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Project ASTRO Celebrates 10 Years
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(San Francisco – May 10, 2004) –This spring marks the 10th year of Project ASTRO, an innovative program at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) that partners amateur and professional astronomers with teachers around the country to give students a hands-on introduction to astronomy. Since the program started in San Francisco and Los Angeles classrooms in 1994, it has directly helped more than 103,000 students enjoy and participate in the excitement of scientific discovery. Project ASTRO is currently operating through 12 regional sites across the nation. Close to 2000 scientists, graduate students, and astronomy hobbyists have been trained (with a local teacher) since the program began. Many of them report that going into their local school has been the most satisfying volunteer experience of their lives and has given them a new appreciation of the challenges all teachers face in conveying science effectively. Each astronomer adopts one classroom and visits at least four times during the school year – but a few have become so involved they have gone back ten times in a single semester! A key element in the success of the program is that astronomers and teachers are first trained together at summer workshops that guide them through teaching space science using a variety of hands-on, inquiry-based activities. These include such fun projects as "Toilet Paper Solar System," "Invent an Alien," and "The Reasons for the Seasons Symposium." "When we began, there was a lot of concern whether we would find enough volunteer astronomers who would take the time to visit a class more than once," says Andrew Fraknoi, the project's founder and director; "But we've seen that helping to turn kids on to science is something to which both professional and amateur astronomers are willing to give time and energy." Fraknoi came up with the idea of Project ASTRO in the early 1990's when teachers at the Society's meetings would keep describing their fear of teaching astronomy (and of the little Star Trek fan in the first row who would ask detailed questions that the teacher might not be able to answer.) If only we could have an astronomer in the class with us when doing this unit, teachers would sigh. The project began with support from the National Science Foundation and NASA's Office of Space Science, although since 1999, all the regional sites – from Boston to San Diego – have found their own funding from local and national sources. Each site is supported by a coalition of educational and scientific organizations in its community, and there is a "lead institution" which coordinates the local project. These lead institutions vary from a community college in New Jersey to a university in Seattle and even include the National Optical Astronomy Observatories in Tucson (see full list below). The leaders of the Project ASTRO regional sites have formed a "national network" to exchange ideas and seek solutions to the challenges of running the project on a shoestring. At this year's network meeting, to be held May 21-22 at the University of Washington in Seattle, they will celebrate the project's 10th anniversary and plan for new ways of expanding the program. The effect of the project is not limited to the regional sites and schools that have astronomer-teacher partnerships. Project ASTRO materials (particularly its manuals of classroom-tested astronomy activities in English and in Spanish) are now in independent use in tens of thousands of school districts, museums, and planetaria around the world. "One of the best things about Project ASTRO is that it shows students that astronomy can be interesting, interactive, and within the grasp of everyone," said Cathy Clemens, the project's site coordinator in Boston. "Working in a hands-on environment, students are put in the role of being scientists, so it becomes the children's questions that drive their own inquiry and help them find answers." In 2001, the program branched out in a new direction with "Family ASTRO" (also supported by the National Science Foundation), developing special hands-on astronomy events, games and kits for family groups. Family ASTRO is currently being tested in eight sites around the country.
About the Astronomical Society of the Pacific The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) is the oldest and largest general astronomy organization in the U.S., with members in all 50 states and in more than 70 other nations. The ASP is a recognized leader in the field of astronomy education, with programs and materials for students and educators from elementary school to the university level, as well as for the public at large. The Society publishes a respected monthly scientific journal, a free web-based teacher's newsletter, and a popular magazine. For more information about the ASP and its programs, visit www.astrosociety.org or phone 415-337-1100. The Project ASTRO™ National Network: Boston,
Massachusetts Connecticut Inland
Northwest (E. Washington, Idaho) Nevada New
Jersey New
Mexico Northwestern
Michigan Ohio San
Diego, California San
Francisco Bay Area, California Seattle,
Washington Tucson,
Arizona Network
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