The NVO for Schools, Informal Science Centers, Planetaria, including and Remote and Local Telescopes

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The NVO for Schools, Informal Science Centers,
Planetaria, including and Remote and Local
TelescopesThe National Virtual Observatory
and Hands-On Universe (HOU) UC Berkeley
brought to you by the US National Science
FoundationEducation and Human ResourcesElementar
y, Secondary and Informal Sciences
Education Program

• Building Meaningful Use and Understanding of NVO
  Data through Use of Telescopes and Image
  Processing in Schools, Science Centers and
  Planetaria

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NVO A Revolutionary Development.With Arguably
Unprecedented Public/Educational Outreach
CapabilityWhy not meaningfully reach many, many
people, (instead of just 10,000 Astronomers) with
high quality data?
Professional Quality Data
Hands-On Universe Interfaces,training, activities,
communities you!
Humans, students
Just putting stuff On the web bombs!!
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Hands-On Universe Tools -- see http//hou.lbl.gov
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Hands-On Universe Resources --What have we got to
share with the NVO?

• Image processing software (C and IDL based)
• Master Teacher Corp of 22 Teacher Resource
  Agents
• (many have been with the project for 7 years)
• Curriculum for High School
• Real Astronomy Experience for Informal
  Science Centers
• Growing Telescope Network (RTML!!)
• Teacher workshops
• On-line teacher workshops!!
• Growing Alliance with Starry Nights/Maxim
  DL/Bob Denny
• 700 Trained HOU teachers in the US
• Another 500 trained teachers around the world
• Some good discoveries -- young women have
  found supernovae, asteroids, etc.
• Knowledge of how to make astronomy work in
  school environments
• TIMSS Evaluation

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On-Line Course
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Good Global Partners
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JAHOU (Subaru SuPrime Camera Data is on its way!!)
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France (Global HOU Meeting, Paris, July 24-29)
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TIMSS Results -- On-Line Training of Teachers
Seems to as Effective as Face-to-face workshops,
as measured by Student Performance
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Of great interest to teachers and Students

• Real Research
• Non-analyzed data (save a portion of the
  sky for kids??
• e.g., Quark Net will probably save a trigger for
  kids)
• Sense of adventure and discovery
• Light Curves!!! Transient Objects
• Seamless connections to real telescopes
  (Aussie VO ideas)
• FTS not Jpeg!!

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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.

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HOU Pre-NVO and new technology

• High Bandwidth Networking -- video conferencing
  experiments with teacher training -- we trained a
  group of teachers using Polycom-based one-day
  workshop.
• Resources that genuinely need computing to
  succeed
• Data bases
• Automated Telescopes
• CCD Image Cameras
• Teacher support networks using the internet
• On-Line courses

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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
• NVO!!!!
• Small remote telescopes (RTML)
• Internet enables unprecedented level of
• Access
• Communication
• Collaboration -- if we do it right and carefully
  

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Why Astronomy?They like it better than other
sciences in school1 HOU provided Less, 5 HOU
provided more
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Why Astronomy 2

• From Masters 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.

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What Does HOU have to gain from the NVO?

• New unprecedented set of great data for
  universal access
• Possible collaborations and linkages to more
  scientists, educators, and other institutions
• Data base and infomatics for kids
• Better Collaborations

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Resources to Supplement IVO for Public
VenuesHOU/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.)

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Ladder of Cognition
Narrabri Remote Telescope in Australia at ANTF
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Some System Architecture
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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.

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Starry Nights
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Starry Nights
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Starry Nights
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Visitor Image Processsing Software
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Supernova and HOU IP!

• Before
• After

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Powerful but Easy to Understand Image Processing
Tools
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Data Base

• on-line images, requests, learning, etc.!

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Example Asteroid Discovery by Young Women! These
materials are not esoteric to kids!

• FS144

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• FS144

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Asteroid Search Download Page
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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

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Use in Classrooms and RAE

• Students/visitors rediscover a supernova in
  existing data or evolving data
• Slowly building a student-based supernova search
• Use supernova images to find asteroids
• Connect with Berkeley supernova groups and
  science
• Scale to AGNs and all other transient objects

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Small Telescopes Can Supplement NVO Data

• Follow up asteroids, variable AGNs, stars, etc.
• Make science more valuable and immediate
• Exciting
• Teaches more inquiry- based science
• RTML (Remote Telescope Markup Language

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More that NVO Do for HOU

• Excel --gtgt SQL Cross-compilers/interpreters be
  able to make a global search on stars that vary,
  search on absolute magnitudes, search on any
  reasonable derived attribute. Jim Gray says it is
  possible.
• Utilize some Grid technology to establish
  up-link/server sites to consolidate data that
  cannot be put on a stable server at users
  observatory -- do photometry, astrometry, etc.
• Click on a Starry Night Star, and get all of the
  data ever taken on this, from every observatory
  or satellite in the world
• Be open to formative evaluation to make this
  operation successful -- establish a working group
  with funding for travel

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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