  {"id":202568,"date":"2024-08-26T12:26:30","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T22:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=202568"},"modified":"2024-08-26T12:28:16","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T22:28:16","slug":"ifa-hs-teachers-hands-on-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/08\/26\/ifa-hs-teachers-hands-on-training\/","title":{"rendered":"<abbr>东精影业<\/abbr> astronomers give high school teachers hands-on training"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><figure id=\"attachment_202572\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-202572\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/manoa-ifa-teachastro-workshop-2.jpg\" alt=\"people sitting at tables watching a teacher\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-202572\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/manoa-ifa-teachastro-workshop-2.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/manoa-ifa-teachastro-workshop-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/manoa-ifa-teachastro-workshop-2-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-202572\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants learn about asteroids orbiting within the Solar System.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This summer, the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\u2019s\">Hawai&#699;i\u2019s<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ifa.hawaii.edu\/\">Institute for Astronomy<\/a> (<abbr>IfA<\/abbr>) welcomed 10 high school teachers from across the state for an exciting week of professional development. The inaugural <a href=\"https:\/\/student.ifa.hawaii.edu\/teachastro\/\">TeachAstro workshop<\/a>, held June 10&#8211;14, aimed to boost the skills and knowledge of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\u2019s\">Hawai&#699;i\u2019s<\/span> high school <abbr title=\"science, technology, engineering and mathematics\">STEM<\/abbr> (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) teachers.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;TeachAstro aims to connect state-of-the-art astronomy with the students of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>, by sharing <abbr>IfA<\/abbr>\u2019s knowledge and tools with <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> teachers, who can then take that back to their classrooms,&rdquo; said <abbr title=\"东精影业\">东精影业<\/abbr> astronomer Michael Liu, a faculty member at <abbr>IfA<\/abbr> and director of TeachAstro. &ldquo;It was incredibly rewarding to experience the dedication and enthusiasm of our first cohort of teachers to realize this goal.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Teachers apply <abbr>IfA<\/abbr> insights<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_202574\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-202574\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/manoa-ifa-teachastro-workshop-4-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"star cluster\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-202574\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/manoa-ifa-teachastro-workshop-4-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/manoa-ifa-teachastro-workshop-4-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/manoa-ifa-teachastro-workshop-4.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-202574\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stunning star cluster, <abbr>NGC<\/abbr> 6440 nestled 28,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. (Credit: <abbr>NASA<\/abbr>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Teachers dove into hands-on research projects, attended science talks by <abbr>IfA<\/abbr> astronomers, and participated in curriculum development sessions. They explored the latest astronomical data and software, learning how <abbr>东精影业<\/abbr> researchers study star clusters and exoplanets. <abbr>IfA<\/abbr> faculty Michael Nassir, Jennifer van Saders, Jonathan Williams, and Liu led the engaging sessions.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;My experience with TeachAstro was very valuable. I felt it connected me to a stronger community in astronomy, which is something that I cannot obtain from my school as I am the only teacher teaching this topic,&rdquo; said Laura Daclison, a teacher at Kapolei High School.<\/p>\n<p>The teachers worked on creating lesson plans to bring cutting-edge astronomy content into their classrooms.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The TeachAstro program was inspiring and rejuvenating. I cannot wait to use all that I have learned in my classroom and better serve my students,&rdquo; said Stephanie Pickett from Kealakehe High School.<\/p>\n<h2><abbr>IfA<\/abbr>\u2019s mission<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_202573\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-202573\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/manoa-ifa-teachastro-workshop-3.jpg\" alt=\"group photo of people standing by tree\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-202573\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/manoa-ifa-teachastro-workshop-3.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/manoa-ifa-teachastro-workshop-3-130x130.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-202573\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The TeachAstro cohort will design curriculum based on content they learned in the <abbr>IfA<\/abbr> workshop.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Participants also learned about the crucial role that <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> telescopes and astronomers play in protecting Earth from potentially hazardous asteroids. They enjoyed stargazing with amateur telescopes at <span aria-label=\"Kapiolani\">Kapi&#699;olani<\/span> Park and took part in online observations using the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.keckobservatory.org\/\">W.M. Keck Observatory<\/a> on Maunakea.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;A key part of <abbr>IfA<\/abbr>\u2019s mission is to bring the wonders and joy of astronomy to the community, through programs to engage learners at many levels.  We\u2019re thrilled that TeachAstro is off to such a strong start, and we\u2019re hoping this helps build a network of astronomy educators across <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> as this program continues in future summers,&rdquo; said Doug Simons, <abbr>IfA<\/abbr> director.<\/p>\n<p>Supported by a grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation, the TeachAstro program will return next summer with an expanded group of teachers. Applications will open this winter.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/manoa-ifa-teachastro-workshop-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-202571\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/manoa-ifa-teachastro-workshop-1.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/manoa-ifa-teachastro-workshop-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/manoa-ifa-teachastro-workshop-1-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Teachers dove into hands-on research projects, attended science talks and participated in curriculum development sessions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[34,292,313,933,9],"class_list":["post-202568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-astronomy","tag-imiloa-astronomy-center","tag-stem","tag-teacher-education","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202568"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202576,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202568\/revisions\/202576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}