Where: Adler Planetarium, Chicago, IL
When: August 8-9, 2013
Join us in advocating for citizen science in the classroom. Citizen science is an emerging tool for teachers – it provides an opportunity for students to participate in real research, analyse real data, at home or in school. The Zooniverse and the Adler Planetarium want to find US Middle or High School teachers who can help bring citizen science on the web, into the classroom. We need your expertise and we want to bring you to Chicago to talk to us!”
We would like to invite US middle and high school teachers, to apply for a 2 day workshop at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago on the 8th and 9th of August 2013. Travel, hotels and working meals will be paid for and a generous $1000 stipend should cover any additional costs. The first $500 installment will be paid at the end of the workshop.
During the workshop participants will be introduced to the array of Zooniverse projects and the existing educational resources available to help bring them into the classroom. Members of the development team will provide insight into the process of project selection, design and development that allows a scientific dataset to be transformed into an interactive citizen science project. In addition, there will be live virtual presentations from at least five science teams, giving the participants the opportunity to ask questions and interact with researchers from a variety of disciplines.
Participants will have the opportunity to share any experience they have of using Zooniverse projects in the classroom and will begin developing a lesson plan for the project of their choice. This lesson will need to be completed and submitted within 4 weeks of the workshop, along with a blog post for publication on the our blog describing their experience in promoting the Zooniverse. After this the second $500 installment of the stipend will be paid. The lesson should also be tested in their classroom, by the end of the 2013-2014 school year and a simple evaluation questionnaire submitted.
Teachers who are interested in attending this workshop should apply by the 7th of June 2013, they will need to include 500-word summary explaining why they would like to participate and how they plan to spread the word about the Zooniverse to their colleagues and local communities. Successful applicants will be informed by the 12th of June 2013.
UPDATE:
Applications for the Zooniverse Teacher Ambassadors Workshop are now closed. Thanks very much for your interest. We’ll be reviewing applications next week.
Zooniverse 
What I forgot to say when writing this blog post, is how excited we are here at the Zooniverse to be hosting such an event! Can’t wait until August!
Much interest in the reality of our spaceMuch interest in the reality of our space
Hello! I submitted my application, but would like to add 3-4 additional sentences about ideas for my community potential extension. Can I open my app and add to it or submit an additional paragraph? Jennifer Bundy guided us through Adler last week and ideas are bursting from my teacher brain.
Hopeful…
Nancy Donohue-Canfield, 5th grade bilingual teacher pursuing my Science endorsement at Loyola University
Hi Nancy,
If you email your additions to education@zooniverse.org, we’ll add them to your application. Glad to hear about your bursting teacher brain 🙂
Is there any expectation to do this outside of the US any time soon?
Sounds like a wonderful event!
Any chance teachers in Canada or Mexico could apply too? (I assume Puerto Rico counts as “US”, as do the other US territories)
Pradeep – As a former UK teacher myself, I’m really hoping we can make this an international event next time. Unfortunately we have US specific funding this time, so it isn’t possible.
Jean – I’m afraid we can’t accept applications from Canada or Mexico. As for Puerto Rico or US territories, I’m afraid you’ve got me stumped there! I think that should be fine, but I will check to be 100% certain.
I am very interested in this as well. Canadian Grade 7 teacher.
Sounds excellent! Would be great if you could open it up to non-USA as well next time…
I’m not an astronomy teacher, but I’m deeply fascinated by it, and considering it as a career. Would I be allowed to attend?
Hi Harley,
I’m afraid you do have to be currently employed as a teacher, though we don’t mind what topics you teach as long as it is in a US middle or high school.
Hi from Australia, this sounds so exciting I would love to be part of it but guess I’m a little too far away. My year 5 students are mad about Science and we will be working on our space unit next term. Please post everything from the conference and keep up the good work 🙂
Hi Alison. We’ll be sure to post all the details of the Zooniverse Teacher Ambassadors Workshop. In the meantime, you may be interested in the Teacher Workshop being held in Sydney in September as part of the Evolutionary Paths in Galaxy Morphology conference.
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/conferences/2013/gzo/teacher.html
I am interested in this opportunity, but not clear as to how to go about applying.
Here is the link to apply: https://goo.gl/FhQrH
I am a nontraditional teacher who works at a planetarium. Is the program open to us as well?
Hi Jennifer,
We are giving priority to teachers, but we will give consideration to informal educators if there are spaces remaining.