Idaho Teachers Excited About Cruisin' The Heavens (I TEACH) is a three year project which will prepare educators to develop and present an exciting hands-on astronomy unit. Six educators teams - consisting of three teachers and one administrator - will be selected from six regions throughout Idaho. These teams will gather for a two-week summer institute in Boise at The Discovery Center of Idaho (DCI). The center's goal is to enrich and supplement formal education through an interactive approach to learning basic and applied science. While at DCI, participants will learn to teach basic astronomy using hands-on activities, a portable planetarium and Native American, Greek, Roman, and Old European sky myths. The teams will return to their home district with one- month's use of a portable planetarium and the requirement that they use it in their classrooms and give presentations for fellow teachers and community members. During years one and two of the project, team members working with 7th - 9th graders will be targeted for selection. I TEACH will be opened to participants working with 4th - 6th graders in year three. Beginning in year two, six regional facilitators will be selected from the previous year's I TEACH participants to assist teams with unit development during the two-week summer institute. Regional facilitators will also provide technical support for I TEACH graduates as they team-teach a hands-on astronomy continuing education workshop in their home region. The Principal Investigator is Dr. Gilford. Ms. Lorette Williams Executive Director of DCI is Co-PI serving as liaison with other institutions in Idaho. Cost sharing equals 18% of the NSF award.
