The IVO for Informal Science Centers, Planetaria,
Schools, including and Remote and Local Telescopes:
The Real Astronomy Experience - RAE’
brought to you by the:
US National Science Foundation
Education and Human Resources
Elementary, Secondary and Informal Sciences Education
Program
Building Meaningful Use and Understanding of IVO
Data through Use of Telescopes and Image Processing in
Science Centers and Planetaria
IVO: A Revolutionary Development.
Arguably Unprecedented in
Civil Society.
Why not meaningfully reach 1 billion people,
(instead of just 10,000) with high quality data?
Professional
Quality Data
Interfaces,training,
activities,communities you!
Humans, students
Just putting stuff
On the web bombs
RAE: An Opportunity for Science
Centers and Astronomy
World of
Images,
Data, etc.
Hands-On
Universe
has some
answers
Science Center Visitors
Hands-On Universe Tools -- see
http://hou.lbl.gov
Rick Hessman Speaks Friday at
14:50 on HOU in General
HOU Summary:
Software
Global Partners (and eager to expand!!)
Web Site
Teacher trainers and on-going communities and bonds
Internet Mediated On-line training
1000 Teachers around the world trained in HOU
They are starved for data
They are savvy, as are their kids
Good Global Partners
JAHOU (Subaru SuPrime Camera
Data is on its way!!)
France (Global HOU Meeting,
Paris, July 24-29)
Obsatacles/Pitfalls
•Things are delivered to slowly (moderate hyperbolae)
•Teachers are not trained
•Teachers have no connection with scientists
•Teachers and others have no resources
•Kids don’t want archival (read “dead”) data
Of great interest to teachers and
Students:
•
Real Research
•
Non-analyzed data (save a portion of the sky for kids??
Quark Net will probably save a trigger for kids)
•
Sense of adventure and discovery
•
Light Curves!!! Transient Objects
•
Seamless to real telescopes (Aussie VO ideas)
•
FTS not Jpeg!!
Some Underpinnings of Hands-On
Universe
(courtesy of NSF ESIE)
•
People learn science best by doing aspects of
science with modern tools
• The least powerful deserve the most powerful
tools
• Scientists can share their sense of exploration,
their sense of joy with students and the public
• There is always an opportunity to make a small or
large discovery.
HOU Pre-IVO and new technology
• High Bandwidth Networking -- video conferencing
experiments
• Resources that genuinely need computing to succeed
• Data bases
• Automated Telescopes
• CCD Image Cameras
• Teacher support networks using the internet
• On-Line courses
Three Dark Clouds Over
Astronomy and Education
•
Students lack of achievement in Science -TIMSS, Pisa, etc. -- US and Europe are not so hot.
•
•
US Public’s lack of enthusiasm and understanding
of Science (and funding) -- decreasing science funding
since Nixon.
•
Students lack of engagement in physical sciences -particularly women and minorities -- (look around the
room!) None of us want this to be the EOWMIVO!!
Optimistic Signs
•
Teachers like astronomy and others are eager to change
• Students know computers and networking are the
future
• We have many resources that are available and are
working
• IVO!!!!
• Small remote telescopes (RTML)
• Internet enables unprecedented level of
– Access
– Communication
– Collaboration -- if we do it right and carefully
Why Astronomy #1?
Survey of Museum Visitors at Boston
Museum of Science:
Dinosaurs #1,
Astronomy #2 (apologies to Luis
Alvarez)
Why Astronomy 2
They like it better than other sciences in school
1= HOU provided Less, 5= HOU provided more:
Why Astronomy 3
:
• From Master’s Thesis of Curtis Craig,
early in HOU -- young women thrived at
it.
• HOU is thriving in some inner cities of
US and France with a diverse audience.
IVO/HOU Opportunities
•
Ubiquitous access to these data bases
•
Get teachers and students to work more closely together
•
Huge Audience of Teachers and Students to Work with -- we
know it is the right thing, and laterally millions waiting!
•
Exciting, engaging, and rigorous and challenging resources we
can bring into many classrooms
•
July 11-12 meeting at STSCI with NVO team! HOU is there!
Resources to Supplement IVO for Public
Venues:
HOU/RAE to the Rescue
• HOU IP Software
• HOU On-line and face to face workshops -scalability!
• Web-site (http://hou.lbl.gov)
• Data Base
• Video Conferencing
• Growing world of small telescopes, too (Monet, etc.)
Ladder of Cognition:
Narrabri Remote Telescope in
Australia at ANTF
Some System Architecture
Visitor Software
• Maxim DL (easy version) Image Processing
• Starry Night Planeataria software for requests and
understanding sky and interacting with IVO
• Instant Telescope Control Software
• Data Base (HOU and IVO!)
• Video Conferencing with remote telescopes
• Control of Observatory Cameras
• Take home images, software, etc.
Starry Nights
Starry Nights
Starry Nights
Visitor Image Processsing Software
Supernova and HOU IP!
• Before
• After
Powerful but Easy to Understand
Image Processing Tools:
Data Base
• on-line images, requests, learning, etc.!
Example: Asteroid Discovery
by Young Women! These
materials are not esoteric to
kids!
• FS144:
• FS144:
Asteroid Search Download Page
Kids and Supernovae
• Important Objects (in the California standards!)
• They create all of the matter of the universe -you and I are star children
• Kids and Teachers love them
• They teach science and math kids have to learn
anyway
• Kids have found them
Use in Classrooms and RAE
• Students rediscover a supernova in existing data
• Slowly building a student-based supernova search
• Use supernova images to find asteroids
• Connect with Berkeley supernova groups and
science
• Scale to AGN’s and all other transient objects
Small Telescopes Can
Supplement IVO Data!
• Follow up asteroids, variable AGN’s, stars, etc.
• Make science more valuable and immediate
• Exciting
• Teaches more inquiry- based science
• RTML (Remote Telescope Markup Language
The Future is Incredibly Bright
• There will be hiccups
• We can prove stuff works and
succeeds better than “normal” informal
science education soon!
• It will be a great journey together