
Above: AAA teacher in the classroom with students after professional development & STEM immersion
Team Mission
The Astronomy Activation Ambassadors (AAA) program (formerly Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors) aims to measurably enhance student science learning and STEM engagement in selected schools, districts, and colleges via professional development (PD) for teachers and implementation of a standards-based electromagnetic spectrum & infrared astronomy curriculum module in middle school, high school, and community college classrooms. The AAA participant PD consists of:
- STEM content webinars;
- asynchronous online astrophysics & planetary science course;
- in-person training for classroom curriculum implementation;
- a week-long STEM immersion experience at NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea and other astronomy research & public engagement facilities on the Big Island of Hawai`i;
- a Community of Practice fostering reflection on program experiences plus continued connections with NASA (and other) SMEs.
Science Focus:
Astrophysics, Planetary Science
Audiences:
- Middle school, high school, and community college astronomy and/or physical science teachers;
- Students of teacher participants.
What does your team hope to achieve?
Impact on student STEM learning & engagement was assessed by WestEd in 2017-18 via a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT). The final RCT report is available here:
https://www.seti.org/sites/default/files/AAA/WestEd-AAA-Student-Assessment-Report-FINAL.pdf
Data available from the RCT included:
- Assessment of student content learning in relation to the California Science Framework and Next Generation Science Standards;
- Assessment of student interest in STEM, STEM learning, STEM majors, and STEM careers;
- Teacher logs regarding curriculum implementation.
Items 2 & 3 continue to be evaluated by WestEd. Student outcomes were measured in the 2019-2020 and 2020-21 academic years without an RCT; positive effects were consistent in size and significance with the 2017-18 RCT findings.
Project Web Site
The Astronomy Activation Ambassadors (AAA) program gives teachers a unique opportunity to interact with multiple facets of NASA’s science mission. Not only are these teachers witnessing scientific research first-hand, they're seeing the wide range of professional and technical expertise needed to support that research, from engineering to technology to mathematics. This program inspires teachers with the excitement of frontier science, and shows students the multitude of career paths possible within NASA.. - D. Backman, P.I.