A new $370,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant will help scientists at Ohio University uncover the secrets of the universe while demystifying the scientific process for teachers and students in Southeastern Ohio schools.
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| Astronomer Tom Statler has researched elliptical galaxies at the Multiple Mirror Telescope near Tucson, Ariz. |
Working in university laboratories and school classrooms, Statler and other faculty in the Department of Physics and Astronomy will share their knowledge with teachers interested in science. Each summer for the next four years, one teacher from Ohio will study everything from galaxies to quasars to particle accelerators to thin magnetic films. Another part of the program will take university scientists into school classrooms to tal k about their work in physics and astronomy.
“One of the most difficult things a science teacher must do is to teach kids how to take what seems a huge, unsolvable scientific problem and break it into smaller pieces so that it can be understood,” Statler said.
Although any Ohio teacher whose teaching duties include science may apply for the program, preference will be given to teachers in Southeastern Ohio. Teacher interns will receive a stipend of $3,780 and housing, and may earn continuing e ducation credit.
Teacher interns also may work with Statler’s research group, which is exploring the origins of elliptical galaxies, one of three types of galaxies in the universe.
