In the Footsteps of Galileo: A Hands-on Workshop on Astronomy for Teachers in Grades 3 12
Saturday, April 24, 2010, 9:00am 4:30pm
Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, CA (see map at bottom of this post)
Presented by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP)
Workshop participants will explore:
The realms of astronomy, and our changing perception of the universe
Recent NASA moon missions (with information and activities about the Moon from the NASA Lunar Science Institute)
An introduction to Galileo, his life, work and legacy
Ideas about student reasoning about science and how to help students think like scientists
Recreating Galileo¹s observations of the moons of Jupiter and the phases of the Moon
The Galileoscope: a simple telescope with many uses
Classroom-ready astronomy resources for teachers & students
Where to find the best astronomy activities in print and on the web.
Presenters include:
Andrew Fraknoi (Chair of Astronomy Department, Foothill College and the 2007 California Professor of the Year)
Brad Bailey (Staff Scientist, NASA Lunar Science Institute)
Brian Day (Education and Public Outreach, NASA Lunar Science Institute)
For their registration fees, workshop participants will receive:
A Galileoscope (a high-quality, small telescope developed for the International Year of Astronomy 2009; now retailing for $30)
A packet of hands-on activities, background information and resource guides ready for immediate use in the classroom
NASA lunar science resources
Lunch provided
No background in astronomy is required; both new and veteran teachers will learn new ideas and techniques from the workshop. Registration is limited; reservations will be accepted in the order received.
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific, founded in 1889, is dedicated to sharing the excitement of our exploration of the universe with teachers, students, enthusiasts and the public. It is the largest and most active astronomy education organization in the world.
Sacramento, CA (see map below)
Local Host: Chuck Hunt: email: Huntc@arc.losrios.edu
Sign up to present
Call for Presentations
We solicit presentations of 15 minutes in length. Suitable topics include teaching ideas, research projects, laboratory techniques, novel demonstrations, computers and instruction. Please send an abstract of your talk, with title, your name and affiliation, AV and equipment requests, and other requirements to the Program Chairman, Paul Robinson, preferably by email at laserpablo@aol.com. Deadline for submission is Friday, March 5, 2010.
Call for Demonstrations
Bring your favorite 5-minute demonstration for the popular “Show ‘n’ Tell”. Handouts describing your demonstration are encouraged. Likewise, giving contributed papers as Show ‘N Tells is specifically discouraged. Offenders will be gonged! Sign ups are day of the event, first come, first served (although it seems those who signs up always gets to present!). Do you have a great resource you want to share but are nervous about presenting to your peers? Our Show ‘n’ Tell is low pressure and a great place to give your first presentation at a teaching conference!
Program
Friday Evening Social
Plan on getting together Friday evening before the meeting. More details to follow in the program. We’ll also provide references for local lodging for Friday evening.
Saturday meeting/mini conference
Saturday starts at 8:00 with registration and socializing, and usually finishes 3:30/4:00. We have a brief business meeting around lunch time. Coffee/donuts is provided, and lunch is usually available for a reasonable price (reservations for lunch required). Exact details will be published once we have our speaker list set.
Other details
Dues and Don’ts
Section dues are $25 per year, due each Fall. If you cannot attend the meeting, remain an active member that will ensure you’ll receive all our mailings by sending dues to our treasurer Dennis Buckley, Liberty High School, 850 Second St., Brentwood, CA 94513. The registration fee for the Spring meeting is $10, payable at the door. First-timers are free! And don’t forget PTSOS participants—your dues are already paid!
Physics Teacher SOS (PTSOS)
PTSOS is an NCN-AAPT-sponsored project, funded by a substantial donation, allowing AAPT to deliver top quality help to physics teachers in their vulnerable first years of teaching. Workshops are now conducted in both San Mateo and Sacramento. Other veteran teachers are being signed up to help out small groups of local teachers through mentorships and also to help run workshops. Interested teachers are encouraged to visit the website (www.ptsos.org) and contact outreach coordinator Stephanie Finander at sfinander@sbcglobal.net for more information.
Dr. Chris Fassnacht, UC Davis, will present his lecture, “Measuring the Universe with Gravitational Lenses” on Thursday, February 11, 2010, at 4pm in Mendocino Hall 1015, Sacramento State University. This lecture is free and open to the public.
Chris Fassnacht received his AB degree from Harvard College and immediately afterward joined the Peace Corps, where he served as a secondary school math and science teacher in Ghana, West Africa. After returning, he received a PhD from Caltech. He held postdoctoral fellowships at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, NM and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD. He is currently an associate professor in the physics department at UC Davis, where he has been for the last seven years.
Prof. Fassnacht’s research involves using gravitational lenses to measure the rate at which the Universe is expanding and how galaxies such as the Milky Way are assembled.
Modeling Workshops in high school physics, chemistry, and/or physical science will be held in summer 2010 in Arizona, Alabama, Miami FL, Iowa, New Orleans LA, Maine, Michigan, Minneapolis MN, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pittsburgh PA, northern Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Dallas TX, and Wisconsin.
Modeling Workshops will be held also in Georgia, Chicago IL, Kansas, South Dakota, and Washington, pending funding.
Modeling Workshops are peer-led. Modeling Instruction is one of two K-12 science programs designated by the U.S. Department of Education as EXEMPLARY.
Stipends and/or free tuition at some sites: usually for in-state teachers. Ask your principal for Federal Title II-A funds. For information and more funding sources: http://modeling.asu.edu/MW_nation.html
Outstanding peer leaders at sites include Larry Dukerich, Rex and Debbie Rice, Michael Crofton, Matt Greenwolfe, Rich McNamara, Kathy Malone, Kathy Harper, Jeff Steinert, Earl Legleiter, Jim Stankevitz, Nicholas Park, Jamie Vesenka, Ed Wyrembeck, and more!
Teachers nationwide greatly value Modeling Instruction. They wrote:
In thirty years of teaching, nothing has impacted my teaching like the ideas I’ve learned in modeling. It is the best idea to enter the teaching methods I have ever seen.
After the first year of teaching using the modeling method, I wished I had learned about modeling years ago.
Most useful course I have taken since becoming a teacher.
Thanks to taking physics modeling course work, I am highly qualified in physics.
I learned a tremendous amount and am all fired up to teach physics this fall!
I learned more about teaching and physics this summer than in 5 years of college!
It was, without a doubt, the single greatest professional development experience of my career.
For more information, contact:
Jane Jackson, Co-Director, Modeling Instruction Program
Box 871504, Dept.of Physics, ASU, Tempe, AZ 85287
480-965-8438/fax:965-7565 http://modeling.asu.edu Jane.Jackson@asu.edu
Science on Saturday (SOS) is a series of science lectures for middle and high school students. Each topic highlights cutting-edge science occurring at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The talks are presented by leading LLNL science researchers supported by master high school science teachers. These presentations are offered in several locations. See the schedule below to find locations nearest to you.
Students receive a “Student Notes” worksheet to record key information from the talk. The worksheet will be marked with the official SOS stamp at the end of the presentation. Many teachers use the worksheet to award “extra credit.” Students should check with their teacher in advance to determine if they will receive credit for attending SOS.
Teachers who attend the SOS presentations can receive a CD with the presentation slides. If the talk is video recorded, they can receive a DVD of the recorded talk as well. These CDs and DVDs are offered free of charge and are sent by mail after the completion of the lecture series for the year. Be sure to register when you attend to receive your copy of these valuable teaching resources.
Presented by:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Education Program
Two presentations: 9:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.
Guest of Honor: Sy Liebergot, Flight Controller of Mission Control during Apollo Program
Saturday Meeting/Conference
Conference Center, NASA Ames, Moffett Field, CA
From Highway 101:
1. Exit Moffett Blvd./NASA Parkway.
2. At the stop sign just short of the NASA Ames gate, turn right into the conference center parking lot.
Friday Evening Social
6:00-8:30 PM Hot Dog Reception
Complimentary Hot Dogs (beef or tofu) and Beer at “Rancho Robinson”
424 Quartz Street; Redwood City, CA 94062 (directions)
Guest of Honor: Sy Liebergot, Flight Controller of Mission Control during Apollo program.
Sy will share some of his experiences with the filmmakers and actors of Apollo 13. He will also be available to autograph books and answer questions what it was like to be one of the central players on the mission control team–during good times and bad.
Saturday Meeting/Conference
Conference Center, NASA Ames, Moffett Field, CA
From Highway 101:
1. Exit Moffett Blvd./NASA Parkway.
2. At the stop sign just short of the NASA Ames gate, turn right into the conference center parking lot.
8:00 Registration, Coffee, Donuts and other culinary delights.
8:55 Welcome and Announcements
9:00 Show and Tell
Share your favorite demonstration or teaching tip. Since new teachers and section members will be at this meeting, veterans are encouraged to dust off some of your oldies but goodies. If you have handouts, please bring 75 copies. PASCO will present their latest products. Time limit is 5 minutes person, or you risk the dreaded gong.
9:45 “Transit Tracks: NASA’s Kepler Mission”
Edna DeVore
SETI Institute; edevore@seti.org
Using a model of a planet transiting a star, students learn what a transit is, under what conditions a transit may be seen, and what effects a planet’s size and distance from its star have on transit behavior. Students interpret graphs of brightness vs time to deduce characteristics of a star-planet system. Demonstration, hand-outs, and NASA Kepler Mission poster provided.
10:00 Invited Speaker: “The Search for Habitable Worlds”
Natalie Batalha
NASA Ames and San Jose State University; nbatalha@science.sjsu.edu
NASA’s Kepler Mission has begun its 3.5-year quest for habitable planets like Earth in our galaxy. Natalie will define habitability from the perspective of the Kepler science team and describe how and where the spacecraft will look for worlds reminiscent of our own. She will give an overview of what to expect in the coming years as we work to understand whether Earth-like planets in our galaxy are common or rare.
11:00 Keynote Speaker: Sy Liebergot; EECOM Mission Flight Controller for Apollo
This year is the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo program that culminated with landing on the moon. N Cal/Nev AAPT is pleased to commemorate mankind’s greatest adventures with a special appearance of Sy Liebergot.
Sy will speak about what it was like to be a Mission Flight Controller when a monster failure occurred during the Apollo 13 mission and landed squarely in his lap. He relates the general details of the explosion as they really happened.
Sy will also speak about Ethics in Engineering, using the real examples of the Apollo 1 pad fire disaster and the Shuttle Challenger and Columbia space disasters as subjects for this presentation. He describes how he and his fellow Apollo mission flight controllers approached their part in the successful lunar landings in an ethical manner. Sy uses real-life examples that convey in a way realistic and memorable enough to train engineers to deal with the heart-wrenching decisions some of them will have to make, particularly when they become managers. He examines how ethics (or the diminution of) played a role in the three tragedies of the U.S. space program: the Apollo 1 pad fire, the in-flight destruction of Shuttle Orbiters Challenger and Columbia.
Sy will be available for book signings after his talk.
12:30 Lunch at NASA Ames
Video replay of the LCROSS lunar impact from the Oct. 9 morning
1:30 Business Meeting
Look, only 30 minutes long!
2:00 Invited Talk: “Taking a Ride on the Wild Side: The Successful Stardust Sample Return Mission to Comet 81P/Wild 2″
Scott Sandford
NASA Ames, ssandford@mail.arc.nasa.gov
In 2006, NASA’s STARDUST Mission successfully returned samples from Comet 81P/Wild 2 to the Earth for study. The spacecraft was launched in 1999 and on January 2, 2004 it made a close flyby (236 km) of the nucleus of Comet Wild 2 (pronounced “Vildt Two”). During the flyby the spacecraft collected samples of dust from the coma of the comet. These samples were returned to Earth on January 15, 2006 after which they receiving a preliminary six month examination to establish the basic nature of the returned samples. The samples were then turned over to the NASA Curatorial Office where they have since been available to the general worldwide scientific community for continued study.
Scott is one of the original Co-Investigators and Science Team members of the STARDUST mission and was on the team that recovered the Sample Return Capsule from the Utah desert. He also escorted the capsule to NASA-Johnson Space Center, assisted with the removal of the samples from the capsule, and led the Preliminary Examination Team responsible for studying the organic materials in the returned samples. Samples have confirmed some of the ideas we had about comets and the origin of our Solar System, and completely overturned others.
3:00 End of program
3:00 Canceled “Shooting the Moon: Precision Tests of General Relativity with APOLLO
Charles HoyleHumboldt State University; charles.hoyle@humboldt.edu
It has been nearly forty years since the first reflectors were placed on the lunar surface by the Apollo astronauts. Laser ranging to these mirrors provides high-precision tests of General Relativity, as well as a host of information about the lunar ephemeris. APOLLO (the Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation) recently obtained the first ranges with millimeter precision, representing an order-of-magnitude improvement over previous efforts. In the near future, this enhanced performance will provide unprecedented tests of the Strong Equivalence Principle, the best measure of the constancy of the gravitational constant, G, the most stringent limitations on predicted deviations of the gravitational inverse-square law, and information about the lunar environment. We discuss the techniques employed by APOLLO, initial results, and expected sensitivity.
Logistics
Registration
Fee is waived for first-time attendees and students! Everyone else pays only $20 — which includes lunch. A bargain at twice the price!
Registration can be completed on Saturday morning.
Lodging
Local hotels include (in no particular order):
Comfort Inn
Redwood City
1818 El Camino Real
Redwood City, CA 94063
800-444-6835
$80+/night
or
Days Inn Palo Alto-Stanford
4238 El Camino Real
Stanford, CA 94306
800-346-8357
$69+/night
or
Comfort Inn
Palo Alto Stanford University
3945 El Camino Rreal
Palo Alto, CA 94306
800-346-8357
$85+/night
or
DAmerica’s Best Inn
1090 El Camino Real
Redwood City, CA 94063
800-346-5357
$70+/night
or
Travelodge Palo Alto
3255 El Camino Real
Palo Alto, CA 94306
800-346-8357
$74+/night
or
Mermaid Inn
727 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650-323-9481
$76+/night
In their Season Premiere the Mythbusters will take on the infamous projectile problem of a dropped vs shot bullet. While teaching projectiles, many teachers use an example of shooting a bullet horizontally and dropping one next to it at the same time. While students agree that this may hold true for slow projectiles, they often don’t believe that that gravity would act on something moving really fast, like a bullet. On their season premiere tonight, 9pm PST, the Mythbusters will be testing this out in “Knock Your Socks Off.”
Reflections on the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo Program
Thursday, October 8, 2009 • 7:30PM
Flight Controller Sy Liebergot
Sy Liebergot, a former NASA flight controller, was on the job for some of the most memorable moments in space exploration, including the Apollo 13 fuel cell explosion.
Mr. Liebergot will be available for book signings before and after the talk.
Sponsored by the Northern California and Nevada American Association of Physics Teachers, NASA Lunar Science Institute, and NASA Ames Research Institute
A Galileoscope (a high-quality, small telescope developed for the International Year of Astronomy 2009; now retailing for $30)
PTSOS, Professional Development, Teacher Support, Teaching equipment | WebWeaver | 
March 5, 2010 12:05 pm | 
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Stipends and/or free tuition at some sites: usually for in-state teachers. Ask your principal for Federal Title II-A funds. For information and more funding sources: 
Complimentary Hot Dogs (beef or tofu) and Beer at “Rancho Robinson”
Edna DeVore
SETI Institute; edevore@seti.org
Natalie Batalha
NASA Ames and San Jose State University; nbatalha@science.sjsu.edu
This year is the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo program that culminated with landing on the moon. N Cal/Nev AAPT is pleased to commemorate mankind’s greatest adventures with a special appearance of Sy Liebergot.
Scott Sandford
NASA Ames, ssandford@mail.arc.nasa.gov
Charles Hoyle
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