Project ASTRO
Towson University is launching a Project ASTRO site for Baltimore to begin
in the 2008-2009 academic year. 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
15 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.
As a Project ASTRO site institution, Towson University (TU) is responsible for recruiting educator and astronomer partners and for bringing them together for a workshop, typically held in the fall. 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 notebook of over 85 hands-on astronomy activities that are aligned with National Science Education Standards. The specific goals of the program are to bring direct benefits to both teachers and students by: (1) promoting active learning methods in science classrooms that engage both teachers and students and improve student attitudes towards science; (2) offering role models for students by showing them working examples of who scientists are and what they do; and (3) providing professional development for teachers through workshops, in-service training, and one-to-one partnerships with local content “experts”.
For more details see the web site at
For the first year of the program, the 2008-2009 academic year, we are targeting our efforts on middle school classrooms in the Baltimore City Public Schools (Garrison MS; Arundel ES/MS; Roland Park ES/MS; Arlington ES/MS) and the Maryland Science Center. We anticipate the recruitment of fifteen astronomer-educator partnerships, with approximately 450 students ultimately affected. If you are either a BCPS middle school teacher or an astronomer (or a scientist/engineer with broad knowledge of astronomy) and you are interested in this partnership model, please contact one of the project coordinators:
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Professor Jennifer Scott working with a
Baltimore City high school student |
Jennifer Scott
Department of Physics, Astronomy, & Geosciences
Towson University
410-704-3017
jescott@towson.edu
Rommel Miranda
Department of Physics, Astronomy, & Geosciences
Towson University
410-704-3014
rmiranda@towson.edu
By volunteering to participate in this partnership model program, you are committing to attend a two-day workshop in August 2008 and to make four classroom visits throughout the 2008-2009 academic year.
A note to educators: The Project ASTRO materials conform to national science standards, and we will make efforts in our workshop to plan activities that also conform to the Maryland Voluntary State Curriculum.
This project is currently funded by support from the Towson University Fisher College of Science and Mathematics and from 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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