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AstroBITS

Building Information Technology Skills through Astronomy (AstroBITS) is a new program for Arizona middle school teachers. It is run by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the parent organization of Kitt Peak National Observatory, and funded by the Science Foundation of Arizona.

Through the excitement of astronomical image processing, teachers selected for this program can introduce their students to analytical computer skills, including interpreting graphs, using statistics, and understanding equations. Students can learn to use analysis programs such as Excel, and image processing programs including ImageJ. Pending funding approval for 2009, we will offer selected middle and high school teachers:

  • Four multi-day workshops, with 2 nights spent observing at Kitt Peak National Observatory
  • Collaborative work with astronomers and other teachers, and on-going connections during the school year
  • Stipends to cover time spent on this project, and laptops for working and implementing image processing projects in their classroom.

As examples of projects that the 2007 and 2008 class worked on, see this link to working with digital images. Also, see the individual projects at the bottom of this page.

A formal application, and more details about the next program will appear on this page sometime soon. This program is only open to teachers in the state of Arizona. We expect to select 5-10 teachers for the program.

For more information contact garmany at noao.edu, or call Dr. Katy Garmany 520 318-8526.

Eagle Nebula Spiral Galaxy

Participants took these images during their observing nights at Kitt Peak

Ring Nebula in Grayscale Ring Nebula in Color

Teachers used the data they obtained at Kitt Peak to explore image processing, using free software to produce color images from b/w ones like these.

Lesson Plans from 2008 AstroBITS Teachers