"Dark Skies, Bright Kids" - First Year Of Outreach In Rural Virginia

Details "Dark Skies, Bright Kids" - First Year Of Outreach In Rural Virginia "Dark Skies, Bright Kids" - First Year Of Outreach In Rural Virginia

Oct 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.3708r&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #37.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.969

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Dark Skies, Bright Kids (DSBK) is an educational/public outreach program at the University of Virginia directed primarily towards rural elementary school students in grades 3-5. The program, which is run by a diverse community of volunteers (faculty, postdocs, grad students, and undergrads), targets schools in the rural areas surrounding UVa in southern Albemarle County. While these schools are privileged with remarkably dark skies, these same schools are also home to an economically under-privileged and educationally under-served population. DSBK seeks to use those dark skies, among other resources, to create excitement and interest in science and engineering as part of a weekly after-school program.
A typical afternoon consists of 1.5-2.5 hours of science activities specifically centered around space and astronomy. Each week has a theme (e.g., rockets, invisible light) and we incorporate a mix of activities on that theme, such as hands-on experiments, stories, games, and creative play. We also encourage family involvement, so that the parents are actively involved in their children's education. Every other week, we hold a family observing night, so both the students and their parents can learn about the night sky together.
The program lasts for one semester at each school, and we have just completed our second semester of work. Each new semester brings on new challenges, but also new lessons to make our program better in future semesters. Our group actively writes and then rewrites our own lesson plans as we learn what works best with the students. We are now in the process of putting our lesson plans online so other groups can take advantage of what we have learned and apply this program at other schools.
On the web:
http://www.astro.virginia.edu/dsbk/

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