A Standards-Based Approach to using Astronomical Data in the Classroom with Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope
Virtual Observatory Workshop—American Astronomical Society 219th Meeting
Sunday, January 8, 2011
- The Virtual Observatory in the Classroom (12:00–2:00 p.m.) is aimed at high school and community college educators. The VO is well positioned to teach STEM-based subjects using real astronomical data from more than 30 world-class telescopes.
Workshop Objectives
To learn how to use Microsoft’s WWT to teach STEM-based subjects that are aligned with state and national education standards. To create a partnership between the VAO EPO team and educators for further professional development opportunities using WWT and other STEM-based classroom computer tools.
Agenda
12:00 |
Welcome & Introduction to the Virtual Observatory |
12:10 |
Education & Outreach in the VAO Project |
12:15 |
Introduction to the World Wide Telescope |
12:45 |
Educator participation at WWT workstations (in groups)
|
1:45 |
Reflection/Questions/Feedback |
2:00 |
Break |
There is no preparation required for this workshop. It is not required for you to bring a laptop to the workshop. We will provide materials. If you would like to explore WWT before the workshop, you can find it here:
WWT is free. If you have a PC, download the Windows Client to get access to all of the features. If you have a Mac, or if you have a PC and want to try the web-based version, click on “Run Web Client”. The web client does require that you have Silverlight downloaded on your machine, and will do so for you if you give it permission. The “About” and “Experience It” tabs at the top of the webpage give explanations of WWT. You can also run tours (bottom of web page) that explain how WWT can be used in the classroom, such as the “Educator’s Tour.”
The second session of this workshop, aimed at research astronomers, will run from 2:30 p.m.–5:00 p.m. Further information about the research astronomer session can be found here.