Project Profile

ITEST Strategies is a 3 year project for grades five through eight students and teachers. Pooling resources from a host of collaborators and previously funded projects such as “From the Ground Up” curriculum created for use with the MicroObservatory network of robotic telescopes, teachers engage students in exploring themes that researchers have found to be difficult for middle school youth. These themes include light and color, size and scale, laws of motion, and more. Activities include programming and controlling robotic telescopes from home and school. This involves imaging of galactic and extra-galactic objects and manipulating images. Students also create animations and simulations of common topographic and space-related features. Collaborators include Harvard’s Earth and Planetary Science Department, the Initiative for Innovative computing, the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston, five public and charter schools, and the Retirees School Volunteers. The project plan provides for a teacher component that includes at least 60 hours of professional enhancement each year. Additionally, the project plan includes a student component with a two-year sequential curriculum having weekly sessions, summer activities, online courses, and student-parent/guardian evenings. With this structure, the project advances knowledge and understanding across the fields of information and communication technology and astronomy.