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Currently not recruiting
(please see bottom of page).
Creating partnerships between grade 3-12 teachers and amateur and
professional scientists...Project ASTRO/Seattle becomes Project
AstroBio
Project Astro has long
enhanced science and astronomy education by fostering ongoing partnerships
between teachers and astronomers, astronomy clubs, universities,
observatories and planetaria. Here in Seattle, since 2002 we have changed
Project Astro into Project AstroBio, an amalgamation of "classic"
Project Astro with a new component that incorporates teaching about
astrobiology, the study of life in extreme environments and the
possibility of life on other bodies in our and other planetary systems.
Over the course of the school year, each scientist visits his/her class at
least five times and develops an ongoing relationship with the students in
addition to assisting the teacher and/or leading astronomy, earth science,
or astrobiology activities. These activities may include hands-on
science, question-and-answer sessions, evening star parties for students
and their families, or large class projects such as biology "growing"
experiments, building a telescope or building a school sundial. Project
AstroBio currently has 42 partnerships representing about 1900 students in
participating schools throughout the Puget
Sound region.
Although based at the University of Washington, Project AstroBio is
substantially aided by its consortium, with
representatives from the
Pacific Science Center,
the Museum of Flight, the
UW Astronomy Department, the
Seattle Astronomical Society, the
Everett
Astronomical Society, the Boeing Employees Astronomical
Society, the Washington State NASA
Space Grant Office, local school districts, community
colleges, and teachers.
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific
(ASP) in San Francisco founded Project ASTRO in 1993 with a grant
from the National Science Foundation
(NSF). In
1997, UW Astronomy
Professor Woodruff Sullivan received a NSF grant to
start Project Astro in
Seattle. There are a total of eleven Project
Astro sites and one Project
AstroBio site across the country. In our first five years, we have had a
direct impact on 150 teachers and almost 4700 students in the Puget Sound
region.
The UW Astrobiology
Program has been developing and growing in many ways since its
inception in 1998, with funding for graduate students and research. The
faculty pool now includes 28 members of 11 different science departments;
23 graduate students in 7 of those departments, 4 post-doctoral
researchers, and 2 full-time staff members. UW is now a member of the
prestigious NASA Astrobiology Institute, headquartered at Ames Research
Center in California. UW researchers are among the top echelon of
astrobiologists worldwide, and are producing the first graduate textbook
in Astrobiology.
Teacher and
science partners:
- attend a mandatory two-day professional development training workshop
to learn
hands-on pedagogy
- receive 700-page + 400-page curriculum guides
- receive exemplary classroom resource materials for hands-on activities
- develop strategies for working together in and out of the classroom
- network with fellow teachers/astronomers
- obtain information about other learning opportunities in the region
Project AstroBio also hosts educational events throughout the school year.
Many of these events are sponsored by our consortium of institutions,
school districts, and individuals who are committed to improving science
education.
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