Useful things for astronomer partners
Program Brochure
Designed by Kevin, March 2009:
Brochure (pdf)
Manual
Current version of the Navajo-Hopi Astronomy Outreach Program Logistics Manual:
manual_2014.pdf
Here are the contents of the manual:
- The partnerships
- Classroom visits
- Star parties
- Field trip to Lowell Observatory
- Teacher enhancement
- Suggestions and Lessons
- Program evaluation tools
- Arizona State Science Standards
- Cultural awareness & connection
- Procedures
- Keeping your spirits up
Summary of Program
2015-2016 school year:
summary15.pdf
2014-2015 school year:
summary14.pdf
2013-2014 school year:
summary13.pdf
2012-2013 school year:
summary12.pdf
2011-2012 school year:
summary11.pdf
2010-2011 school year:
summary10.pdf
2009-2010 school year:
summary09.pdf
2008-2009 school year:
summary08.pdf
Final reports for funding agencies
2014-15 school year: report_14.pdf
2013-14 school year: report_13.pdf
2012-13 school year: report_12.pdf
2011-12 school year: report_11.pdf
2010-11 school year: report10.doc
2009-10 school year: report09.doc
2008-09 school year: report08.doc
2007-08 school year: report07.doc
2006-07 school year: report06.doc (from final SST E/PO report)
2005-06 school year: report05.doc (from final SST E/PO report)
2004-05 school year: report04.pdf (from final report to America West)
2003-04 school year: report03.ps (progress report to Edwards Foundation)
2002-03 school year: report02.ps (progress report to Edwards Foundation)
Evaluation of our program
Here are the questionnaires for the 2012-2013 school year evaluation:
Request at the end of the year for feedback:
feedback_teachers_post.doc
Dr. Castagno's reports:
Dr. Angelina Castagno's plan for on-going evaluation (May 2009):
Dr. Denice Hood's report for 2004-2008:
Dr. Denice Hood's report for 1996-2004:
Arizona State Standards (old)
- By grade level
- By "strand" (subject)
Common Core Standards (new - 2015)
Navajo Lessons (based on New Mexico state standards)
Suggestions to make your partnership as effective as possible
Notes from meeting 31 July 2008 with Susan Holiday
From teachers:
- Hands-on activities with dramatic results keep students focused best.
- Summarize the activity. End an activity with a short (5 minute) discussion
to summarize what they did and what they learned.
- Logbooks would be more useful if you tell them what information is
appropriate to write down in such a logbook.
- Galactic Address activity would work better if the students first had a
better understanding of the geography of Arizona.
- To reach other teachers in the school: Try to be done for an in-service
afternoon and show several activities at once. Or, try to have them come
observe during their lunch or prep time. Have the teacher give the others
a copy of the lesson plan the day before. Consider enlisting the principal's
help in arranging the get together in order to make it something the principal
wants them to do.
- Meet the principal and tell them about the program to get their support.
- The workshop is a great time to prepare for the year. (So, allow time for that.)
- Students need more time to figure an activity out than you think. A
single 40-minute period won't do it. It may take several days of follow-up
by the teacher for it to sink in for the students. So, if you are working
in short periods, keep it simple and give the teacher what they need (materials
and information) to follow-up on their own.
- Organize and label everything for the students. For example, in making shield
volcanoes, label cups "Baking Soda" and "Vinegar" for each group, label pens
"Group n", and have a cup labeled "Group n" holding spoon, pen, and caldera
for each group.
- When giving instructions for an activity, write them down on the board.
Also, consider giving them instructions one step at a time, if it is something
they can all keep up with together.
- Give each student a task. "You are student number 1; you do this. You are
student number 2; your job is to do this." Etc.
- When working with multiple teachers, the other teachers (besides the primary one) would
really like the same activities materials.
- Lesson plan with state standards are important for each activity.
- On field trip to Lowell: The students should have more participation with
something to take home with them. Tour guide to explain stuff in Exhibit Hall would be nice.
- They would like Lowell Observatory to provide some lessons and a packet about
planets, Mars Hill, history of Lowell and Percival.
From us:
- Just because teachers don't ask questions doesn't mean that they
understand everything about the activity. In the context of a partnership,
discuss the expected outcome of the activity and everything they need to
know to understand it.
- Explain why you need to make more than one measurement (in, for example,
the crater activity).
- Explain what a model is---for example, how is a model car different and the
same as a real car?
- Use kid hooks. They are kids, so think about things that you can put in in
small ways that will grab their attention. For example, in the Venus Topo Boxes:
Use an alien civilization mapping Earth as an example of how you can just take
pictures of planets that have clouds that move around. And, when the groups are
constructing their landscapes, emphasize that they must keep them secret from the
other groups so that it will be a mystery to them when they explore your landscape.
Then when they have reconstructed the landscape inside, ask them what the criteria
should be for landing a spacecraft.
- Leave a complete, neat package of materials (labeled plastic bin)
for teachers to use in subsequent years.
Include: copy of activity, any additional instructions, list of materials, tie to science
standards if available, introductory images or other materials with labels, all non-volatile
materials they need to carry it out with 5 groups.
Workshops for Teachers
Notes following the 2010 workshop on how to do it better next time:
notes_after2010workshop.txt
Anderson Mesa field trip
Here is a basic description of the typical field trip:
description.pdf
Making arrangements:
For out at the Mesa:
Maps
Map of Lowell campus
Activities
Deidre's notes on
past activities and
favorite activitiers.
Most of the following activities have the following components:
- A materials list (materials.doc)
- A label for the box (labels.ppt)
- Instructions--intended for the teacher (instructions.doc)
- An alignment of the activity with the Arizona state science standards (scistd.doc)
- Pictures and captions
It is best to place all of the materials for
an activity in a clear plastic box. Teachers aren't likely to re-do an activity in
subsequent years if it is not clearly organized for them.
I include in the box a copy folder containing a copy of the activity
(even if it comes from The Universe at Your Fingertips), a
separate list of materials, a list and description of the state science standards addressed
by the activity, and any pictures with labels that I use to introduce the activity.
Hands on Optics
Venus Topography Boxes (C-7)
Astrobiology
Is it Alive? (Activity 5 in Mars Activities)
Craters (E-1)
Modeling moon phases (A-3)
Solar System Bingo (C-10)
(Thank you to Amanda Bosh for the original version of this).
1000 Yard Model of the Solar System (D-7)
Solar System Sorting (loosely based on Planet Picking C-9)
Galaxy Sorting (More Universe at Your Fingertips: H-7)
Galaxy Counting (More Universe at Your Fingertips: H-8)
Shield Volcanoes (C-14)
Reasons for the Seasons Symposium (More Universe at Your Fingertips: B-11)
Comets (E3)
Planispheres
Astro Origami (fairly easy) from Kim
Miscellaneous from Kim
Last updated 28 August 2015
