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Journey to the Classroom
and Beyond…
Stephen Bartlett
2012-13 Einstein Fellow, NSF
High School Physics Teacher
Robinson Secondary School
A bit about me
From boardroom to classroom
• Self-trained electronics technician in my twenties
• Returned to finish college in my early thirties.
• Worked as an Engineering scientist for various technology
and aerospace companies for next couple of decades.
• Took hiatus from Engineering (2002), and started a
Christmas Tree farm in the Blue Ridge
– decided to teach after planting my 2000th seedling
• Got hired by Marshall HS in 2004 to teach some strange
course called “IB physics”
Teacher PD journeys
While at Marshall, I decided to apply for
summer PD opportunities to hone my skills:
– 2006: NASA Deciphering Stars at
MacDonald Observatory in Texas
– 2008: Traveled to New Delhi, India
for Teach India Summer pilot program
– 2009: Worked as an NSF RET at NRAO,
Greenbank, WV to study pulsars
Change of scene –
classroom back to boardroom
• Moved to Robinson in 2010
• Applied for Albert Einstein Distinguished
Educator Fellowship for the 2012-13
school year.
• Was selected for fellowship March 2012:
– Now working as Einstein Fellow at NSF: Education
Human Resource Directorate (EHR), Division of
Research on formal and informal Learning (DRL)
My Einstein Fellow Day…
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…no typical day—they tend to vary
Research and report on topics in early childhood learning
and brain development (really cool stuff!)
Research and visit STEM schools (local and other)
Travel to conferences: STEM Smart Schools, AVS,
NSTA, etc. (Vegas, Phoenix, Tampa, Atlanta)
Take local field trips: NRAO, NAS, LoC, HHMI, CIA,
Woodrow Wilson Center, etc.
Personal meeting with congressman Wolf
Stay in contact with FCPS leadership
Provide support to informal STEM programs in FCPS
Title 1 elementary schools
Write articles
My Summer Teacher Research
Experience at NRAO
and its Classroom Impact
Stephen Bartlett
RET at NRAO
Summer2009
Fantastic opportunity
• Studied possibility of Asteroseismology (aka:
star quakes; surface pulsations) on Neutron Stars
– Created computer simulations of the physics
• A great experience
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Lived and worked on campus at NRAO GreenbankSat in on science lunches and informative lectures
Observed the heavens using 40 ft. radio telescope
Biked everywhere everyday (no car needed) – but had
to look out for killer bunnies in the graveyard!
What I brought back to the
classroom
• New knowledge of radio astronomy and high-energy
astrophysics (and high energy motivation)
• Enhanced my IB Astrophysics Option with Radio
astronomy:
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Doppler effect
average particle densities of nebulae
relative galactic motion of spiral arms
Pulsars and their physics
astrobiology- many organic molecules exist in space!
• NRAO Field Trips!
• And...great STEM Problem Based Learning when…
…Students collect signals from space!
Problem Based Learning,
…one key to success
• The problem based learning (PBL) approach:
evidence shows that students retain learning when it
applies to real-world situations (Barrows, 1985)
– Application of general principles leads to flexible
“transfer” of knowledge (Gick, Holyoak, 1983)
– PBL contributes to knowledge transfer for unfamiliar
situations when “what if” scenarios are added to problem’s
context (Vanderbilt, 1997)
PBL Example:
Doppler shift in Radio Astronomy
• Analyze radio signals from Milky way
nebula (galactic arm) to estimate :
– The direction (away or toward Earth) the
nebula is moving
– The relative speed the nebula is moving
Student Project
Speed and Direction of Nebula
Solution by one student team…
The 3 Ante Meridian Crew
“Rheumatoid Arthritis”
By: Kristin, Lauren, Melissa, Paola, and Sidney
Problem
Can radio signals from hydrogen gas in
galactic clouds help us to approximate
the cloud’s velocity of motion away or
toward Earth?
Data and Analysis
Trial Five
RA—
5:01
DEC—
42°
On our final of 5
trials (of night
one), we
decreased our
declination to 42
degrees, hoping
for some sort of
change. Our
results were still
consistent; with
hydrogen being
recognized at
1320.4 MHz to
1320.8 MHz.
Data and Analysis
Supporting Evidence
VELOCITIES WERE DETERMINED TO BE:
Trial 1: -57.03 km/s, -69.70 km/s, -78.15 km/s
Trial 2: -42.24 km/s, -57.03 km/s, -69.70 km/s
Trial 3: -16.90 km/s, -31.68 km/s, -38.02 km/s
Trial 4: -14.78 km/s, -25.34 km/s, -35.91 km/s
Trial 5: -35.91 km/s, -59.14 km/s
What students learned during this
problem solving activity
1.
Understand why neutral Hydrogen has a resonant frequency of
1420.4 MHz, and locating it on the chart.
2. What a signal’s peak freq. with respect to this resonance tells them
– If at a lower frequency, then red-shifted
– If at a higher frequency, then blue-shifted
3. How to find relative speed of nebula from signal’s peak frequency:
– subtract the peak cloud frequency from 1420.4 MHz,
– divide difference by 1420.4 Mhz.
– multiply quotient by the speed of light in Km/s (3.0E5 Km/s) to determine
relative velocity of cloud with respect to the Earth. (ans. vary ~0 to 160 km/s)
…. and then, the “What if?”
• “What if” you needed to find the
galactic location of the nebula that
generated the radio signal?
Student Project
Nebula’s location in the Galaxy
Student’s solution……..
Galactic Points of Analysis
1800
1600
1419.8 MHz
1419.9 MHz
1400
1420.0 MHz
1200
1420.1 MHz
1420.2 MHz
1000
1420.3 MHz
1420.4 MHz
800
1420.5 MHz
1420.6 MHz
600
1420.7 MHz
1420.8 MHz
400
1420.9 MHz
200
1421.0 MHz
0
18:35
18:43
18:51
18:56
19:05
Now it’s your turn….
• Analyze the radio signal plot in your
handout to estimate :
– The direction (away or toward Earth) the
nebula is moving
– The relative speed the nebula is moving
hints: The resonant frequency of neutral hydrogen’s
quantum spin flip transition is 1420.4 MHz. (21 cm)
The telescope charts 100 MHz below that
(intermediate freq. of receiver)
Your signal Chart
Y axis:
Signal strength
Janksy’s (Jy)
~500 Jy/15 cm
X axis:
Frequency
sweep
.1 MHz/mark
f0 = 1420.4
MHz
(from antenna)
RCV. Mixer freq.
shown on chart
Questions?