Galaxies and Cosmology for Science Teachers

Lead instructor: Niel Brandt


This inservice workshop for middle- and high-school science teachers is a 2-credit course at Penn State's Graduate School officially listed as Astro 597B. Transcripts can be obtained after the course is complete from the Penn State Registrar (www.psu.edu/registrar). In the program below, activities take place in 541 Davey Laboratory and Dr. Brandt is the presenter, unless otherwise noted.

Questions regarding the Workshop can be referred to Chris Palma (cpalma@astro.psu.edu, 814-863-6091).


SUMMER 2002 WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Revised 7/09/02
Sunday, July 14
7:00-8:00 PM Reception (Nittany Suites, Common Room 220/221). PASGC presentation (Phelps)
8:00-9:00 PM Obtain computer accounts at Pollock Library

Monday, July 15

9:00-9:30 Workshop introduction, National Science Education Standards (Palma)
9:30-10:30 The Milky Way Galaxy
BREAK
10:45-12:00 Research talk: The halo of our Galaxy (Palma) Slides from Presentation
LUNCH
1:30-3:30 The closest galaxies
BREAK
4:30-5:30 Research talk: Colliding galaxies (Charlton)
DINNER
IF CLEAR 9:00-midnight Nighttime observing on Davey Lab roof (Durrell, Palma)
IF CLOUDY 7:30-9:30 Video presentation (Brandt) Room TBA

Tuesday, July 16

09:00-10:30 Galaxy distances and the cosmic distance ladder
BREAK
11:00-12:30 Distant galaxies
LUNCH
1:30-2:30 Research talk: The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (Richards) Powerpoint Presentation
BREAK
3:00-4:00 Research talk: The Hubble/Chandra Deep Field (Hornschemeier) Powerpoint Presentation
DINNER
IF CLEAR 9:00-midnight  Nighttime observing on Davey Lab roof (Durrell, Palma)
IF CLOUDY 7:30-9:30  Chandra ds9 activities (Hornschemeier) (214 Boucke)

Wednesday, July 17

0900-10:30 Expansion of the Universe and the Hubble Law
BREAK
10:45-12:00 Research talk: Matter between the galaxies (Charlton)
LUNCH
1:30-3:30 The Big Bang and the age of the Universe
BREAK
4:00-5:00 Dark matter I
DINNER
IF CLEAR 9:00-midnight  Nighttime observing on Davey Lab roof (Durrell, Palma) M13 image
IF CLOUDY 7:30-9:30 Video presentation (Brandt) Room TBA

Thursday, July 18

9:00-10:30 Dark matter II
BREAK
10:45-12:00 Research talk The first stars in the Universe (Abel)
LUNCH
1:30-3:00 Active galaxies and supermassive black holes
BREAK
3:30 - 4:30 Research talk:  The large-scale geometry of the Universe (Schneider)
4:30-6:00 Free time: curricular materials, planetarium, WWW, etc
6:00-7:30 WORKSHOP BANQUET (Cafe Laura, Mateer Bldg)
7:30-8:30 Research talk:  Building very large telescopes (Ramsey) (115 Mateer) Powerpoint Presentation

Friday, July 19

9:00-10:30 Speculations on modern cosmology (Charlton)
BREAK
10:45-11:30 Discussion: Astronomy and NSES in the secondary classroom (Hornschemeier) Powerpoint Presentation
11:30-12:00 Workshop evaluations


Presenters

Thomas Abel (Professor)
Niel Brandt (Professor)
Jane Charlton (Professor)
Patrick Durrell (Research Associate)
Ann Hornschemeier (Chandra Fellow)
Christopher Palma (Research Associate)
Lawrence Ramsey (Professor, HET Project Scientist)
Gordon Richards (Research Associate)
Donald Schneider (Professor)