Authentic Research in the Classroom for Teachers and Students

Abstract

With the advent of research-grade robotic telescopes (and professional archives) coupled with the wide availability of the Internet in schools, getting high-quality data in the classroom has become much easier than ever before. Robotic telescopes (and archives) have revolutionized what is possible to accomplish in the confines of a high school classroom. Especially in the context of new science standards in the US, schools need to be moving towards more project-based learning and incorporating more authentic scientific inquiry, so demand for programs such as this is only expected to grow. This contribution highlights a few of the programs that incorporate authentic research in the classroom, via teachers and/or students. I also point out some recurring themes among these programs and suggest a funnel as a way to think about the ‘ecosystem’ of projects getting astronomical data into the hands of teachers, students, and the public.