In this episode, Mark talks with Paul Sasso, a physics and astronomy teacher from Maine. They talk about Paul's experience as a new teacher and his introduction to modeling instruction, and later to the new modeling astronomy materials. After taking the modeling astronomy workshop and returning as both participant and "intern," Paul was invited to attend modeling workshop leader training. They talk about that experience and then dive into more thoughts on the astronomy and exoplanets materials, the virtual course, and engaging hands-on activities for the students.

Guests

Paul L. Sasso is a high school Science teacher in Maine and for the past 13 years has been teaching all levels of Physics, and more recently Astronomy. He also directs the STEM Makerspace at school, which is a hub for 3D printing,and robotics (supporting students projects schoolwide). Paul has been a Modeler since 2017 when he took his first workshop in Physics Mechanics. He comes to teaching from a career in Engineering with Motorola, Siemens and General Dynamics. Restoring old VWs, remote camping, stargazing, photography and keeping up with his wife keep Paul busy the rest of the time.

Highlights

[15:32] Paul Sasso "[In the astronomy modeling class] There are people that have been teaching astronomy for a long time, but I believe the course has so much to offer, and just the different approach to it and the use of real data and the use of very current, real relevant, data science activities for the students. So there's a lot to be had, a lot to be taken away from it, no matter what your level."

Resources

Ep 55 Transcript

[8:37] Unistellar Citizen Science

[14:41] Current Astronomy Modeling with Exoplanets course, already underway