History

WWTA began in the spring of 2010 as a pilot program at Jonas Clarke Middle School (JCMS) in Lexington, MA, with partner teacher Michelle Bartley. Pat Udomprasert and 3 Ambassadors worked with Ms. Bartley and her 80 sixth-grade students. The students used WWT to research astronomy topics of their choice, and they used it to create their own presentations to share what they learned with their classmates. They also used WWT to visualize the cause of the Moon's phases.

 


Michelle Bartley works with sixth-grade students using WWT at Jonas Clarke Middle School.

 

In 2011, we expanded the program to include the entire sixth grade at JCMS, including teachers Rick Rogers and Jim Werner. We also worked with 100 sixth-grade students at Prospect Hill Academy in Somerville, MA.

In 2012, with funding from NSF Cyberlearning (IIS-1254535), we developed and tested the moon phases lab and expanded the program to Diamond Middle School in Lexington and continued work with JCMS.

In Spring 2013, with funding from NSF Cyberlearning (IIS-1254535), we worked with Vassal Lane Upper School in Cambridge, MA.

We have run booths at the inaugural USA Science and Engineering Festival, the Cambridge Science Festival, the Stellafane Telescope Makers Convention, and the NorthEast Astronomy Forum.

We have run workshops at American Astronomical Society meetings and locally at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.