Yerkes Teacher Lunacy Workshop 2010

Teachers discovered that exploring our Moon can reveal many secrets and create many more questions at the Yerkes Observatory's Teacher Lunacy Workshop II.  ARCS teacher Lynne Zielinski from Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois introduced teachers to many facinatng facts about the Moon.  Data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) was analyzed using IDL and Gridview Software programs.  Lynne's students  have compared moon images taken with the Yerkes Observatory telescopes with current Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) images to try to discover recently formed craters on the Moon.ARCS teacher Lynne Zielinski recommends reading materials to Lunacy Workshop teachers as Rich Decoster and Sharon Carr analyze Moon images using NASA data. Breakout sessions were presented by other ARCS teachers and included How to Teach Moon Phases using a Moon phase collar.  By providing a different way of viewing the positions of the Earth and Moon, teachers are able to help students understand the reasons for the changing phases of our Moon. ARCS teacher Ruth Juhant (left) leads breakout session How to Teach Moon Phases.

Although clouds obscured plans for evening viewing for the International Observe the Moon Night, teachers were enriched by the many experiences provided by Lunacy II.