Overview
The program for summer 2005 consists of three week-long workshops:
Applicants (or their school districts) are responsible for tuition, while the workshop will provide for lodging, meals, modest travel costs, and curricular materials. Teachers from West Virginia or other Appalachian Regional state may be eligible for special tuition grants as well. The funds supporting the PSIWA workshops are provided by NASA.
Each workshop is a 2-credit graduate course offered by the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics in Penn State's Graduate School. The workshops are oriented towards inservice science teachers at grades 7-12, but other interested educators are invited to apply.
The workshops were featured in the Winter 2000 issue of Penn State Outreach Magazine. Praise for these workshops from past summers can be found here.
Participants in the 2004 workshops can find the pre-workshop "exam" on astronomy here (PDF format).
The Penn State Inservice Workshops in Astronomy (PSIWA), inaugurated in summer 1996, consists of two week-long workshops for middle- and high-school science teachers and other educators. Each Workshop offers two credits from Penn State's Graduate School. They are held at the University Park campus in State College PA which lies at the center of Pennsylvania. The Workshops are offered by Penn State's Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics in cooperation with the Conferences and Institutes division of Penn State's Continuing and Distance Education.
The Workshops provide a multifaceted experience in modern astronomy. They
combine lectures on astronomical topics, discussions on their presentation
in the classroom, examination of multimedia curricular materials (texts,
slides, videos, software), hands-on classroom laboratory experiments with
inexpensive equipment, nighttime observing and use of a planetarium, PC-based
software activities, projects based on World Wide Web educational material,
and preparation of lesson plans. While one central instructor will guide
the Workshop, guest presentations by other faculty, research astronomers,
science education faculty, and secondary school Master Teachers are also
included. The Workshops are very intensive, requiring a full-time commitment
for 5 days (and even some nights).
Workshop faculty
Darren Williams, associate professor of Physics at Penn State Behrend.
Niel Brandt, associate professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State, will be the principal instructor for the Galaxies and Cosmology Workshop. Winner of the prestigious Sloan Fellowship and NSF Career Development grants for research, he studies black holes at the center of quasars and other galaxies at X-ray wavelengths and is committed to educational outreach.
Christopher Palma, is the first Outreach Fellow in the Eberly College of Science and is also a lecturer of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State. He will be the lead instructor for the Stars and planets workshop. His teaching interests include informal science education for K-6 students. His research interests include the study of globular clusters, dwarf galaxies, and stellar populations.
Who should attend?
The Workshops are primarily intended for middle- and high-school science
teachers of Earth science, physical science, physics and astronomy. Other
educators may also find them valuable. Participants must be formally accepted
into the Workshops after application. Teachers from across the nation are
invited, but we particularly encourage participants from underserved rural
and inner-city school districts in Pennsylvania and surrounding Appalachian
Regional states. Participants will be expected to introduce expanded astronomical
material in the classrooms in the following year.
Application process
Application procedures and forms are provided at the
Workshops for Science Educators website. Applications are evaluated
starting March 7 2005, and tuition payment is expected by May 1 2005.
Tuition, costs and financial aid
Tuition is generally paid by the participants or their school districts,
although it is likely that grant funds will be available to assist teachers
from Pennsylvania, West Virginia and other Appalachian Regional states. Grants
from the NASA Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium, NASA's Swift satellite
and other NASA Education/Public Outreach grants to Penn State astronomers
will reimburse lodging and meal expenses for all participants. Free curricular
materials will also be provided. Registrants will be notified
promptly of any cancellations, schedule or program changes. Penn State's
Conferences and Institutes will confirm your enrollment in the program and
provide information on travel, accomodation, final registration, and parking.
Lodging and meals
Single room lodging is provided in air-conditioned Nittany Suites on the
University Park campus, a few minutes walk from Davey Laboratory where the
workshops will be conducted. Breakfast will be served in the Nittany
Suites and reimbursements will be provided for lunches and dinners in local
restaurants.
For more information
About program content and funding:
Angela Phelps and Mary Shoemaker
Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium
Pennsylvania State University
2217 Earth & Engineering Sciences
University Park PA 16802-6004
Phone: 814-863-5957
Email: paspace@psu.edu
About application and accomodations:
Nancy Eckard
223 Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel
Pennsylvania State University
University Park PA 16802-7002
Phone: 814-863-5119
Email: nancy1@psu.edu