In 2022, this workshop has funding to support teachers. Stipends will be available for reasonable support of attendance, including travel, lodging, and meals for teachers whose districts cannot support those costs. The only exception is the $100 registration fee, which we are unable to waive. Teachers who teach in districts that serve students from traditionally underrepresented and underserved populations will be given first priority for stipend funds.
Required Pre-Course Work:
All teachers who are accepted and register should do the pre-course reading and pre-course questions. Please complete this work before you arrive in July.
- Pre-course reading
- Pre-course questions (required to be submitted either electronically or by hardcopy at the beginning of the workshop)
Workshop Content:
- Agenda (Updated: 2022 June 13)
- Links to resources from previous offerings of this workshop curriculum
This workshop will introduce cosmology, the study of the Universe as a whole. We will cover what modern observational and theoretical work has taught us about the origin, fate, and nature of the Universe. The pillars and successes of the Big Bang model will be examined in detail. Modern ideas about space, time, and gravity will also be explored.
The workshop curriculum focuses heavily on science content in a lecture and discussion based format. A variety of guest speakers will join us to introduce modern research topics in extragalactic astronomy and cosmology, and we will share some classroom-tested activities for teaching astronomy & cosmology. We also hope to do some small telescope observing using a variety of telescopes often used in schools.
Some key topics for discussion include the following:
- The size and age of the Universe
- The darkness of the night sky and its implications
- The expansion of the Universe and the Big Bang
- The large-scale structure of the Universe
- The cosmic evolution of galaxies and quasars
- The Cosmic Microwave Background
- Creating the light elements in the Big Bang
- Dark matter on all scales
- Dark energy and the accelerating Universe
- The ultimate fate of the Universe
- The first stars, galaxies, and black holes
- The very early Universe and inflation
- The possibility of a Multiverse
- The future of cosmology
- Techniques for teaching cosmology in the classroom