In the Footsteps of Galileo: A Hands-on Workshop on Astronomy

Sat, Sep. 12 and Sun, Sep. 13, 2009

Westin SFO Hotel, Millbrae, California (near the San Francisco Airport)

Part of the 120th Anniversary Meeting of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

One unit of Academic Credit available through San Francisco State U.

In this hands-on workshop, we will train educators to be “Galileo Ambassadors” for the International Year of Astronomy (2009). Teachers in grades 4 – 12 will learn how to do age-appropriate, inquiry-based activities in astronomy and physical science. After a brief introduction to Galileo’s life and work and the realms of astronomy, participants will explore:

1. A Private Universe: Student Reasoning and How to Help Students to Act Like Scientists
2. The Moons of Jupiter: Galileo’s Experiment Redone (and the Process of Science)
3. Understanding the Phases and Motions of the Moon
4. Making a Constellation Finder and Getting Oriented in the Night Sky
5. Measuring the Dark: Activities to Understand the Environmental Effects of Light Pollution
6. The Galileoscope: A Telescope for All Seasons and All Reasons
7. The Universe at Your Fingertips: Where to Find the Best Astronomy Activities in Print and on the Web

Participants will receive a free GalileoScope (a small telescope especially developed for easy public viewing during the International Year of Astronomy) and package of hands-on activities, background information, and resource guides that can be put to immediate use in  the classroom. No background in astronomy will be assumed; both new  and veteran teachers should gain new information and effective teaching techniques from the workshop.

Facilitators include:

• Andrew Fraknoi (Chair, Astronomy Dept, Foothill College and the 2007 California Professor of the Year)
• Dennis Schatz (VP, Pacific Science Center, Seattle; and the 2009 NSTA Faraday Award winner for science communication)
• Constance Walker (Nat’l Optical Astronomy Observatories and Coordinator, Globe at Night)
• Robert Sparks (Nat’l Optical Astronomy Observatories and Senior Trainer, Hands-on Optics Project)
• Suzanne Gurton (Educational Projects Director, Astronomical Society of the Pacific)

(Sunday afternoon, participants will join with other meeting attendees to hear a series of non-technical talks on the search for extra-terrestrial life, with the father of SETI, Dr. Frank Drake, award-winning science popularizer Seth Shostak, planetary protection scientist Margaret Race, and one of the chief scientists for the Kepler Mission, looking for Earths around other stars.)

Cost

$39.95 per day ($78.90 for the weekend)
1 semester unit of academic credit: $100 (optional)

Registration

To register, go to the meeting web site:
http://www.astrosociety.org/events/2009mtg/workshops.html
When you register, click on weekend registration and the first workshop under each day.