Professor and Chair of Physical Sciences Colorado Mountain College Alpine Campus Steamboat Springs, Colorado, United States
Abstract: Students learn science best by doing it, not reading about it. Through pioneering work of organizations like the Institute for Student Astronomical Research, hundreds of high school and community college students have completed original research in Astronomy with papers in the Journal of Double Star Observations. Most of these students come from urban or suburban schools and have access to curriculum, facilities and support systems that are often not available to their rural peers. The same can often be said for the teachers in rural locations – they themselves have not had the opportunities for professional development and training to allow them to mentor their students in real science research practices. Our goal is to create a consortium of rural underserved teachers and students from community colleges and high schools in AZ, UT, CO and NM that will allow both students and teachers in these locations to collaborate and build a community of practice based on original Astronomy research projects that are correctly scaled for the students and teacher’s skills and abilities, are accessible via remote data gathering techniques, and are thoughtfully designed to facilitate students and teachers in creating publishable projects in a typical one or two semester academic setting. This consortium is intended to give students in rural and underserved locations the same opportunities, mentoring, publishing pathways and analysis tools that their urban peers already enjoy. It is being designed to level the playing field between the academic haves and have nots.
