We are holding NSF-funded workshops on order-of-magnitude estimation for teachers of all grades (K-community college), in order to provide expert training in solving order-of-magnitude problems and assist in developing lessons to implement these problem-solving techniques in the classroom.

Our goal is to introduce you to order-of-magnitude techniques with examples from here on Earth, guide you through extending these approaches to astronomy, and finally to help you develop your own problems suited to your subject area and students’ needs. You can then implement these in your classroom, using us and your colleagues as a resource to help you along.

Beyond the introductory workshop, we will be following your progress and employing various methods to test the efficacy of the program. This will include requesting regular updates and lesson plans from you, pre- and post-testing, as well as working with a control classroom that is not utilizing order-of-magnitude problems.

The next order-of-magnitude workshop will take place in winter 2019 at Dartmouth College. If you are interested in attending, please contact Lauranne Lanz (Lauranne.Lanz@dartmouth.edu). Feel free to contact us if you have any questions!