ED13C-0727 INVITED 1340h
Coupling Immersive Experiences with the Use of Mission Data to Encourage Students' Interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math: Examples from the Mars Exploration Program
The Mars Exploration Program, in partnership with the Arizona State University Mars Education Program has created and successfully tested innovative pathways and programs that introduce, develop, and reinforce science, technology, engineering, and mathematics - STEM subjects into pre-college curriculum. With launches scheduled every 26 months, Mars has the unique opportunity and ability to have a long-term, systemic influence on science education. Also, because of the high level of interest in Mars, as exemplified by the10 billion Internet hits during the Mars Exploration Rover mission, it is a great vehicle for the infusion of current science into today's classrooms. These Mars education programs have linked current mission science and engineering with the National Education Standards, integrating them in a teacher-friendly and student-friendly format. These linkages are especially synergistic when combined with long-term partnerships between educators, Mars scientists and engineers, as they exemplify real-world collaborations and teamwork. To accommodate many different audience needs, an array of programs and a variety of approaches to these programs have been developed. High tech, low tech and no tech options can be implemented to help insure that as many students can be accommodated and impacted by these programs as possible. These programs are scaled to match the National Education Standards in the grade levels in which students need to become proficient in these subjects. The Mars Student Imaging Project - MSIP allows teams of students from the fifth grade through community college to be immersed in a hands-on program and experience the scientific process firsthand by using the Thermal Emission Imaging System - THEMIS camera to target their own image of Mars using an educational version of the real flight software used to target THEMIS images. The student teams then analyze their image and report their findings to the MSIP website. This project has been in existence for over two years and has been used by teachers and students from across the US. The Mars Exploration Student Data Team Program was created and prototyped during the Mars Exploration Rover mission this past January through April. Over 500 students from 25 schools from across the US participated in real-time data analysis using the Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor infrared instruments -Thermal Emission Spectrometer - TES and THEMIS to monitor the rover landing sites. This program utilized a virtual team format and allowed high school students to collaborate with other teams that were, at times, thousands of miles away to implement real-time observations. This program will be carried forward to several of the upcoming missions. Finally, the Athena Student Intern Program is the higher end of involvement for students and teachers. These students and teachers were competitively selected to spend a week during the mission operations of the rovers at JPL. All of these programs have a common thread..ownership of the experience. By empowering the next generation of learners with the knowledge that they can be part of their future through such immersive experiences before they reach college, they will be ready to take on harder challenges that will reach higher towards new frontiers
http://msip.asu.edu
ED13C-0728 INVITED 1340h
MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE): Education and public Outreach Plans
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) will fly on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) mission, planned for launch in August of 2005. HiRISE will investigate deposits and landforms resulting from geologic and climatic processes and is optimized for the evaluation of candidate landing sites. The camera will combine unprecedented resolution (25-50 cm/pixel) and signal-to-noise ratio with a 5-10 km swath width and partial 3-color coverage. HiRISE will image a carefully selected few percent of the surface area of Mars on a variety of scales down to 1 meter, a resolution currently afforded only in glimpses by landers. Therefore, HiRISE will provide a bridge between orbital remote sensing and landed missions. The HiRISE E/PO effort focuses on involving students and the public directly in image suggestion and data analysis. HiWeb (http://marsoweb.nasa.nasa.gov/hirise), HiRISE's public website will provide user-friendly web tools for students, the team, and the general public to suggest target locations for HiRISE imaging. Web tools will also provide interactive viewing and analysis of HiRISE images in context with other available Mars data. Web events, involving participation by team members, will inform students and interested members of the public of HiRISE capabilities and science goals and help focus the public image suggestions. Curriculum modules will focus on the image suggestion process and on working with digital data of planetary surfaces. These modules will also be translated into Spanish and other languages. We will also provide online opportunities for students and the public to participate in data analysis by helping to create databases of a variety of geologic features (gullies, boulders, craters, wind streaks, etc.) present in the HiRISE images (see http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov for examples with current Mars image data). Starting in 2006, educator workshops will be held each year at or near the institution of HiRISE team members. Workshop background materials and instructions for all hands-on activities will be placed on HiWeb. This will facilitate sharing of information with other educators and the general public. An Educational Advisory Panel consisting of formal and informal K-14 educators will evaluate HiRISE curricula and E/PO efforts and provide feedback for improvement.
ED13C-0729 1340h
MarsQuest Online: Bringing exploration to the public
The last decade has seen an unprecedented number of missions to Mars. From orbiters to landers, we have been treated to an extraordinary series of views of the red planet. In 1997, the MarsQuest traveling exhibit was launched to help bring those views to the public. Three years later NSF funded MarsQuest Online (www.marsquestonline.org), a web project designed to extend the reach and scope of the MarsQuest exhibit. A partnership between TERC, the Space Science Institute, and JPL, MarsQuest Online provides visitors with a wide range of activities that incorporate imagery and data from Mars spacecraft. Activities challenge visitors to recognize which planet a picture is from, or identify features in high resolution imagery. Topographic and image data from Mars Global Surveyor are combined in 3D globes of Earth and Mars, allowing visitors to vertically stretch the planets while locating highest and lowest points, volcanoes, etc. While not designed specifically as a "citizen science" program, two parts of the site - the MER image archive, and the global 3D system -- could hold great potential for such activities. The MER image archive incorporates a real-time feed of raw images from the rover missions. Images are sortable by Mars day and camera, while a combination of panoramas and overhead views allow visitors to view the images in context and explore Mars along with the rovers. The global 3D system, still in development, is an expansion of the 3D activities currently on the site. This system will tap a global set of high resolution image and topographic tiles produced by JPL. This will allow visitors to fly seamlessly over Mars in 3D at the full resolution of these datasets. In addition, the system will include an annotation system to allow for the authoring of "tours" of the planet. We will discuss both of the site components, their capabilities, and potential for the future.
http://www.marsquestonline.org
ED13C-0730 1340h
From Lewis and Clark to Valles Marineris: Using NASA data to fly virtual landscapes
The use of NASA data to create images comparing Earth and other planets creates a vivid understanding of landscacpe ni the minds of learners and opportunities for educators. Using SRTM, Landsat and Mars Global Surveyor data, comparative virtual flyovers of planets can be created. The visual representations and comparisons of gelologic features create cognitive bridges for learners by forming unique frames of reference for learning.
ED13C-0731 1340h
Dawn Mission E/PO Use of NASA Archived Images
The Dawn Mission is a mission in time to the very origins of the solar system. We will orbit both Vesta and Ceres for extended periods of time, collecting data that we hope will answer fundamental questions about the formation of planet earth and the solar system in general. Because of the length of this mission, our EPO plan has a unique opportunity to involve students, teachers, parents, and the general public in the anticipation and excitement of the cruise, arrival, and exploration of these asteroids. This presentation focuses on the Clickworkers activity of the Dawn EPO because of its extensive repurposing of NASA images as EPO resources. Clickworkers was designed by Bob Kanefsky at NASA AMES. Currently, it engages the public in counting and classifying craters using NASA images of Mars. The Dawn mission is developing and extending the curricular material within the existing Clickworkers activity as well as adding images of Eros and of course eventually, Vesta and Ceres. Our plan is to use the Clickworkers activity and accompanying curricular material to inform and educate the general public in preparation for the first images from Vesta and then Ceres. For example, what can be learned from counting and classifying craters. We are also informing people of the scientific process by using images from several of NASA's missions to demonstrate the accumulation of facts and information that is the process of science. We will present and discuss our difficulties: . First of which is preparing appropriate information about cratering for people. Scientists have developed an understanding of crater counting, classification, and analysis over years of study and research. How do we scaffold enough information to make the activity meaningful and a learning experience for our clients. . Another difficulty is communicating key concepts in terms that are accessible to space science neophytes. The scaffolding may be correct, but not in terms that the general public can relate to. It is important that people do not go away from this activity with misconceptions. . Where does the program reside? Managing input from 1000's of participants. Keeping it meaningful for participants. Eros pictures had not been "resized" to square the pixels. . Data access needs are very simple, but proved to be difficult. The Clickworkers software only needs a URL for each image to be accessed. That sounds easy in principle, but getting the URL's and the images into the correct format has taken over a year. And our expected outcomes: . We hope to demonstrate that people using clickworkers gain an appreciation for what surface features can tell us about planetary objects. . We hope to show that people increase their anticipation for Dawn's arrival at Vesta. . We hope to increase people's expectation of Dawn's arrival by informing them of theories that will be tested by studying these asteroid's surface features. . We hope to improve people's understanding of how scientific findings build to produce theories and "scientific fact."
ED13C-0732 1340h
Jules Verne Voyager: A Web Interactive Tool for Comparative Planetology
A Web interactive map tool called "Jules Verne Voyager" was originally developed in 1999 by UNAVCO and continues to evolve. The Voyager tool can easily be used for comparative planetology studies by grades 8-14. Thematic mapping datasets, now totaling about 70 Gb, can be accessed by the tool and include global-scale maps of the inner solar system planets and moons, plus Jupiter and the Galilean moons. The map images are viewed on a Web browser created on demand by the server system. On the client-side, only a Java-enabled browser is required, and the Voyager Java applet runs well with common browsers like Netscape, Mozilla, Opera, and Internet Explorer. The applet sends a key-value pair URL to the http://jules.unavco.org server which queues incoming requests and sends them to a bank of computers dedicated to map image creation. The engine for map image creation makes use of the "Generic Mapping Tools" (GMT) software of Paul Wessel and Walter Smith, followed by image conversion of the GMT-created PostScript to GIF for raster image export and display back on the client browser. Because of the GMT-based engine on the server system, the student user can easily create the same type of images from real planetary data that researchers create. The tool also gives a student the ability to switch background datasets and overlay certain other thematic datasets, thus providing a minimal GIS capability. To our knowledge, the map tool has not yet formally been used in a 8-14 classroom environment, though informal use by students and teachers in these grades suggest that it would be well received. The server system is currently capable of handing a moderate level of requests that would result from classroom use; for example, as a system benchmark, over 800 Voyager images were created and served in about an hour during a DLESE 2003 annual meeting workshop. The Voyager map tool is being used by instructors in earth science and comparative planetology as a means to create customized images for classroom use, minimizing the need for Web searches to find equivalent material. We also welcome collaboration which would augment our current planetary thematic mapping datasets.
http://jules.unavco.org
ED13C-0733 1340h
Learning to Use Geographic Information Systems and Image Processing and Analysis to Teach Ocean Science to Middle School Students
This presentation will provide a middle school teacher's perspective on Ocean Explorers, a three-year project directed at teachers and schools in California. Funded by the Information Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program at the National Science Foundation, Ocean Explorers is giving support to teams of teachers that will serve as local user groups for the exploration of geographic information systems (GIS) and image processing and analysis (IPA) as educational technologies for studying ocean science. Conducted as a collaboration between the nonprofit Center for Image Processing in Education and the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, the project is providing mentoring, software, equipment, funding, and training on how to design inquiry-based activities that support achievement of California's standards for science, technology, mathematics, and reading education. During year two of Ocean Explorers, the teams of teachers will begin to use GIS and IPA as tools for involving their students in original research on issues of interest to their home communities. With assistance from the Ocean Explorers project, the teachers will create inquiry-based activities for their students that will help their school achieve targeted standards. This presentation will focus on plans by one teacher for involving students from St. Mary's Middle School, Fullerton, California, in tracking of ocean pollution and beach closures along the Southern California coast.
http://www.exploreoceans.org
ED13C-0734 1340h
The Role of Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope Project in Promoting Scientific Efficacy Among Middle and High School Students
This study investigated the effects on student scientific efficacy after participation in the Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT) project. In the GAVRT program, students use computers to record extremely faint radio waves collected by the telescope and analyze real data. Scientific efficacy is a type of self-knowledge a person uses to determine his or her ability to understand and work within the scientific community. An attitudinal survey was administered to all students nationwide who participated in the GAVRT program during the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 years and had 480 and 562 respondents respectively. The students completed a pre-survey prior to beginning the GAVRT program and then completed a follow-up survey immediately after working on the Jupiter Quest GAVRT program. Between the pre- and post- surveys, students received instruction in the GAVRT curriculum and participated in operation of the radio telescope. During the 2000-2001 school year, increases in students' scientific efficacy occurred in their feelings of efficacy associated with the value they placed on the work they produced in science. During the 2001-2002 school year, the following areas of efficacy increased: students' perceived ability to use scientific equipment, students' feelings about how other people valued their work and students' abilities to think scientifically.
ED13C-0735 1340h
The Goldstone-Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT) Science Education Partnership
The Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope Project (GAVRT) offers a unique opportunity for students in grades K through 12 to not only learn about science through radio astronomy, but to actually do it. GAVRT is a science education partnership involving NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Lewis Center for Educational Research (LCER). Following a preparation period using curriculum especially written for the Project, teachers connect to the Operations Control Center at LCER where trained operators assist the students to conduct remotely controlled radio astronomy observations using a 34-m diameter antenna located at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex. Students use computers to record extremely faint radio waves collected by the radio telescope and analyze real data. Scientists at JPL and other research institutions ultimately validate and incorporate the data into their research. Through this process students have the opportunity to become part of a science/education team, participating with scientists in ongoing missions and special observing campaigns. Their measurements are often included in papers appearing in major scientific journals. They learn that they can make valuable contributions to the world of science. This presentation will detail the types of data and the "campaigns" in which the students are conducting observations of the radiation belts of Jupiter, the deep atmosphere of Uranus and Saturn, and the time variations in the radio emission from distant Quasars. It will describe how the student-produced data are valued by the scientists and how the involvement of the scientists impacts the attitudes and abilities of students in the classroom. The JPL contribution to this paper was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
http://www.gavrt.org
ED13C-0736 1340h
Encouraging upward thinking with planetary imagery: science as motivator and enrichment for the adult basic skills learner
Engaging students in the process of understanding the world around them in a college level remedial reading program presents an unmitigated challenge. Students previously unimpressed with the educational system become more active participants in their classrooms when high resolution prints from Landsat obtained from the NASA-GSFC education outreach center are used to initially motivate them to perceive the context of their surroundings. In the course, imagery from Landsat that clearly show the Compton Community College track is introduced, moving on to show students similar perspectives on Egyptian pyramids and other remote regions. The satellite imagery makes understanding maps intuitive. After linking these observations from space to both the student's own experience and far away places on earth, students are introduced to the Star-date publication [http://Stardate.org]. Students are encouraged to individually follow the phases of the moon, find constellations, visit the College's telescope on nights when the astronomy class makes observations, and look for meteor showers. NASA and JPL sites are then used to teach students to access the web. Students receive instruction in using computers to navigate the web, where they then follow missions in real time, and access archived imagery and written materials. These sources of reading material are particularly valuable because they are written simply, but follow the scientific convention of addressing readers as colleagues. Notably, students have returned after completing the three-course sequence to literacy and commented on the importance to them of having learned about space in the initial course. They have reported on the excitement of teaching their children and others in the community about what they can see by looking up, and indicated their appreciation of receiving posters and handouts obtained at this meeting by displaying them prominently in their homes. Although not a traditional venue for scientific education, the importance of motivating these adult students to develop not only reading skills, but also increased awareness of the world around them gives a clear impetus for including in Compton College's remedial reading sequence the striking imagery available from our space missions. We propose that outreach directed at instructors of courses at this level would result in significant benefit to an underserved population of students, and invite feedback on ways to accomplish this through existing facilities.
ED13C-0737 1340h
Getting Planetary Data into the Hands of Educators: Recommendations from a Community Discussion
In March 2004 a community of approximately 60 researchers, formal and informal education specialists, classroom educators, data archivists, and educational product developers came together for a day-long conference to discuss the challenges in bringing planetary data into the classroom. The conference was hosted by the Solar System Exploration Education Forum and the South Central Organization of Researchers and Educators of NASA's Office of Space Science Support Network. The workshop was intended to: initiate a dialog among those interested in identifying paths for bringing planetary data to educators; better understand key challenges facing educators who are working with planetary data and issues with gaining access to data; identify common aspects of success of programs and products developed to make data accessible in educational venues; and finally, identify the remaining challenges and make recommendations for how the community should move forward to bring these data into the classroom. Presentations by researchers and educational specialists encompassed the facilitation of accessing data, effective use of data in the classroom, availability of data for use by the educational community, and paths for accessing and using mission data. Panel discussions explored the experiences of researchers, educators, and product developers in creating and implementing programs and products and the challenges remaining for integrating planetary data into educational environments. Discussion among participants resulted in a series of recommendations for the development and implementation of successful programs, including: 1) the intended audience should play an active role in the design and development process; 2) program and product implementation should incorporate adequate training and support for intended users; 3) data access needs to be made easier, perhaps requiring the filtering of raw data and new user interfaces; 4) product developers should present data within the context of a lesson or an exploration that is appropriate for the age level, with ties to standards, assessments, and connections to other disciplines such as language arts and math to ease the time burden on the classroom educator; 5) data need to be accessible within a broad context of important scientific questions and understanding; and 6) the potential community involved in the educational use of planetary data is large -- resources such as master-teachers, museums, pre-service faculty, minority organizations, amateur astronomers and others should be involved and leveraged. The complete list of recommendations, presentations, and participants can be found at (http://www.lpi.usra.edu/score). This conference was intended to initiate community dialog on the use of planetary data in the classroom. Future conferences and workshops are planned to continue the discussion of issues and challenges.