Shaw-IAU Workshops by the OAE

This talk will provide preliminary insights from the 2022 study which included many NAEC teams. Methods include survey and interviews to discover the methods of learning and teaching in primary and secondary classrooms. Data informed comparisons and case studies of international astronomy education efforts in community and formal education. This and the ongoing work Salimpour and Fitzgerald can provide multinational curricular and pedagogical examples of leveraging astronomy as a “gateway” and inform interdisciplinary approaches to teaching science.

About Christine Hirst Bernhardt

Christine Hirst Bernhardt is a passionate STEM educator and teacher leader from California. She has taught STEM courses and astronomy in middle, high school and college, as well as to teachers through NASA’s Endeavor STEM Leadership program. Christine’s commitment to propelling the intersectional needs of STEM education and passion for bringing space content to the masses have resulted in her appointment as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator, the Thomas J. Brennan award for Excellent Astronomy Teaching, participation aboard NASA’s SOFIA mission and travel to Chile as an educational ambassador. She is also an Emerging Teacher Educator fellow with the California Teacher Education Improvement Network. Christine has worked for several curricular companies and advisory boards to advance space education. As an educator, Christine utilized project-based learning to promote agency and equity in STEM through relevant and culturally applicable phenomena, which she plans to develop into her doctoral research at UC Santa Barbara. She developed a unique and regionally famous high altitude balloon experiment program, student space symposium and international space camp. Christine loves all things adventure; she raced mountain bikes until 2016, won two national championships, and founded the first all-women’s professional gravity mountain bike team to advance women in a male dominated industry. She holds an M.S. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota and an M.A. in Science Education from CSU Northridge. Her research centers on the intersections of STEM/Astronomy and Social Justice and international STEM/Astronomy education and teacher professional development. As the US NAEC lead, she hopes to form international connections and collaborations amongst countries and classrooms.

Watch a recording of this talk (external link)