Drawn
to Space: Keeping a Discovery
Journal of the Solar Neighborhood is a series of teacher workshops for
teams comprised of art teachers and general education teachers. The focus
is on cross-curriculum planning for science and the arts. The workshops
are being held through out the school year (2003-2004) at Dyer
Observatory.
This
program is a partnership between Tennessee
State University and Vanderbilt University with funding from the Tennessee
Arts Commission and the NASA Ideas Grant. The
teachers participate in activities that help them understand the scientific
information about the phases of the moon and solar system. They learn
the science content by exploring the night sky with Rocky Alvey, the Superintendent
of Dyer Observatory. Judy Butler, the Director of Education and Public
Outreach for the Center of Excellence in Information Systems at Tennessee
State University, is responsible for planning the curriculum and conducting
the writing and visual arts instruction for the workshops. Ms. Butler
is an educator and naturalist who has taught the art of journal keeping
to students and teachers across the state of Tennessee for the last ten
years as part of the Harpeth River Project.
