# Presentation: 737795

## GLAST E/PO Program StatusGLAST User’s Committee 5/8/06

- Lynn Cominsky
- Sonoma State University

## E/PO Work Breakdown Structure

- 1) Management
- 2) Web based Materials
- Web Site
- Space Mysteries* *
- 3) Educator Training
- Educator Ambassadors Program
- Conference participation
- 4) Printed materials
- 	TOPS Lesson Modules
- 	Posters and Educator Guides
- 5) SLAC Virtual Visitor Center* *
- 6) PBS documentary  and planetarium show (Tom Lucas)
- 7) Global (formerly GLAST) Telescope Network
- 8) Assessment and Evaluation (WestEd)

## GLAST Science and E/PO Goals

| How do active galactic nuclei (AGN) form and evolve?  | Use Active Galaxies as an engagement to teach basic principles in physical science and math for grades 9-12  |
| --- | --- |
| What is the nature of jets emanating from AGNs and Galactic black holes?  | Use the mystery of jets coming out of black holes to inform and excite students and the public, and to teach about the properties of gamma-ray light |
| What is the origin of the isotropic "diffuse“ gamma-ray background?  | Facilitate understanding of the physical properties of different wavelengths of light and how scientists use light to study the Universe.  |
| What are the sites and mechanisms of cosmic-ray acceleration?  | Use observations of supernova remnants as an engagement to teach students about the relationship between the acceleration of charged particles and the creation of high-energy light  |

## GLAST Science and E/PO Goals

| What are gamma-ray bursts and how do they generate high-energy radiation? | Use GRBs as an engagement to teach students about the electromagnetic spectrum, as well as the interactions between energy and matter |
| --- | --- |
| What are the unidentified high-energy gamma-ray sources?  | Use the map of the gamma-ray sky to illustrate the diversity of objects in the high-energy Universe, compare them to the visible sky and teach about the properties of different energies of light  |
| Is it possible to detect any signatures of galactic dark matter?  | Facilitate understanding of the different components that make up the Universe and how they form and evolve  |
| How do rotation-powered pulsars generate high-energy gamma-rays?  | Use pulsars as an engagement to teach about magnetic fields and magnetism  |

## Space Mysteries

-  Two new Space Mysteries coming soon!
- Galactic Doom
- Solar Supernova

**Space Mysteries**

## Educator Ambassadors

- GLAST supports 10 Educator Ambassadors
- Master teachers selected in national competition
- Training July 10-14, 2006 at SSU
- Volunteers?
- Over 22,000 teachers directly trained since 2002 in over 240 different workshops

-    CA    BC   WY AZ    KS    MI      IL    CT       MI     NJ

## TOPS Learning Systems

-  FAR OUT MATH (2002)
-  SCALE THE UNIVERSE (2004)
- Reviewed by NASA Ed Product Review – Recommended for distribution via Teacher Workshops for grades 7-12

- http://www.topscience.org/

## TOPS Learning Systems

-  Pi in the Sky (2005)
-  Degrees, radians and angular sizes of astronomical objects
-  Reviewed by NASA Ed Product Review – Recommended via Teacher Workshops
- This completes the TOPS series

- http://www.topscience.org/

## AGN Popup Book

-  Now at printers!
-  Tasty Active Galaxy activity
-  “How the Galaxy Got Its Jets” children’s story
-  Description of active galaxies, components, and glossary

## Supernova Educator Unit – with XMM

- Reviewers needed – draft now available

**Poster of Supernovae**
-  Images of real Supernovae
-  Shows what a Supernova looks like during different stages of the explosion – timeline used for biography

-  3 activities
-  Biography of a Supernova
-  The Crawl of the Crab
-  At the Heart of a Supernova

## Supernova Educator Unit

## Other printed materials

-  GLAST Race Card Game
-  “Magic” style game to build GLAST and
-  observe astronomical objects
-  GTN Observing activities tutorials
-  Cookie Cutter Astrophysics – now on line
-  Astrometry tutorial  – being written up
-  Jelly bean Spectroscopy – write up now in review
-  User’s Manual now being written up

## GLAST Mission Poster

- Reprinted – now available again!

## PBS Television Special

-  Planetarium show: *Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity* premiered January 30, 2006 at Denver Museum of Nature and Science
-  GLAST E/PO seed funding led to $1.2 M NSF grant to finish TV show, do planetarium show
- SSU E/PO group is doing teacher workshops at each museum that leases the planetarium show – new Black Holes Educator Guide is now being distributed – first workshop was 3/4/06 in Denver – next will be Baton Rouge – Chabot (Oakland, CA) under negotiation

**PBS Television Special**

## Black Holes Educator Guide

- Cover illustration (from planetarium show)
- The formation of BH (2 activities)
- The gravity of the situation (around BH)
- Travel inside the BH at the center of the Milky Way (Science Fiction or fact?)
- The Search for BH

## Press coverage of planetarium show

- New York Times

- Denver Post

- Rocky Mountain News

## Black Hole Brochure

- Funded primarily with EXIST mission concept study funds, but partly subsidized by GLAST
- Accompanies planetarium show
- Future print runs will be funded by and will feature GLAST
- Spanish version now in progress

## SLAC Virtual Visitor’s Center

**SLAC Virtual Visitor’s Center**

**Interactive web activity – uses FRED to do simulations – ****we are waiting for scientists to verify our images**

## Potential Educational Projects

-  Simple image reduction
- and analysis of ~25 AGN to establish variability baselines
-  GORT north of SSU
-  OR, NM, PA, LA, AZ, OH
-  ATA, Rome, Italy
-  Working on Las Campanas partner through NASA Telescopes in Education project
- AAVSO
- Hands On Universe

-  Elk Creek Observatory at Holton, Kansas HS
-  Agrupacion Astronomica de Sabadell. Barcelona, Spain
-  Tonantzintla Observatory
- Tonantzintla, Mexico
-  Universidad Nacional de La Plata Buenos Aires, Argentina
-  Bernard Heathcote. Victoria, Australia
-  Carnes Hill Observatory. Sydney, Australia
-  Nyrola Observatory Muurame, Finland
-  Western Kentucky University

**Global Telescope Network as of 5/06**

## Image from GORT

- Supernova in M51
- True color composite image from R, G & B

## Evaluation Process

- All GLAST products are internally evaluated by SSU E/PO, then tested by EAs, then evaluated by our external evaluators, WestEd (led by Dr. Ted Britton)
- All products then sent through NASA product review, and entered into SSERD
- We started with evaluating our teacher training workshops, then our teachers’ workshops, and now we are beginning to measure impacts of our work into the classrooms of our trained teachers

## E/PO Summary

**GLAST E/PO is exciting the public and students of all ages**
**We are on budget and moving ahead on all scheduled items**
**Over 22,000 teachers have been trained to date**
**GLAST E/PO materials are in the hands of over 20,000 teachers nationwide**