9352030 Barker As Robert Ballard (the discoverer of the Titanic) has said, "Science is a contact sport," but it was not until recently that the technology has become available to give introductory students a genuine exposure to the "contact sport" of astronomy. In Step 1 of the program, students in all introductory courses (including those without laboratories) use Macintosh microcomputers running the Voyager planetarium program to control 10" telescopes to observe objects independently of the instructor. Although they are asked to observe a common core of objects that are central to the course they are taking, they also study objects that they select themselves and so are introduced to both the excitement and frustration of the contact sport of astronomy. In Step 2, students taking the laboratory Cosmology course build on this experience by using CCD cameras attached to the telescopes and interfaced to the microcomputers to do imaging and photometry. By the end of the course, they can be experienced enough to carry out two-week self-designed research projects such as monitoring variable stars and looking for supernovae and so are active participants in the contact sport of astronomy. In Step 3, students taking Observational Astronomy carry out extensive self-designed research projects such as determining light curves of supernovae, doing photometry of fast-moving asteroidal objects, monitoring active galaxies, and observing variable stars. In Step 4, students in upper-level courses continue with these projects, some of which will be publishable. In Step 5, Astronomy majors and minors doing Individual Research are able to do much more sophisticated theses than was previously possible. Equipment tests and a successful pilot program have been carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of much of this project. This is the first project to use Voyager to control a computerized telescope, a technology that has s ignificant potential for astronomy education nationally. ***
