Jeffery
Adkins
Updated 23 February 2006
Contact information
Email: astronomyteacher@mac.com
About
Me
Educational
certification
Educational
background
Work
and Management experience
Computer
Experience
Publications
Presentations
Other
Education Experience
Astronomy
Experience
Awards and Honors
References
About
Me
I am a long-time amateur astronomer and a teacher at Deer
Valley High School in Antioch, California. Presently I teach
Astronomy
and Space Science, Astronomy/Physics
Research, Planetarium
Production, Astronomy and Earth Science and AP
Physics. I am the former science department chair for DVHS and maintain a
web page for the
department.
I am the director of the Antioch
Earth, Space and Astronomy Center for Education (ESPACE) at Deer Valley
High School in Antioch, California. This academic
school-within-a-school focuses on astronomy and space science
curriculum within a series of elective and required courses offered
at the school. The program has already begun by connecting our
astronomy class with the Hands-On Universe program sponsored by the
Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, California, and the Teacher
Leaders in Research-Based Science Education sponsored by the National
Optical Astronomy Observatories in Tucson, Arizona. To date the
program has won two substantial grants: one from the Specialised
Secondary Programs office of the California Department of Education,
and a smaller grant from the Dean and Margaret Lesher charitable
foundation for buidling a web site explaining how to assemble a
classroom planetarium. Links to all of these affiliated projects are
listed on the project website.
My primary hobbies are amateur astronomy and fiddling around with my
Power Macintosh G4. I own two telescopes, a small Newtonian on an
equatorial mount and a big 13" Dobsonian from Odyssey. Through these
telescopes and others I have seen all the planets except Pluto and
about two-thirds of the Messier List. I've seen Mars and Jupiter
rotate, watched Mars' polar caps come and go, tracked several comets,
and observed galaxies, globular clusters, open clusters, reflection
and absorption nebulae, supernova remnants, planetary nebulae, quazars, and
plenty of double and multiple star systems.
I also have a collection of hundreds of science fiction novels. My
collection includes some signed works by Carl Sagan, everyone
from Azimov to Zahn.and a first edition Star Fleet Technical Manual signed by
members of the cast of Star Trek TOS.
Today my wife Lori and I and our two sons Benjamin and Jonathan live
in California. We have been happily married for 23 years. For contact
information, please email
me.
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Educational certification
Currently certified as a teacher in California public schools in
Physics. I have experience teaching at the college
level and in a variety of other settings. I have a clear credential in Physics,
and an introductory science supplement.
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Educational background
1992 M.S. in Astronomy from University of Arizona at
Tucson, Arizona. Emphasis on Astronomy Education.
1991 21 credit hours towards an M.A. in Physics Education
(incomplete) from Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Ky.
(Degree work interrupted to pursue the M.S. in Astronomy from the
University of Arizona at Tucson.)
1985 B.A. from Berea College, Berea, Kentucky.
Major: Physics Education. Minor: Mathematics
...plus several hours from a variety of universities for certification requirements
and content.
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Work and management experience
September 1998 - present Instructor, Deer Valley
High School.
I currently teach AP Physics, Astronomy and Space Science, Astronomy
and Earth Science, Astronomy/Physics Research, Planetarium Production, and General
Physics. I
am
also
the
director
of
the Antioch
Earth, Space, and Astronomy Center for Education Academy.
October 2000-present, Columnist, Low
End Mac.I write the Mac
Lab Report, a mix of Mac advocacy and how-tos for computers in
the science classroom, and am the primary contributor to the Lite
Side, a "towering column of humor."
Summer 1998-present Consultant Adaptive
Consulting
Founded consulting business to provide Macintosh computing services specializing
in customized Filemaker Pro solutions, with Consulting services provided to New
Standards office in Oakland, California, assisting with archiving and computer
network maintenance and database design. Worked several days as an Apple specialist
for Marketsource, Inc., demonstrating Apple hardware and software for Demo Days.
I also provided support for the New Standards' project search for a host
site for their large collection of tasks. I have done consulting projects with
eeps media, the University of California Office of the President, Stanford University,
Sonoma State University, and others. I now do consulting on an ad-hoc basis.
My current projects include contributing to the Consumer's Guide to After School
Science programs as a reviewer, working with Lake County Office of Education
(CA) to develop an astronomy-based curriculum, and working with eeps media to
develop curriculum for a new interactive science program.
Fall 2005-present Instructor Lost Medanos Community College. I teach Introductory Astronomy (010 LS), a general level science course.
June 2000-2005, Science Department chair, Deer Valley High School.
Fall 1998-Fall 2004 Instructor Heritage
On-Line.
Responsible for teaching a course "Astronomy and the WWW" for teachers
offering credit through Antioch University (see www.hol.edu). Responsible
for editing
and revising course content,
web site content, and interaction with students.
January 1999- June 2000 Science Department
co-chair, Deer
Valley High School
Responsible for teaching Integrated Science 1 and Integrated Science
2 at Deer Valley High School in Antioch, California. Science
Department co-chair along with Ms. Kitty Carton at DVHS. Responsible
for science department meetings, placing and supporting orders for
equipment and supplies, curriculum advising and related duties.
September 1998 - January 1999 Instructor, Deer
Valley High School
Responsible for teaching Integrated Science 1 and Integrated Science
2 at Deer Valley High School in Antioch, California.
September 1997 - September 1998 Director of
Assessments, New Standards.
Responsible for the development and implementation of the various
assessment systems in the organization, including the New
Standards Mathematics and English Language Arts examinations.
Computer coordinator for the office network at the Oakland
office. Also responsible for managing the workload distributed
among suppo rt staff.
October 1996-October 1997 Chief of Staff, New
Standards.
Responsible for the management of half a dozen divisions within the
organization, spread across 4 offices located in Pittsburgh (PA),
Oakland (CA), Ft. Worth (TX) and Washington (DC). Responsible for
budget planning, management of the Reference Examination systems,
staff work assignments, Macintosh office network system for the
Oakland office, supervising approximately 20 employees in Oakland
plus approximately 10 others in other offices. Created a
Filemaker-Pro based budget writing system used in FY 1997.
July 1995 - October 1996 Deputy Director of
Assessment Development, New Standards Project.
Primary responsibility was managing the implementation of the New
Standards Assessment system as described above.
August 1994-June 1995 Coordinator of Assessment
Administration, New Standards Project.
Primary responsibility was managing the implementation of the $1.3
million New Standards Mathematics Reference Examination by The
Psychological Corporation.
Jan 1994 -July 1994 Assessment Consultant for
the New Standards Project.
Assistant to the Director of the Office of Assessment Administration,
New Standards.
Fall 1992- Dec. 1993 Science Assessment
Consultant, Kentucky Department of Education. Responsible
for the management of the development and implementation of the
science portion of the Kentucky Instructional Results Information
System, the assessment program created by the Kentucky Education
Reform Act.
1991-1992 Part-time instructor, Eastern
Kentucky University
Employed by Physics Department at Eastern Kentucky University,
Richmond, Kentucky. Taught Introductory Physics and Physics for High
School teachers.
1985-1992 Physics and Astronomy
instructor,Henry Clay High School, Fayette Co. Kentucky
Henry Clay High School. Started an experimental course, Astronomy and
Space Science, to broaden the science options available to students.
Taught conceptual physics, introduction to physics and chemistry.
Summers 1985-1988 Instructor, Upward Bound
Program
Employed by the Upward Bound Program of Eastern Kentucky University.
Taught Algebra, Geometry, BASIC programming, Physics, Astronomy, and
Journalism as enrichment courses for disadvantaged youth from the
eastern Kentucky area.
1983-1984 Editor, Berea College
Pinnacle.
Responsible for the production and management of an independent
newspaper for the campus, including the supervision of work-study
employees, budget, design, content, layout, production, distribution,
advertising, etc.
Summer 1979 and Summer 1980 Professional
actor .
Hired as a professional actor during the summers of 1979 and 1980, in
the outdoor drama Wilderness Road, by Paul Green. I played understudy
to the lead role of Squire Sims, and spent several weeks each summer
performing the role.
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Computer
experience
I am a long-time Macintosh computer user, but can also find my way
around a Windows machine. I have used computers to create and read in
bubble-type scan forms, scan photos and convert documents to text,
publish CD-ROMs and diskettes containing archival information, write
databases, and so on. I manage several web sites.
Low End Mac
In January 1988 I published a computer program called "Moon Calendar" which
generated moon phases on the now-obsolete Atari ST computer. This was published
in STart magazine.
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Education related experience
I am a frequent attendee of professional development and training meetings and
have conducted many of them as well. For example, in the past 2 years I
have:
My long-term projects include the following.
"ESPACE Academy," at the Northern California Regional SSP meeting at Deer Valley High School in Antioch, CA on October 27, 2005. I was the conference organizer.
"Space Probes in the Classroom," at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona on May 11, 2005.
"The Electromagnetic Spectrum," a workshop on the E-M Spectrum and the CA Science Standards, Deer Valley High School, April 19. 2005.
"Spitzer Space Telescope Project," Stockton Astronomical Society, Stockton, California, February 2005."HOU, Standards, and UC" at the California Science Teachers' Association convention in San Jose in October 2004.
"Unified Model of Active Galactic Nuclei," Mt. Diablo Astronomical Society, Concord, CA September 2004.
" Building a Classroom Planetarium," National Science Teacher's Association, Atlanta, Georgia, December 2004 ."Parallax in the Classroom," American Association of Physics Teachers conference in Sacramento, California, August 2, 2004.
"Conceptual Astronomy 1," an introductory astronomy workbook, teacher's guide, and textbook, has been published by TeachingPoint (2005). Volume 2 is in progress and will be completed by sometime in 2006-2007 school year.
"A Night on Kitt Peak," published in Nightwatch, the Mt. Diablo Astronomical Society Newsletter, January 2005.
"Distribution of Slowly and Rapidly Decaying Novae in M31," co-authored with RBSE class of 2002, published in the 2004 edition of the RBSE Journal.
"Observing from the Red Planet" article was published by Sky and Telescope magazine in July of 1998. This article shows how to use computer planetarium software to simulate the sky as seen from the surface of Mars.
"Moon Calendar," a computer program, in STart magazine in January 1988. This program generates calendars showing the phases of the moon over the course of a year.
I write a column about technology in science education which is published by the web site Low End Mac. Over 100 of my columns have been published over the past several years at http://www.lowendmac.com/lab/ and include topics such as product reviews, opinion pieces, how-to articles, and many others.
Other Astronomy-related experience
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References
For reference information please email
me.
Return to Jeff's Home
Page.