Today’s post comes from Kate Meredith. Kate is a former middle school and high school teacher who considers herself a virtual person in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey database. She has been involved with pilot testing, writing and training teachers to use the database for the past twelve years. Kate will be facilitating this teacher workshop at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago on October 11th.
In the past ten years there has been an explosion of internet-based citizen science research in astronomy. Hundreds of thousands of people have contributed to scientific research through Zooniverse projects. Participants in Galaxy Zoo, Sunspotter, Planet Hunters and more have been so active that educators and scientists needed to develop new ways for participants to explore beyond the focus of any one project. The result is a whole host of new web-based tools designed to assist citizen scientists in exploring vast quantities of astronomical data on their own.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has been part of the Zooniverse since the beginning, contributing millions of images in four separate projects. The SDSS itself has been providing web-based tools, activities and resources to educators through the SkyServer website since 2004. Check-out this video for more information about SDSS education resources.
About the Workshop:
On Saturday, October 11, 2014 the Adler Planetarium in Chicago will host a free all-day workshop giving an in-depth look at a new SkyServer education website, Voyages, Zooniverse web tools and the ZooTeach lesson and resource repository.
Workshop highlights will include
- Introduction to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
- A brief history of the Zooniverse
- The Voyages website and the NGSS
- Database Basics with SkyServer – Find Your Special Place in the Database
- Galaxy Shape in the Galaxy Zoo – Navigator Tool in the Classroom
- Scaffolded Research Experiences for Lab Settings
- ZooTools
- Resources Abound – Voyages Preflight, Help Documents and Zoo Teach
This free workshop for Chicagoland educators is appropriate for 9th-12th grade teachers or middle school teachers who work with advance students. Participants are asked to bring a laptop or tablet in order to fully participate in activities. Lunch will be on your own, so please bring a bagged lunch or plan to purchase in the Adler’s cafe. The first five participants that sign up for this workshop will receive a coupon for a Saturday Tour at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin where they can pick up one of the large SDSS telescope plates that you will learn about at the workshop.
For more information or to register please visit http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/events/voyage-to-teaching-in-the-zooniverse-a-workshop-for-teachers
Questions? Email education@zooniverse.org
