ASTROBLOG: We Sent SC Teachers to Summer School in the Boeing Observatory

By Matthew Whitehouse, Observatory Manager

Teachers from across South Carolina pose with the Boeing Observatory’s 1926 Alvan Clark telescope.

One of the key aspects of the State Museum’s Boeing Observatory is its capability to connect with classrooms across South Carolina. Students control the telescope over the Internet: they’re able to move the telescope, take images with the telescope’s cameras, and interact with Museum observatory educators in real time. I’m very pleased to report that our observatory distance learning programs are now in full swing.

Last summer, in the run-up to our August 2014 Grand Opening, we trained a pilot group of 5 teachers. During the 2014-2015 school year, we worked with these 5 teachers and their students on refining our distance learning technologies and procedures. Now, with our distance learning programming fully in place, we’ve taken a bold next step. This summer we trained 100 teachers, representing 29 counties across South Carolina, in a series of 11 two- and three-day workshops. It has been a busy and inspirational summer!

Workshop participants get hands-on practice moving the telescope.

During these workshops, teachers learned about the basics of telescopes and explored the Museum’s historic telescope collection. Each teacher had an individual opportunity to practice controlling our cameras and moving the big Clark. They also learned how to connect to the telescope using our incredibly simple remote desktop connection to the observatory’s control computer.

A teacher learns how to connect to the telescope over the Internet. She is seeing the observatory’s control software on her own laptop.

During a late-night observing session, teachers also experienced the simple beauty of objects in the night sky.

Image of Saturn taken by teachers during the Boeing Observatory’s summer workshops.

Image of the Ring Nebula taken by teachers during the Boeing Observatory’s summer workshops.

Over this coming school year, each teacher who participated in our workshops this summer will conduct daytime and evening distance learning sessions with their students. We are so excited about this new resource for statewide astronomy and STEM education, and all indications are that the teachers had an amazing time!

I thought I’d leave you with an Upstate 4th grade teacher’s description of her workshop experience in her own words:

"Today was another interesting day at the Boeing workshop. We actually went through the steps we will do in our classroom to connect to the telescope at the observatory and it is so easy...I am looking forward to booking a museum tour and a distance learning program this fall. As South Carolinians we should be so proud of our state museum. The staff there are so helpful and want to provide wonderful educational experiences for the children of the great state of South Carolina!! I also met some wonderful teachers that are so dedicated to their students. I was really impressed with their love of science and their desire to pass that on to their students."

Workshop participants in the Boeing Observatory at night.

Teachers! Want to learn more about classroom and field trip access to the Boeing Observatory? View the Field trip page or email educators@scmuseum.org