EDUCATION PROGRAMS—
"Island in Space" Perspective on Spatial Education
 

Formal Education Programs

The Institute was founded in response to the demand of local elementary school teachers for professional development of space sciences curricula. Our predecessor organization, Island Astronomy LLC, became an affiliate of NASA's Maine Space Grant Consortium, from which it received $10,000 in funding to initiate this effort. As the successor to Island Astronomy LLC, the Island Astronomy Institute is now responsible for this growing activity.

Our education programs provide resources that schools need to prepare students for life on Planet Earth. In accordance with Maine's Educational Standards, our curriculum exposes children to astronomical perspectives with hands-on activities that encourage them to "use models to represent objects, processes, and events in the real world.”

As a direct result of Maine Space Grant funding, we have delivered formal educational presentations and curriculum development to Pemetic Elementary School, Trenton Elementary School, Tremont Elementary School, Islesford Elementary School, and Mount Desert Elementary School. The Institute has also supported Mount Desert Island’s local school district (Union 98) as a member of the Science Curriculum Team.

At Pemetic Elementary School in Southwest Harbor, we selected the unifying theme of teaching students to develop new perspectives, to tie the school's curriculum together. Using this spatial concept we saw how each new perspectives built upon the previous grade by grade in a spiraling fashion. Each new level of understanding built upon the previous one in a hierarchical fashion. We also came to learn that skipping steps caused students and teachers to become very lost.

The perspective approach was extended to the Philosophy of Astronomy course offered at the College of the Atlantic. Funded in part by the Maine Space Grant Consortium, the pilot course "The Philosophy of Astronomy" was offered in the spring term of 2006.

The course was based on our recognition that each of the educational steps students must pass through can be seen as ultimately leading to the perspective of earth as an island in space—a point of view directly at odds with our common sense experience of life on the surface of a massive immovable landscape. We challenge students to explain how they know that this immovable landscape actually spins like a top while it revolves around the sun.

Our final goal is students who can look at the sky long after the course is over and appreciate the motions of sun moon and stars that gave birth to the modern world of science technology engineering and mathematics.To learn how it feels like to think like a scientist we use hands on team based learning opposites that invite a life long engagement with spatial thinking of island astronomy.

Mapping the Space Above Them

Fifth-grade students at Pemetic School learned firsthand about how light pollution fills the sky above them. Fran Howley's class used sky quality meters purchased by an Emery Science Grant to measure and map how much artificial light is in the skies over their homes in Southwest Harbor. The best of nearly 100 measurements taken by the students will be added to the light pollution map of MDI created at the College of the Atlantic. The students' early findings indicate that some parts of town are darker than previously thought.

The students are also learning how important it is to be able to explain their work to non-scientists. Like many of her classmates, Maeve Geary recognized that in order to solve the growing problem of light pollution, we must all work together as a nation. To make her point, Maeve points out that there are more stars visible on the American flag than in the sky over New York City. 

Mrs. Howley’s class is part of a school-wide student service learning project initiated by Pemetic’s teachers in the summer of 2007. The project is part of the Institute's Starlit Communities program, which is conducted in collaboration with Acadia National Park and Friends of Acadia. The class was interviewed about their work by Bar Harbor Times reporter Laurie Schreiber ("Eyes on the Sky," January 14, 2008).

The Institute has collaborated with the College of the Atlantic to create higher educational offerings. Located within an hour of sixty elementary schools, we have the capability of improving the education of thousands of schoolchildren in our communities each year. We integrate science education into the “big picture,” which in Down East Maine includes an appreciation of our natural resources, including our starlit skies.

 

Informal Education Programs

The Institute provides workshops and classes to promote astronomy as a rewarding cultural activity for people of all ages. These include basic lessons in naked-eye viewing of the depth and structure of the Milky Way, introducing the constellations and their mythology.

Fledgling astronomers often purchase fine equipment, only to become overwhelmed by the learning curve after they take it out of the box. Besides assisting with the nuts & bolts and basic observing techniques, we are also developing a program for rescuing, refurbishing, certifying and selling used equipment, and providing support to the buyer.

We collaborate with a wide variety of organizations located on Mount Desert Island, and have provided informal lectures and stargazing opportunities to:

• M.D.I. Adult Education
• Acadia National Park
• Camp Beech Cliff
• Acadia Senior College
• Northeastern University Outing Club
• Down East Audubon
• Bass Harbor Memorial Library
• Southwest Harbor Library
• Northeast Harbor Library
• Somesville Wildlife Sanctuary
• Cobscook Bay State Park
• Oceanside Meadows Institute for Arts and Sciences