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Rooftop Variables is a hands-on training program for |
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| “One of things I'm noticing right off the bat with the RV experience is that I actually spend more time and attention to Astronomy when it comes to my attention. When I saw the “Road to Palomar” topic on Nova, I watched it carefully, instead of just leaving it on in the background. When there's a news piece on NPR about the next manned spaceflight mission, I turn up the volume and prick up my ears. I try to find Vega as I warm up a bottle during a 3 AM feeding, and feel unexpected consternation with cloudy weather.
What the program succeeds so well at already is reinvigorating the excitement of discovery and thrill for learning something new. That it investigates the stuff of the lofty metaphors (heavens, reach for the stars, head in the clouds, etc) only makes it even more appealing.” —Anthony Finney, cohort 1 teacher, Flushing International HS. |
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Participating teachers are selected through Columbia University's Summer Research Program for Science Teachers (SRP), one of the best known university-based professional development programs in the country. Over the course of their first year in the program, they engage in observational astronomy research under the supervision of graduate student mentors. Teachers also have opportunities to adapt existing curricular materials to their needs or to develop new ones. They are then able to obtain the equipment needed to create astronomy clubs at their schools, and recruit students to participate in the same sort of research programs they themselves undertook while in Rooftop Variables. |
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