A few weeks ago, Chris asked me if I’d like to help the Galaxy Zoo team with something new. It would be a shame not to use the skills I have as a teacher and I’d be working together with Dr. Pamela L. Gay. Of course I said yes. I’ve written about this ‘online astronomy project for everyone’ a few times before, as I really believe in it. And now you can even be more a part of it too…
Whether you were around from the beginning, or joined when the second part of the project started, it has just become more interactive. Some members have posted ideas to improve the use of the classify page on the official Galaxy Zoo forum in the past and now we have a team ready to actually make something of these suggestions.
Pamela and I wrote a piece together for the official Galaxy Zoo blog, to ask people to share their thoughts with us. After finding a suitable time for both of us – with her being in the USA and me being in Europe we quickly realised the weekends make us notice that time difference less – we used the internet to call each other. Next I found myself looking at a screen with a document where she was typing in and when I wanted to change or add something, I could do that right away too. It was as if we were sitting in the same room and I’m pleased about the result.
So, are you a teacher too? ‘Cause the best part is that we can really help people using Galaxy Zoo in their classrooms as well! Have you already done that? Please tell me about it! What would you like to do with it in school? For example, we are working on making it possible to automatically create multiple login codes for a group of students. The teacher can monitor the classifications and use these results to teach astronomy and statistics.
Now we’ve already had a few nice reactions from various users and if you would like me or Pamela to pass your ideas on as well, contact us at: arkelhannyvan(at)gmail.com and/or pgay(at)siue.edu! We’re looking forward to hearing from you. Citizen science rocks!
8 Comments
What a great endeavor, I’m sure it will be fun too
In the Netherlands astronomy is part of the curriculum in the the discipline of ANW (Algemene Natuurwetenschap, translated as General Physics Science). Maybe somehow the GZ-project, with the group-session tool, can be made part of the ANW-curriculum. See http://www.sterrenkunde.nl/anw/ for more info. Teachers who practise astronomy as part of ANW can be foudn here: http://www.phys.uu.nl/~eaae/.
Thanks for the links Arie! I’ve never seen that on my schedule though. For most primary schools it could be part of ‘Wereld Oriëntatie’.
No, you’re right. ANW isn’t for primary schools. It’s belonging to the second grade schools, specially ‘VWO’.
That sounds logical indeed. I need more experience on secondary schools…
Wouldn’t it be a good idea to introduce GZ at teacher training institutes?
Here’s another useful link: http://www.sterrenkundeopschool.nl/
Maybe there we can bring the galaxy zoo under the attention of the dutch astro-teachers.
That site looks definitely useful indeed! Thanks!