Program Schedules

Program Schedules

We offer programs of flexible lengths to meet the needs of interested schools. Two critical components are (1) emphasizing a sense of place in our transition from Tucson to the summit of our nearest sky island and (2) providing the opportunity for participants to conduct their own original research projects.

Typically we are not able to offer participants the opportunity to do their own research in programs shorter than 2 nights.

The goals of the shorter programs without research components are for participants to:

• experience the Sky Island environment and the night sky,
• ask and answer questions about what makes Sky Islands unique,
• gain a sense of appreciation, belonging, and stewardship of their environment,
• interact with real life scientists (you!), and
• be exposed to the University of Arizona as a resource and potential future education for them.

Longer programs build on the goals and structure of the shorter ones. The first day is the same survey of the transition up the mountain. Following the first day survey, the main focus of the program becomes student-run research projects mentored by graduate instructor. Groups of participants have one to two days to design their research project and determine methods, collect and analyze data, turn that into a presentation, which will be presented at the final research symposium.

The goals of three night programs include those for the single night program, along with:

• understand and use the scientific method to carry out and present original research, and
• develop teamwork skills.

Typical itineraries with instructor responsibilities are posted on our wiki site (under Schedules on the Main Page). Each program will have a unique schedule, and they will all probably be amended as needed throughout the course of the day.

Instructor responsibilities for single night programs

Be available and able to arrange transportation (carpooling with other instructors is a great idea) to Mount Lemmon for program dates, and able to spend the night and return typically mid-afternoon on Day 2.

Your primary responsibility during the one night program is leading the activities on the up-the-mountain survey, evening program, and morning reflections. Many of these activities are better done in small groups, so you will be leading the curriculum developed for a group of 5-15 students at each site. You should generally have a teacher chaperone included in your group who knows the students to help with discipline.

Add any of your own expertise into the ongoing lessons, or develop additional activities we can all lead that draw on your field of study.

Keep in mind that just interacting with you, a real life scientist, may be a new experience for some of these students, and you may have the opportunity to radically change their mental image of who a scientist is.

You are encouraged to exchange contact information or to stay in touch with participants if you are comfortable with that. You could be their live link to the idea of going to college, or getting into a research lab at the University of Arizona for research experience pre-college.

While the Mountain Operations staff do a lot of maintenance at the SkyCenter campus, there is no full time janitorial or kitchen staff up on the mountain. To promote teamwork and keep program fees affordable for participants, we ask everyone to pitch in with everyday cleanup and food prep. Sometimes that may mean having the most over-educated Chipotle-like burrito bar team ever assembled. Thanks in advance!

Instuctor responsibilities for multi-night programs

These experiences require more preparation, both on the students’ part, and on the instructors’ part, than a single night program. They still include transportation to the mountain, small group instruction, and contributing to the general team logistical challenges, such as cleanup and crowd control. You will lead your research group in rotations every morning and evening for assigned tasks like cleanup as well as collecting longitudinal data on weather and phenology.

During the orientation retreat, we will film a 1-2 minute video introducing you. Be ready to give your name, a sentence or two about what you study, and why you enjoy doing science. These videos will be uploaded to YouTube and featured on the Sky School website, so be sure not to say anything ridiculous, like promising a bear sighting. Program participants will view these videos when selecting which topic they would like to sign up to research.

Prepare a list of online resources for teachers to give their students several weeks before the program. These can range from Wikipedia articles on famous researchers or fundamental ideas in your field, to news stories about recent discoveries, to “how-to” websites on field or lab techniques. You could include a peer reviewed paper, but make sure to choose something short, written for a broad audience. An article from Science or Nature will probably be more inspiring and informative for a high school student than something out of Annual Review or Theoretical Population Biology.

Gather any specialized scientific equipment you anticipate wanting to use for measurements within your area of expertise.

Be available and able to transport yourself to the Sky Center campus for at the very least the afternoon of Day 2 and the whole of Day 3. You are absolutely encouraged to attend the entire four days, leading exploration up the mountain, and applauding your group’s presentation on Day 4. You can stay in the dormitories and eat with the program participants. The Sky Center campus has spotty cell reception for some carriers (like AT&T), but good wifi in the Learning Center. It may be possible to squeeze in some non-outreach tasks during evenings and other breaks, but you may find yourself too exhausted to think hard after a day of teaching and hiking. If possible, clear your schedule for the duration of the program and finish any tasks with deadlines during that time beforehand (yes, we all know that is typically impossible, but a nice aspiration).

Your primary responsibility during the three night program is leading the development of a testable scientific question, the design of methods, and the data collection and analysis. Not only is this process valuable to the participants, but it can be inspiring for you to see a project come to completion on such a short time scale. Keep in mind that just interacting with you, a real life scientist, may be a new experience for some of these students, and you may have the opportunity to radically change their mental image of who a scientist is.

You are highly encouraged to exchange contact information or to stay in touch with participants if you are comfortable with that. You could be their live link to the idea of going to college, or getting into a research lab at the University of Arizona for research experience pre-college.

Dates of programs already scheduled for 2014-2015 (subject to change):

Fall 2014

• Sept 12-13, Safford
• Sept 29-Oct 2, Paulo Freire
• Oct 7-8, Altar Valley PEAK
• Oct 9-10, Radford School
• Oct 13-16, Tanque Verde High School
• Oct 24-25, Academy of Tucson
• Oct 28-29, Flowing Wells CATS
• Nov 6-9, The Gregory School (St. Gregory's)
• Nov 10-11, Flowing Wells CATS

Spring 2015

• March 16-18, Altar Valley 4th grade
• April 13-14, Flowing Wells CATS
• April 17-18, Los Ninos Elementary
• April 22-25, Flowing Wells High School
• April 27-30, Altar Valley 8th grade
• May 2-3, Lauffer Middle School
• May 4-5, 6-7, 11-12, 13-14, multiple trips of Canyon View 5th grade
• May 8, Agua Caliente
• June 5-7, Fryeburg Academy