NSTA 2012

The National Science Teachers Association held its 2012 National Conference on March 29^th through April 1^st at the Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis, IN. This city is widely known as the “Crossroads of America” but during NSTA, its name was temporarily changed to the “Crossroads of Science”. Approximately 8,000 attendees representing educators, teachers and students, plus over 400 leading exhibitors of science and educational products (from all over the world) came together for four days of science immersion!  Exhibitors, including Celestron, showed off their latest learning tools and products, while at the same time, science workshops were conducted by leading experts to update teachers with all of the latest learning materials, techniques and concepts to take back and apply in their classrooms. NSTA offered great opportunities for teachers to keep up with the ever changing science standards.

East Coast Sales Manager, Ed McDonough and Marketing Communications Coordinator, Kevin Kawai, traveled to Indianapolis and brought along Celestron’s latest and time tested products such as weather stations, handheld portable devices and digital and optical microscopes. Some of these products included the exciting new 5MP touch screen PentaView; the new translucent Amoeba; crowd favorites such as the Deluxe Handheld Digital and Handheld Digital LCD; and the surprise hit of the show, the Digital LCD and Camera Accessory. Our battery powered Micro360 received many "thumbs up" from teachers for its portability and ease of use in the field. 

      

In addition to these products, no science gathering would be complete without a few telescopes to showcase as well. Celestron’s 76 mm ultra portable FirstScope captivated teachers with its compact size and large light gathering ability for such a small scope in its class.  Many teachers felt this telescope would make for the perfect astronomical learning tool for young science students and should belong in every science classroom – due to its size and nonintimidating features. The SkyProdigy 130 was also very popular with teachers.  This “smart telescope” enables users to start observing celestial objects within minutes – even if users have no astronomical or telescope background whatsoever!  With many non-astronomy science teachers being asked to teach astronomy in schools these days, having a SkyProdigy on hand would be ideal and provide such a welcome relief as an essential learning tool.

Near the end of the show, we raffled off two Deluxe Handheld Digital microscopes, a rare Limited Edition Anniversary FirstScope and the grand prize, a PentaView LCD Digital microscope, to four lucky winners!  It was great to hear all the teachers cheering in anticipation.  We’re sure all the winner’s students will enjoy using these educational products to make their own fascinating discoveries in and around their classrooms!

     

The NSTA National Conference is always one of our favorite events to attend each year.  Where else will you find such a large scale science conference that teachers can update their science knowledge, learn the latest teaching tools and network with thousands of other fellow science educators and teachers all under one roof?  Celestron is committed to support and enhance science and educational markets, while at the same time, continue to create a sense of wonder, knowledge and fun with our products – not only here locally but throughout the world!  See you again next year!

For complete photo album of this event click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/celestron-blog/sets/72157629363666770/