop |
This project has been funded by support from the Towson University Fisher College of Science and Mathematics, the National Science Foundation, and the NASA/Maryland Space Grant Consortium.
The Jess and Mildred Fisher
College of Science and Mathematics
Smith Hall, Room 312 (campus map)
Phone: 410-704-2121
Fax: 410-704-2604
E-mail: fcsm@towson.edu
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