GAVRT Day 2

What an amazing day! We had to start it off by driving awhile out to Apple Valley in the Mojavi.  Honestly, it was a lot like Phoenix with the dry heat and the barren landscape.  Of course it was really pretty, but nothing too shocking to me.  During our drive we all shared best practices and cool teaching strategies.  I even took notes on what one gentlemen in our car uses in his classroom.  I cant wait to try some of his strategies!  It is so wonderful to be with other teachers who have the same passions and enthusiasm to incorporate STEM (Science, technology, engineering, math) in any way they can to try and make an impact on their students.  I wish I could have conversation like that every day.  Who knows though, maybe I will this year!  Once we arrived to the main building we were in awe of the HUGE 34 meter radio telescope near where we parked.  It was quite a sight seeing all these teachers with their necks arching back to try and soak up what was in front of them, including myself.  However, this telescope would seem pretty small compared to the Mars telescope that we would see later.  It is 70 meters across and makes you feel like a small bug in comparison.  It is so amazing to know that the object in front of us is able to talk to satellites next to the sun and over a billion miles away where Voyager 1 and 2 are.  We talked to great scientists today, saw really cool desert wildlife (wild donkeys! Who knew?) and even got to go below the telescope to see all these different experiments, and then climb almost to the very top.  What a view!  I can't wait to share all of this with my students and start getting them excited for their own radio telescope time.  More to come tomorrow!