[27.06] Modeling the Universe: Professional Development for Teachers Designed by NASA's Structure and Evolution of the Universe E/PO Program

8th HEAD Meeting, 8-11 September, 2004
Session 27 Education
Poster, Friday, September 10, 2004, 9:00am-10:00pm

[27.06] Modeling the Universe: Professional Development for Teachers Designed by NASA's Structure and Evolution of the Universe E/PO Program

M. Dussault (NASA-Smithsonian Universe Education Forum, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), L. Bartolone (WMAP E/PO Team and Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum), J. Grier (NASA-Smithsonian Universe Education Forum, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), J. Lochner (High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive E/PO Group, NASA/GSFC), B. Mendez (CHIPS E/PO, Center for Science Education, Space Sciences Lab, UC Berkeley), E. Reinfeld (NASA-Smithsonian Universe Education Forum, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), S. Silva (GLAST/Swift/XMM E/PO, Sonoma State U.), S. Steel (NASA-Smithsonian Universe Education Forum, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), N. Craig (CHIPS E/PO, Center for Science Education, Space Sciences Lab, UC Berkeley), R. Gould (NASA-Smithsonian Universe Education Forum, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), K. Lestition (Chandra E/PO, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), P. Plait (GLAST/Swift/XMM E/PO, Sonoma State U.), I. Porro (HETE/Chandra E/PO, MIT Center for Space Research), S. Range (GP-B E/PO, Stanford U.)

We have developed a targeted set of activities, presentations, and assessments that immerse teachers in learning about two key themes from the National Science Education Standards: origin and evolution of the universe, and the unifying concept of models, evidence, and explanation in science. Students of all ages come to the astronomy classroom with their own ideas and internal models of how the universe works. Our strategy for addressing these prior notions is to elicit ideas up front, prompt a discussion of the nature of models in astronomy, and then illustrate how models change as new evidence and ideas are brought to bear. Our ``Modeling the Universe" investigations provide a context and motivation for learning about NASA's Structure and Evolution of the Universe space science missions as tools for testing astronomical models and theories. This poster will outline the educational materials and resources we have developed, and will demonstrate how these can be adapted or enhanced in various classroom environments. Visit the ``Modeling the Universe" website at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/seuforum/mtu/

This work was funded under the NASA Office of Space Science Education and Public Outreach Program.

If you would like more information about this abstract, please follow the link to http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/seuforum/mtu/. This link was provided by the author. When you follow it, you will leave the Web site for this meeting; to return, you should use the Back comand on your browser.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: seuforum@cfa.harvard.edu

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