December 15, 2004
Space suits local teacher
Lauren Chapple one of 12 teachers in NASA infrared telescope project
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
When it comes to learning, Lauren Chapple walks the walk: he is teaching science by doing science.
The eighth-grade science teacher at Traverse City East Junior High School is one of 12 teachers in the nation participating in NASA's Spitzer Research Program for Teachers. This program allows the teachers to conduct as well as possibly publish and present to astronomy professionals original infrared research on the Spitzer Space Telescope.
The Spitzer Space Telescope was launched in September of 2003 and came online that November, Chapple noted. NASA and the National Optical Astronomical Observatory (NOAO), which is based in Tucson, Ariz., put out the call for teacher participation earlier this year.
"It was a mutual thing, between the organizations, a 'Let's see if we can have some teachers work with the Spitzer and do some research with it and then transfer that back to their schools and their students,'" Chapple noted. "It's an opportunity for all of us to do research using the leading, cutting edge telescope, the newest one in space."
Chapple learned of the Spitzer Research Program for Teachers through his involvement with NASA as part of a Research Based Education Program since 1999. That program's goal is to teach science by having students conduct astronomy research. In 2001, Chapple helped develop the program currently used by other research-based science teachers nationwide.
The 16-year veteran teacher noted that the Traverse City Area Public Schools administration has supported his participating and travels for both programs. NASA has paid for travel costs.
"The district has been behind me 100 percent," he said. "We can be very proud of our school system for supporting innovative ideas."
Chapple and the other 11 teachers - which include ten high school teachers and two junior high school teachers - are creating proposals for original research projects using the Spitzer. They completed a training session on the Spitzer Space Telescope in Tucson in November. The group will travel to the American Astronomical Society meeting in San Diego in January to finalize their research proposals.
"The outcome is hopefully a research project that we'll have published," noted Chapple, adding that their work could be presented at the 2006 AAS meeting, a very exciting prospect. "We are working on five different research projects and I'm involved in three."
The group will receive three hours of time on the Spitzer, most likely this summer. While this may sound like a trivial amount of time, Chapple noted is a lot as far as infrared telescopes go.
"Infrared doesn't take a long time exposure like the Hubble telescope does," he said. "Infrared goes through dust and debris so we can see into areas you couldn't see with the Hubble."
Chapple noted that his students are excited for him and the opportunities in the Spitzer Research Program for Teachers.
"They know about it and are excited for me, too, it's very cool," said Chapple, who also acknowledges Northwestern Michigan College's Rogers Observatory for keeping astronomy in the public eye. "Kids absolutely still love astronomy."
The students also connect with his research by conducting their own during class, an integral component of Chapple's research-based teaching. In addition to book learning, his students develop a hypothesis and figure out a way to test it. The whole process encourages critical thinking, writing and reading as well as covering the required science bases.
"In most cases, I don't know what the answer is and that's good because they understand that that's science," Chapple said. "In some cases, they may find out that what they thought is true or what we've been told is true, isn't - and that's science."
The exhibit of photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, which ran last fall and winter at the Dennos Museum Center, also ramped up his students' interest in the stars.
"Some of the kids are still asking me questions about it," Chapple said.