WOW. Thank you for all of the information. I look forward to getting
involved and talking to others about this.
Thanks again,
Clear skies
Mark
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jane Houston Jones" <jane@No-Spam>
To: <sf-bay-tac@No-Spam>
Sent: Friday, October 05, 2001 5:40 PM
Subject: [TAC] Astronomy Outreach
> Hooray for all the amateur astronomers who encourage their sons and
> daughters, nieces and nephews, neighbors and friends and local schools,
> boy and girl scout troops, or other various kid-clusters to love and to
> look at the universe. Even if they don't turn out like us (maybe a good
> thing), they at least have the opportunity to see the night sky. Most
> any school would just be tickled to have you come to the school in the
> day time or at night and perform some star-magic for their students.
>
> To answer Mark McConnell's questions, although I am not a teacher and
> some of the teachers on this list might have better or specific details,
> here's my 2 cents worth. Elementary Schools do have astronomy in the
> science curriculum for certain grades, and can they ever use help!
> Anything your can do will enrich the students, and make you feel just
> great at the same time. Even if they don't have astronomy in the
> science curriculum in a particular grade, oceanography (you can tie in
> astronomy to tides), geology (rocky planets) chemistry (stars) and math
> can be an excuse for a star party or a comet making session in the
> classroom. I personally volunteer at rural, public and private
> elementary and middle schools in Marin and Sonoma county, and one high
> school in SF, and so far all of them have robust science programs,
> astronomy included. I can't speak for all areas, tho', and different
> districts might have different curriculum.
>
> There are formal programs like Project Astro
> http://www.astrosociety.org/education/astro/project_astro.html where a
> teacher and an astronomer pair up, develop some curriculum they both
> like (pretty much anything the astronomer wants to do is ok with the
> teachers), and then the astronomer agrees to come to the classroom 4
> times during the year. You just work it out with your teacher partner
> and go for it. At one school where I volunteer I go and spend the whole
> day with the third graders on their science day. My Project Astro
> partner is the science teacher for the school. Next Wednesday is my
> date with the third grade, and I can't wait! That fulfills my 4 visits,
> since I'll be visiting more than 4 full classrooms of third graders.
> Later in the year we'll put on a Family Science Night, and have a star
> party. Project Astro teams are set up in the summer so they can start
> the school year together, but there are often schools who want
> astronomers but not enough astronomers to go around, so you might call
> Project Astro and see if there are any schools in your area who could
> use your help.
>
> Many astronomy clubs have school star party programs, and some schools
> have after school astronomy clubs. Jim Van Nuland coordinates the SJAA
> school party program but many other clubs have programs just like it.
> Here's Jim's website with the details:
> http://www.svpal.org/~jvn/current.htm Jim also has some guidelines for
> astronomers on his website. You might try one of these events, bring
> your scope, let a kid use it to test the waters, and use that school for
> your loaner idea.
>
> A great resource put out by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific is
> the "Universe at your Fingertips", and "More Universe at your
> Fingertips".
> http://www.astrosociety.org/education/astro/astropubs/astropubs.html
> These two workbooks have hundreds of activities for the classroom or for
> star parties and are organized by subject and then by grade. They are
> great for around the house, too. For when you big kids want to make a
> comet for your dinner party or maybe for you kids birthday party, or
> make lunar craters, a sundial, a planet walk and hundreds of other
> things. Teachers and ASP members get a discount.
>
> Mark, your idea of essays and telescope giveaways or loaners is a tried
> and true idea, but it does take organization, followup and training.
> The Sonoma County Astronomical Society has such a program, where some of
> the club members make small reflectors and give them away. The children
> of Sonoma County write essays, and a club "jury" judges the essays and
> awards the telescopes. Tonight is the Young Astronomers club meeting
> for October, the club made up of the kids who have been awarded
> telescopes. Ten year-old Jeff Star -- yes that's his real name -- will
> be the speaker, and his topic is "Foamhenge", about his foam brick model
> of Stonehenge. Afterwards they'll have their own star party at a really
> nice and dark location in Kenwood, California. That's where I'm going
> tonight.
>
> You don't have to get formal about volunteering to do a school star
> party or a classroom visit, either. I know a fireman in San Francisco
> who is also an amateur astronomer, and he goes to a neighborhood school
> to talk about fire and earthquake safety. Since they all know him at
> this school, he thought he'd just informally do some astronomy there
> with the school. He talked to the teacher and got some star parties
> organized. He just does this as an individual with a neighborhood
> school. Lots of people do this kind of thing, and more schools benefit.
>
> On a related topic, if any of you in the North Bay are interested in
> helping out at school star parties, we have an informal local group who
> put these things on, for our kids schools, or for our Project Astro
> schools or just for any school who calls and wants us to put on a school
> star party. We are always in need of more and varied telescopes, and
> would love to have you join us.
>
> Jane
>
>
> --
> Jane Houston Jones
> San Rafael, CA
> jane@No-Spam
> http://www.whiteoaks.com
>
>
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