Shining a Light on Journey’s Master Educators

It’s all hands on deck for Journey Through the Universe (Journey) 2015!  This year is shaping up as another incredible year as astronomy educators from Hawai‘i (and around the world) prepare to share their enthusiasm and energy in East Hawai‘i classrooms.

Master Educators Workshop

2015 Journey Through the Universe Master Educators

A major component of the “Journey” program is supporting eduction in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. In preparation for the intense week of Journey classroom programming (in early March), Gemini recently lead a Master Educator workshop for our Big Island community classroom teachers.

During the workshop, Gemini’s Peter Michaud led the educators (as students) in the building of a simple spectroscope. to, “dissect light,” as he described spectroscopy to the teachers. The activity challenged the teachers to use their creativity, imagination, and even some engineering skills in order to construct a working spectroscope. As an “open-ended” lab, the teachers applied many Next Generation Science Standards in the activity and eventually everyone succeeded and took home a working spectroscope. The teachers also walked away with enough materials to share this activity with their classes and help celebrate the International Year of Light!

Enjoy (and share) this slideshow of the day’s activities produced by the Hawai‘i Department of Education.