News

GTCC Astronomy Instructor Attends Cosmos Conference

(Released 8/24/2010)

JAMESTOWN - Steve Desch, an astronomy professor at Guilford Technical Community College, was among about 200 instructors from across the country who attended the five-day Cosmos in the Classroom Conference held July 31-Aug. 5 at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

The conference, which was sponsored by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in San Francisco, was designed to help instructors understand how to do a better job with introductory astronomy, planetary science and astrobiology courses.

Desch noted that the conference was a helpful experience. "It is always interesting to meet other teachers who are struggling with the same classroom challenges that I am," he said. "And that's really the fun part of a conference like this, interacting with counterparts at other institutions, talking things out with them, hearing new approaches and learning new things to try in my own classroom.

"I got a lot of new tips on how to make my class time more collaborative and how to better use computer simulations, which I hope will benefit my students."

"In addition to the astronomy teaching focus, the conference also included sessions on public outreach," said Tom English, who heads the astronomy program at GTCC. "Given our teaching and outreach focus at GTCC, it was important that we be represented there," English said.

English has attended past conferences at the university. Both he and Desch are involved in the NASA Center for Astronomy Education.

Desch has a bachelor's of science degree in physics from the University of Notre Dame and a master's degree in astronomy from Michigan State University.

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