Girls in Astronomy: Observing the World
Project Details
This project has expired before its completion.
Project end date: Sunday, May 23, 2010
Project end date: Sunday, May 23, 2010
- Project Type:
- Out of Classroom
- Project Subject:
- Science
- Project Location:
- Champaign, IL
- Project's Owner:
- Sharon T.
- Project Description:
A colleague and I plan to teach girls about astronomy through technology in an after-school program at a middle school.
We want to spark an interest in girls for the physical sciences.
Teacher Updates
Tomorrow we will meet at Atlanta Bread on Neil at noon to discuss the project. I have a call in to Angela Smith to see which day will work best for the school.
I spoke with Principal Smith. She says Thursdays & Fridays are the best days, but it is difficult to get kids to stay on Fridays. I said Thursdays are best. We need to think about three Thursdays. Schedule something 3-5. We also need to schedule a meeting time to meet with her as a group.
Sharon.
We plan to meet with Principal Smith next Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 1 p.m. That is the only time she had available.
We plan to deliver our first workshop on April 1 3-4 p.m. It will include activities on What is astronomy, learning about telescopes, and women astronomers. Paul will discuss cosmology, Mike exploring telescopes, and Margery & I will discuss women in astronomy. She will focus on current women, I will focus on past women.
I will bring music, Paul & Mike telescopes, and Paul will bring his projector.
We plan to have the workshops on April 1, 15 & 29.
We had 5 under-represented girls in our workshop today. It went very well. The girls were engaging and excited. I introduced the girls to some astronomers from the past, present and beyond.
Margery talked to the girls about present day astronomers and things that are happening in classes in a variety of places. Mike demonstrated the difference between refractor and reflector telescopes.
Paul wrapped up our session by showing the girls images of our galaxy, stars and a few planets.
Next week we plan to take the girls on campus to visit the observatory so that they can be exposed to larger telescopes.
We gave to workshops at Franklin Middle school. The first on Paul Ricker talked about some general astronomy content on April 1.
April 15, 2010 Margery Osborne and I(Sharon Tettegah) discussed women in astronomy. I talked about women in the past and African American women in astronomy. Michal O’Mahoney showed the girls telescopes, and talked about different types of telescopes.
Our plans are to take the girls on a field-trip to the university to the observatory.