Michael Fitzgerald (Macquarie University, Australia): Star Cluster Research in the Classroom. Real Science with Real Telescopes.

In this talk I will outline the materials and educational design used by teachers to enable students to undertake inquiry-based learning and realistic astronomical research in the classroom. Multiple approaches, including Backward Faded Scaffolding, the 5E's and a variety of inquiry-based pedagogies have been combined together with on-the-ground research to create an ever-improving set of guides, materials and data designed for use in the high school classroom. One of the prime foci is to minimise the resource cost of the teacher's preparation as well as enabling the approach to be as easily subsumed into each school's program as easily as possible. The students involved have thus far made significant learning gains as well as positively changed attitudes towards science. At the cutting edge, the keenest students have undertaken research that has culminated in multiple scientific publications on Globular Clusters and Open Clusters utilising the LCOGT.net telescopes.