NGSS Science and Engineering Practices in Secondary Education through Real Astronomical Research

The NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP) provides middle and high school science teachers with a unique opportunity to engage in high-level primary research with an astronomer. In this particular study, four teachers, side-by-side with nine of their selected students, participated in an archival search for the presence of infrared excess around M-class dwarf stars to determine the possible presence of asteroidal and cometary debris, which may point to the presence of terrestrial exoplanets. Over the course of one year, students and teachers collaborated in both virtual and physical settings to learn about scientific concepts and how to use NASA's Infrared Science Archive (IRSA) and Spitzer Enhanced Imaging Products (SEIP) Catalog to access data and analyze results. Through this process of doing authentic science, teachers and their students utilized the Science and Engineering Practices of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which strive to move the real world methods of "doing science" into classrooms. One educational focus for this project was to incorporate the eight practices of science and engineering that are identified in the NGSS into student instruction, especially those of questioning, active student research, collaboration with peers, and communication of results. Students and teachers were surveyed to examine how their view of learning and teaching science changed after participating in authentic research practices. After completing the NITARP program, all students and teacher perceptions of science shifted. This research was made possible through the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP) and was funded by NASA Astrophysics Data Program.