Blogging: NASA All-Stars Program

Check out some of my blog posts from the NASA All-Stars Summer Program.    

K.C. Boyd's Blog Posts

Citations Citations Citations!!!

 Every day at the NASA All-Stars Summer program is an adventure!

There is an old saying, 'You learn something new every day." Well, that statement is so true.  Today my colleague Ms Wetzel had a interesting conversation with  NASA All-Stars program director, Dr. Don York, about citations.   During this conversation she learned something very interesting:   Astronomers use their own citation style.  Yes, there is a citation style used specifically by Astronomers!   Interesting right?  After a little research, she found the American Astronomical Society's website and found a guide sheet to assist the students with their citations.

The video below is a short iMovie I created that kind of represents the type of day we had.  It's just for fun!



 By the way, since I'm on the topic of citations, here's a cool article about citing Tweets posted on Twitter I found a couple of months ago:  

'How to Cite Tweets in an Academic Paper'
MLA and APA prepare for the future of the academic citation.
http://www.edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2014/02/how-cite-tweets-academic-paper?utm_content=bufferc1913&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Source Citation
AAS Journal Reference Instructions | American Astronomical Society                                                                                          

http://aas.org/authors/aas-journal-reference-instructions

Quasars

Check out my Animoto short video about Quasars
Quasars

Monday Morning Library Humor

Sidereus Nucius

What an experience!

Yesterday the NASA All Stars participants visited The Regenstein Library on the University of Chicago Campus. I had the opportunity to read a first edition and rare book called, 'Sidereus Nucius' (Starry Messenger) by Galileo.  This book was published in 1610!

Miley and Sinbad

During the NASA All-Stars Summer program, the librarians had the opportunity to give a presentation about research and citing sources.   I shared two slides with the attendees that I also use when I give library orientation for my students every year during orientation.  The message really resonated with the program attendees, because they couldn't believe that this happened!   Now going into the last week of the program, the students will be using these skills learned to create their final project, a digital poster answering the question:  What percentage of galaxies have Black Holes?  How many galaxies have Quasars?  

Jimmy Fallon Figures It Out

This is a funny meme!

NASA All-Stars Program

This has been a busy summer!  As soon as I returned from the Mouse Squad Mozilla Webmaker Summer Institute I began a new adventure.

I am currently participating in the NASA All-Star Program this summer at the University of Chicago. This program brings together earth/space, astronomy, and physics teachers and their students in a peer-led professional development workshop on Multiwavelength Astronomy.  I am one of three CPS librarians that is participating in this program.
This is a wonderful opportunity for me to introduce astronomy topics into library curriculum as well as data literacy, and provide a basis for some great collaborations with classroom teachers. Participants use the Multiwavelength Astronomy website which has a wealth of stories on the history, science, tools, and impact of astronomy based on interviews with pioneering scientists. The most exciting aspect of this program is carrying out an authentic, astronomical research project using NASA Mission Data and data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Here are some pictures from the first week of the program.

We made a Spectroscope

Experiments

Experiments

Lectures

Lectures

NASA All-Stars Program librarians hold the SDSS Plate

Learning How To Code A Meme

Early morning selfie

I've been attending the first ever Mouse Squad Mozilla Webmaker Summer Institute for the last two days.  The Webmaker Institute is being held at New York University - MAGNET located in Brooklyn, New York.  I've learned so much about coding, creating meme's from scratch, using Moziilla Popcorn Marker and digital literacy.  Mouse Squad and Mozilla Software trainers are leading each hands on activity for 15 educators that have traveled here from across the country.  Here's a couple of pictures including my first meme I created from scratch.  Overall, this has been a great learning experience and I'm glad I participated.

Mouse Squad I.D.

I coded this meme!

!

I can't wait to show my students how to use Mozilla PopcornMaker

Group share out time.

I need more practice using Thimble!

I Love Good News!

I'm sitting in a training session today and received good news from my student.   I just love how my female students have embraced technology.  This is going to be a really cool year.