'01-02 SCSA Year in Review

Sandburg Center for Sky Awareness
A Fairfax County Public Schools Planetarium

The Year in Review - A Special Report
Highlighting the Activities of the
Sandburg Center for Sky Awareness for 2001-2002

What a year it has been for the SCSA Planetarium Teacher! Despite a life-threatening illness and related chronic health problems, most classes from most schools in the Sandburg Planetarium Service Area were able to visit the planetarium! Regrettably, the FCPS FY2003 budget cuts funding for the planetarium program by half. While it is still unclear how the planetarium program will be impacted, it is perfectly clear that fewer teachers and students will be able to take advantage of the extraordinary opportunity to visit this unique learning environment, and a great facility will be wastefully underutilized!

Sandburg Center for Sky Awareness Web Site

The Sandburg Center for Sky Awareness (SCSA) Web site was designed to be a "one-stop shopping" resource providing virtually everything the classroom teacher needs to deliver high-quality, hands-on instruction which meets or exceeds the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) and FCPS Program of Studies (POS) in astronomy and meteorology, including instructional activities featuring correlations with Windows on Science videodisc "textbooks," pointers to related Internet resources, as well as suggested assessment strategies.

Regular features of the SCSA Web site which were actively maintained during the '01-02 school year include 12 installments of Constellation of the Month (CoM), 36 (and counting) Special Events entries, and 32 Website of the Week (WoW!) entries (most of which featured multiple pointers to sky-related online resources as well as WoW!-related suggested teaching strategies). Among other features, the Themes for 2001-2002 Web page includes the "Today's Sunspot Number," "Today's Predicted UV Index," and "Today's Moon," updated daily.

The SCSA State of Sky Kiosk--an online automated "slideshow" presenting a series of sky-related Web pages, featuring the current sky (day and night) as well as some of the sky's "greatest hits"--was actively maintained to provide up-to-date information. In a little more than 10 minutes, the kiosk provides a fairly comprehensive picture of the current state of the sky.

Curriculum Development

In addition to revisions of several "tried-and-true" activities (most notably the Grade Level 4 Astronomy BINGO! Vocabulary List and the Grade Level 5 activity, Using a Starfinder), the SCSA updated a couple of sky-related thematic units:

Snowflakes - A Thematic Approach (provides K-12 teachers with a flurry of ideas for using snow to deliver interesting and exciting interdisciplinary instruction perfect for the winter season).
Me and My Shadow - Making the Sun-Earth Connection - a Web page of theme-related teaching strategies, including pointers to electronic resources, e.g., the Sandburg Sundial (54k PDF), a customized ready-to-use horizontal sundial, and classroom-ready activities such as Safely Estimating the Size of Sunspots.

Special Programming

As part of an interdisciplinary sky poetry unit, all Sandburg MS Grade Level 7 English classes visited the planetarium. As a result of their visit, students wrote and illustrated sky poems.
Served as the Carl Sandburg MS (CSMS) technical advisor for "Explorers" Explore Exploration, the educational outreach initiative between the Explorers Club Washington Group and CSMS.
Established "Bringing Astronomy to the People"--the Sandburg Planetarium public outreach initiative for 2001-2002. The following events were scheduled: "Sidewalk Astronomy" (preceding Sandburg MS "Back-to-School Night," 24 SEP 2001); "Planet-Watch" [following "Cafe Cattail" at Huntley Meadows Park (HMP), 16 NOV 2001]; "Boardwalk Astronomy" (Geminid meteor shower-watching event, HMP, 13 DEC 2001); "Planet-Watch" (following "Cafe Cattail" at HMP, 08 MAR 2002); and "Astronomy Day at Huntley Meadows Park" (local celebration of National Astronomy Day, 20 APR 2002).

Space Day/Sandburg Sun-Earth-Moon Day 2002

The Sandburg Planetarium hosted "Sun-Earth-Moon Day" on Mon., 06 May 2002, from 8:30 a.m. 'til 2:40 p.m. The event was timed to coincide as closely as possible with Space Day (Thu., 02 May) and the Last Quarter Moon (Sat., 04 May). Amateur astronomers from the Maryland Sidewalk Astronomers (MSA), National Capital Astronomers (NCA), Northern Virginia Astronomy Club (NOVAC), and Shenandoah Astronomical Society (SAS) volunteered to be our guides for a day of sundialing, safe sunspot observing, and Moon-watching.

Good friends and good conditions combined for a great day for firsthand observation of the real sky: fair weather prevailed for most of the day (relatively clear skies and comfortable temperatures); and the daily sunspot number was high (317). In a word, Sandburg S-E-M Day 2002 was another smashing success! For details, read Sandburg "Sun-Earth-Moon Day 2002" - a special report highlighting Sandburg Planetarium's local celebration of Space Day.

Professional Growth Activity

Currently serve as an American Meteorological Society "Atmospheric Education Resource Agent" for the Commonwealth of Virginia (since 1984).
Attended NOVAC Star Gaze 2001, 22 September 2001 at Franklin Park in Loudoun County, VA. Sponsored by the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club.
Attended Space Day, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, 02 May 2002. Represented the FCPS Planetarium Program.
Selected to participate as a member of the curriculum writing team that developed a new Grade Level 6 Science Unit, The Solar System, FCPS Instructional Services Department, Summer 2001.

Special Recognition

The Sandburg Center for Sky Awareness Web site was prominently featured as part of the NASA Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum Sun-Earth Day 2002 Web site (links to SCSA deactivated since NASA Web site was updated for 2003).

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The Year in Review - A Special Report Highlighting the Activities of the Sandburg Center for Sky Awareness for 2001-2002