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Having mastered the skill of teaching amateur astronomers how to read the sky, Paul Lewis will soon be showing other educators how to do the same thing. A new $20,000 grant from NASA will enable York Agriculture Institute, a progressive high school in Jamestown, to build a public observational astronomy program called StarWatch. Lewis, who co-authored the grant proposal, will draw on his years of experience to help teachers orchestrate their own viewing sessions.
The grant will pay for five new telescopes, with supporting educational materials such as star atlases, globes and binoculars. Lewis selected the equipment, striking a balance between telescopes that were sophisticated enough to locate astronomical objects but still easy enough for a novice to use without too much outside help. Lewis will instruct a dozen or so teachers in the finer points of walking casual stargazers through the night sky. "I'm going to teach the teachers to do what I do," he said. He will also help prepare the facility at York Institute. Once in place, the StarWatch program goals are to increase public interest and literacy regarding scientific issues and to build a successful model of community engagement by a school system. Lewis became involved with the project through his work with ARSI, the Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative. The primary ARSI mission to facilitate changes in the educational systems of member states to make math and science excellence a reality for their students. ARSI states include Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Although Lewis has led teacher workshops for ARSI before, StarWatch is a new twist on his involvement with the program. Terry Lashley, Director of the UT ARSI Resource Collaborative, approached him looking for some good grant ideas. "She was at a NASA conference and someone literally grabbed her by the arm and said 'would you like some money?,'" Lewis explained. Using his astronomy network, Lewis and his colleagues came up with the StarWatch proposal. The funding comes from a NASA program called IDEAS (Initiative to Develop Education through Astronomy and Space Science). IDEAS provides start-up funding for projects to promote science education through astronomy and space science at all levels, especially pre-college. Geological Sciences Professor Larry Taylor serves as the grant's principal investigator, with Lewis and Homer Delk (York Institute Technology Coordinator) pitching in as co-investigators.
Although showing other people how to do his job may sound like delegation, Lewis still has plenty of work to do. This summer he will conduct several teacher workshops both at Kennedy Space Center and UT, as well as teach two courses for Kids U, the University's summer outreach program.
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