Education%20and%20Public%20Outreach%20Broader%20Impact%20of%20the%20NRAO%20as%20a%20Whole

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Education and Public OutreachBroader Impact of
the NRAO as a Whole

• L. T. Shapiro

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EPO Strategic Plan

• Broaden the impact of the NRAO with support for
  the development of a scientifically and
  technically literate society.
• Provide information about radio astronomy and the
  NRAO via national and local news media and the
  internet.
• Broaden and enhance the use of NRAO sites as
  places of high quality encounters for visitors
  and for education.
• Develop educational programs and exhibits in
  partnership with other institutions.
• Emphasize that NRAO sites are facets of a single
  unique observatory and the growing sophistication
  of our telescopes with the advent of the GBT,
  EVLA ALMA.

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EPO Depth Breadth Pyramid
National Media Stories
Internet Visitation to NRAO website
Local Media Stories
Public Visitation to Centers
Community Outreach
Class Group Field Trips
GreaterBreadthof Contact
GreaterDepth of Experience
Observing Groups
Teacher Wksps
RETs
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Media Interactions

• National Press Releases
• 12 in 1999
• 17 in 2000
• 18 in 2003 (to date)

• 21 in 2001
• 15 in 2002

Local Coverage
Despite Appearances, Cosmic Explosions Have
Common Origin, Astronomers Discover VLA
NRAO continues to provide support at national
meetings including AAS, AAAS NSTA, CCAP, SACNAS
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NRAO Internet Appearance

• New Web Site
• Image Gallery
• 4 User Lead Pages
• PowerPoint Sets
• Directions Consolidation
• Navigation Ease
• Uniform Templates
• To Come NA ALMA Sci Ctr PagesPowerPoint for
  K-12Joint ALMA websiteEVLA ALMA progress

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Science Center at Green Bank
Science/Visitor Center Activity
A large spurt in EPO staff size occurred over the
past year due to opening the Science Center at
Green Bank and staffing the gift shop at the VLA.
A couple of positions have yet to be filled and
a smaller spurt will occur during 2005-2009 as
plans for a new VLA Center come to fruition. A
growth in attendance appears to be occurring at
both centers.
Visitor Center at the VLA
Year 2002 2003
Jan-Mar 101 0
Apr-Jun 5,974 6,120
Jul-Sep 13,267 15,075
Oct-Dec 3,171 6,671
Total 22,513 27,866
Year 2002 2003
Jan-Mar 4,392 3,214
Apr-Jun 5,507 2,956
Jul-Sep 5,393 5,646
Oct-Dec 3,340 3,403
Total 18,632 15,219
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Community Outreach

• Childrens Fairs
• Mall Event Displays
• School Presentations
• Public Observing Sessions
• School Observing Sessions
• Science Fairs
• Science Olympiad
• Scout Presentations

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Class Group Visits

• Goals
• To have every WV K-12 student visit the Science
  Center at Green Bank at least once during their
  school career
• To increase the number of high quality, effective
  interactive exhibits
• To increase school group awareness of the
  existence of the public sites in GB NM

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Observing Groups
Middle school, high school, college classes and
teacher workshop groups make observations on site
using the 40-foot, the N2I2, and even the VLA.
Observing runs at Green Bank will be abetted by
the recent opening of the new bunkhouse.
Some schools to recently take advantage of this
unique opportunity include Concord Col., GW
Community School, Gettysburg Col., Glenelg HS,
Glenville State Col., Harvard, Lincolntown HS,
Linwood Holton Governors School, Marshall Univ.,
Morehead Univ., Mountain Inst. on Astronomy,
North HS, Newburg HS, Ohio State Univ., Ohio
Univ. Towson Univ., Tygarts Valley School, Univ.
HS, Univ. of Chicago, Univ. of Kentucky, Virginia
Tech., Western Albemarle HS, and West Virginia
Univ.
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Teacher Workshops

• Chautauqua Short Courses for Teachersboth at
  Green Bank and Socorro (more than 500 teachers
  have participated)
• Teachers Workshops for K-12 Teachersat Green
  Bank with intent to expand to Socorro and
  Charlottesville

RET Program
Year No. States
2000 7 MI, OH, PA, WV
2001 1 OH
2002 5 MN, WV
2003 3 PA, WI
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Program Progress for Teachers

• Commence Masters of Teaching Science workshop
  collaboration with New Mexico Tech Magdalena
  Ridge Observatory.
• Develop, test, and implement student RFI
  detection project, use in WV, and expand
  nationwide.
• Expand RET program to Charlottesville.
• Expand teacher workshops to New Mexico, then
  Virginia.

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NRAO Science Centers
What makes us different from Science Museums?

• Research Centers discoveries happen!
• Telescopes in Action
• Diverse NRAO Community
• scientists,engineers,technicians,machinists,
• computer programmers who volunteer

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VLA Visitor Center History

• 2,400 sq ft Visitor Center opened in 1983
• Self-guided walking tour
• Unmanned Center was open from 8am to dusk.
• No available food service (for many miles)
• Service facilities undersized for typical class
  size
• Summer weekend VLA guided tours began 1988
• Public Information Officer hired in 1992
• Guided tours now offered to groups on special
  occasions
• Education Officer hired in 2000
• Small staffed gift shop addition in 2003

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Future of theVLA Visitor Center

• Visitor Guest Book records strong appreciation
  for existing facilities.
• New Center to provide modern facilities for
  projected visitation of 100,000 annually.
• Exhibit space of 5,000 sq ft, 10,000 total sq ft.
• Additional educator, exhibit tech custodian.
• Expanded exhibits and programs.
• Include topics of site geology and ecology.

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Green Bank Science Center
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Exhibition Themes
What are Radio Waves?
How Do we Detect Radio Waves?
What Can Radio Waves tell us about the Universe?
What is Going on at the GBT right now?
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Programs
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Radio Astronomer for a Day overnight fieldtrips
hey mom, we emit radio waves!
Neutral hydrogen scan
Grade School to Undergraduate School
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Products

• Web Activities http//www.gb.nrao.edu/epo/try-it.
  html
• Brochures distributed to all Welcome Centers
• Radio astronomy video to all WV schools
• Mountain Radio Astronomy talk show
• Whos using the telescopes? http//www.mcdonaldo
  bservatory.org/research/

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Program Focus 2005-2009
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Really Out There.

• Best Gadgets in the Universe
• A workshop to share NSF educational products
• Training-Museums/Science Center Educators

• Pulsars at Home
• Like SETI at home, but with a possibility of real
  discovery.
• Distributed computing