TOPS Online Applications

TOPS Online Applications

ONLINE APPLICATIONS (Now Available)

Applications due - February 23, 2003

This year we are changing the TOPS program, in part because this is the last year of funding and we need to provide closure for the program, and produce a result, and secondly because of budget restrictions. The essential elements of the basic TOPS program are the following:

Dates: June 9-27, 2003, M-F only, 9-5pm
The program is not a residence program, except for those from other islands or the mainland
Eligibility: Only teachers who have participated in TOPS 1993-2002 may apply, and this is restricted to teachers from Hawaii and the mainland (Micronesian teachers - see below). New teachers - see below.
Teachers will still receive a stipend. Food and housing will be picked up for those coming from outer islands and the mainland (but air from the mainland will not be covered).
The June portion of the program is not open to students; we will have a separate program for them (see below)
There will be a special workshop for Micronesian teachers to be held August 6-9 in Pohnpei, FSM. All expenses will be paid (travel from within Micronesia, lodging and you will get a stipend).

Program Goals and Activities

At all of the previous TOPS programs were a mixture of hands on activities, lectures, observing and field trips. While this was very valuable, most teachers are probably not totally ready to launch new astronomy initiatives in their own classrooms. This year we hope to "polish off" the TOPS teachers to enable them to do this. In addition, teachers are still not completely comfortable with running workshops and sharing the TOPS activities. We propose this year to give teachers specific training on how to plan observing programs appropriate for their classroom curriculum, from the start of a student idea, to execution of observations, and you will hopefully get a chance to execute a planned program using the Faulkes telescope, which will be getting its first light this spring.

Micronesian Teachers

We will have a special workshop for our Micronesian teachers in Pohnpei after the main TOPS program, to help them with their skills, and to focus the activities on their needs.

Students

Students - we have not forgotten you!! However, the student and teacher program is decoupled this summer, and we need to carefully plan what we want to do with the students. We are having an in-depth TOPS planning meeting on Feb 24/25, 2003, after which we will unveil our full plan for the students! So, in the mean time, please just email to meech@ifa.hawaii.edu, an expression of your interest, including your email address, phone and mailing address, and we will contact you once we have the plan in place.

At present, the only application form we have is either a downloadable pdf format form (1 page) or postscript form, which you must fill out and mail (Karen Meech; Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822), or fax back to us (808-956-9580, attention Karen Meech).


Last Updated on December 18, 2002
Karen Meech, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii meech@ifa.hawaii.edu