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Rooftop Variables is a hands-on training program for
middle- and high-school science teachers in the New York City area.

Click here to see a map with the location of our partner schools...

“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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Support for this work was provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through Chandra Award Number GO8-9012X issued by the Chandra X-ray Observatory Center, which is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for and on behalf of the National Aeronautics Space Administration under contract NAS8-03060.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author[s] and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Last updated October 26, 2009