An award-winning group of educators participating in an innovative new NASA program toured SLAC and GLAST on July 18 as part of an intensive training in physics and astronomy.

The tour, led by Sonoma State University Professor Lynn Cominsky, is part of NASA’s Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope/Structure and Evolution of the Universe (GLAST/SEU) Educator Ambassador Program.

These Educator Ambassadors, who participated in an intensive one-week schedule of classes at Sonoma State University (SSU), will develop materials and distribute them at national workshops to other teachers. These teachers will in turn train more teachers, as well as students, expanding upon the old idea of ‘each one teach one.’

"Eventually we’ll have this great leverage, this great multiplier effect," said Cominsky. "That’s the theory. We’re just starting it now. I am so impressed by this group of people. We are learning from them as much as they are learning from us."

The group consisted of ten prize-winning educators: Master Teachers and Curriculum Designers. Each Master Teacher is required to help develop workshops and educational materials and to lead at least two math and science workshops per year for grades 9-12.

Cominsky was excited to bring the group into SLAC’s research environment. "The fact that I have the Stanford connection and a connection to the GLAST project has widened their opportunities. Sonoma State is a lovely place but we don’t have any hardware to show them. I’m very happy for my ongoing connection to SLAC and also to the Stanford Campus."

Professor Cominsky is a SLAC Visiting Scientist in Group K and a member of the Experimental Program Advisory Committee (EPAC). She was previously a member of the Communications Committee and Secretary for the SLAC User’s Organization (SLUO). For her, the Educator Ambassador program is a personal passion. "Evolution of the universe is an overarching theme. It’s good for everybody to learn about things that are beyond the visible. That’s always been my personal mission in life: To get people interested in the invisible universe. It’s very exciting for the general public; it’s a great hook to get people into the classroom and they don’t realize they’re learning math."

The Master Teachers came to SSU and SLAC for a one-week workshop in July and will return for another workshop in 2004. In these workshops the teachers work closely with scientists, engineers and project team members from GLAST, which is one of the SEU missions. In the years between the two workshops, the Master Teachers will be able to continue their studies through GLAST learning-at-a-distance modules on the Internet.

For more information on the program, see:

http://universe.sonoma.edu/ambassadors/program.html

http://glast.sonoma.edu