HST CYCLE 8 E/PO GRANTS

A total of 11 HST Cycle 8 E/PO proposals were submitted which comprised 28 HST Cycle 8 GO/AR time allocation numbers. Eight proposals, comprising 22 HST GO/AR time allocation numbers, were accepted for funding.

FUNDED PROGRAMS

• Mice, Monsters and Other Celestial Beasts: A Space Safari
  - Beverly Smith, University of Colorado
• Hubble Space Telescope Outreach for the Masses
  - Christopher Sneden, University of Texas at Austin
• Research-Based Science Education with the Hubble Space Telescope
  - Travis Rector, National Optical Astronomy Observatories
• Low-Cost Television as a Hubble Outreach Tool
  - Bruce Margon, University of Washington
• The Brilliant Lives of Massive Stars
  - Philip Bennett, University of Colorado
• Active Galaxies and Other Improvements for the Penn State -In-Service Workshops in Astronomy
  - William Brandt, Pennsylvania State Astronomy
• Black Holes for Everyone
  - Roeland van der Marel, Space Telescope Science Institute
• Value-Added Educational Tutorials for Hubble Space Telescope Data
  - Kirk Borne, Raytheon STX/GSFC

ABSTRACTS

Mice, Monsters and Other Celestial Beasts: A Space Safari
Principal Investigator: Beverly Smith - University of Colorado
Education Category: Informal Science Education
Budget: $2,994

We describe an informal science education project designed to introduce a variety of audiences to basic astronomical concepts, via a `space safari'. This `safari' will consist of a public Planetarium show and related web pages about `celestial beasts'--the nebulae and galaxies in the sky that resemble animals. During this `tour' of the Universe, the audience will learn about stellar evolution, birth, and death. They will be introduced to the electromagnetic spectrum, and past and future NASA astronomical missions will be described. In this proposal, we are requesting funding for the purchase, reproduction, and development of audiovisual material for this show and the web page, and for a part-time undergraduate assistant.

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Hubble Space Telescope Outreach for the Masses
Principal Investigator: Christopher Sneden - University of Texas at Austin
Education Category: Public Outreach/Understanding of Science
Budget: $30,000

StarDate is a daily nationwide radio program focused on space science. As a StarDate program, research done using the Hubble Space Telescope can reach a vast general public audience and K-12 students and teachers nationally. The PI will be involved in education and public outreach activities by providing expert information and technical advice to develop the program scripts and supporting web pages. An evaluation of the program's effectiveness will be conducted.

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Research-Based Science Education with the Hubble Space Telescope
Principal Investigator: Travis Rector - National Optical Astronomy Observatories
Education Category: Educational Programs for the Internet
Budget: $89,063

Inquiry-based learning is a required component of the NRC national science education standards at all levels for grades K-12. This formidable goal requires professional development for educators in pedagogy and content; and a few programs exist to meet this need. "The Use of Astronomy in Research Based Science Education" (RBSE), is an ongoing program at NOAO which facilitates the implementation of research-based science education through astronomy in secondary-school science classrooms nationwide. RBSE has proven to be successful in bringing research science into the classrom; however its scope has been limited to a few research programs which use Kitt Peak facilities. We therefore propose to expand the RBSE program to create five new research projects that will be based upon research programs proposed by NOAO staff scientists which have been accepted for Cycle 8, more than doubling the number of research projects available to RBSE classrooms. The approved GO proposals cover a wide range of topics of current interest, including: determination of H_0, the Universe at early epochs, galaxy and cluster formation, stellar structure and evolution and volcanism on Io. The five new RBSE research programs will be based upon these topics. They will be freely distributed on the Internet and CD-ROM, thereby allowing any science classroom nationwide to participate in research-based astronomy education.

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Low-Cost Television as a Hubble Outreach Tool
Principal Investigator: Bruce Margon - University of Washington
Education Category: Public Outreach/Understanding of Science
Budget: $10,000

Large budget television productions on Astronomy, such as Cosmos and The Astronomers, are rare, despite the fact that the pace of progress in our field is very rapid and public interest is intense. We argue that there is a significant public thirst for modest-budget feature television programs on astronomy, and cite the success of two previous one-hour features that we have produced in-house. We propose here to design, produce, and distribute another timely program on recent results from Hubble Space Telescope, on a budget of far less than 1% of that used by commercial networks. The identical technical and scientific team will be used as on the two previous programs, so the risk is low and cost estimate realistic. The distribution of the previous programs involved a viewer pool of tens of millions, and there is every reason to expect a similar result with the new production, as the outlets have been querying us for further material. However, our production facilities are self-supporting, and thus the project cannot move forward without external financial resources. We outline several simple techniques planned to assess the impact of the program. The longer-term goal of this project is to interest more traditional commercial outlets into routinizing the production and distribution of this type of programming as a complement to the very elaborate, expensive astronomy productions.

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The Brilliant Lives of Massive Stars
Principal Investigator: Philip Bennett - University of Colorado
Education Category: Curriculum/Product Development
Budget: $9,983

We propose to write and produce a 40-minute planetarium program on the life and death of stars. The program will be utilized primarily by university professors as a instructional module for introductory undergraduate astronomy classes. The module will utilized the unique projectional capabilities of the planetarium facility to explore what happens to stellar material after star death, illustrate what characteristics determine a star's fate, and show how scientists learn about these distance objects. In particular, the module will illustrate the effect of stellar mass on future evolution, and will follow stars of differing mass through the phases of stellar evolution. A major component of the module will be exploring the mechanics of stellar mass loss, how it influences the evolutionary process, and current areas of scientific investigation in mass loss from red giant stars. Scientifically, there is a major uncertainty in computing evolutionary tracts for red supergiants that arise from our lack of understanding of the mass loss process. The parent Cycle 8 program, GO-8257, addresses this problem by observing the eclipsing binary star VV Cephei (M2 Iab = B0) with HST/STIS. These observations use the hot companion to probe the outer atmosphere and wind of the supergiant star. The proposed planetarium module will use the data gathered from our observations VV Cephei to not only inform students about stellar evolution and binary orbits, but also to open a window on the nature of a real, ongoing scientific investigation. The module will be programmed in such a way to provide maximum flexibility for instructors, allowing the module to be used for general public lectures, high school astronomy classes, teacher workshops (4-12), and graduate symposia. Additionally, the graphics and animations created for the planetarium module will be adapted to establish a web-site for educators about both the module content and the parent GO research program.

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Active Galaxies and Other Improvements for the Penn State -In-Service Workshops in Astronomy
Principal Investigator: William Brandt - Penn State Astronomy
Education Category: Student/Teacher Workshop
Budget: $7,782

The Penn State In-Service Workshops in Astronomy (PSIWA) are intensive programs that educate middle school and high school teachers about planets, stars, galaxies, and cosmology, and here we propose to improve the PSIWA in three ways. We seek funds to (1) allow PI Brant to participate it the PSIWA and other Penn State Education/Public Outreach efforts, (2) purchase/develop educational materials for use in the PSIWA, and (3) allow the attendance of teachers from rural school districts of limited financial means. Brandt will teach PSIWA participants about active galactic nuclei; this is his main research area and the subject of the "parent" HST research proposal. The proposed program is a high leveraging one that is expected to have a substantial "multiplier effect" throughout rural Pennsylvania schools.

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Black Holes for Everyone
Principal Investigator: Roeland van der Marel - Space Telescope Science Institute
Education Category: Public Outreach/Understanding of Science
Budget: $49,630

We have been awarded Cycle 8 observing time for five studies on the subject of black holes in the Universe, on of the major topics of the HST mission. We propose as associated E/PO activities to create an Internet site entitled "Black Holes for Everyone". The site will be linked to the Internet site of the Office of Public Outreach (OPO) at STScI, thus guaranteeing broad dissemination. HST related E/PO activities by STScI/OPO have traditionally focused on news reporting and education materials for low and intermediate grade-level students. Few activities have specifically targeted high school students (grades 10-12), undergraduate non-science majors in 2 or 4-year colleges, and that segment of the public curious to learn more about science. We hope to reach these groups through the creation of a product with both Education and Public Outreach value. Our immediate objectives are to convey the excitement of science and astronomy, and to provide a resource for educators and students at the high school or undergraduate college level; our long-term goal is to promote basic awareness of scientific principals and increase scientific interest among the general public. Our team consists of a range of astronomy, outreach and education experts, who have all the skills, experience and expertise required to make our product a success. We propose to hire a scientific writer, a graphic artist and a programmer, who will work at STScI on the construction of the Internet site. We will do process and outcome evaluation to assess how effective our product is in reaching its objectives. The data collection methods and methodologies that we will use for this are Internet usage statistics, questionnaires and feedback requests, and in-classroom trails with a comparison group.

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Value-Added Educational Tutorials for Hubble Space Telescope Data
Principal Investigator: Kirk Borne - Raytheon STX/GSFC
Education Category: Educational Programs for the Internet
Budget: $9,982

We propose to develop a pilot series of on-line science education tutorials and exercises for K-12 students. These products, to be related to the NASA OSS science themes, will demonstrate the connections between new HST observations and existing astronomical data that students can easily access. We will focus some of these exercises specifically on the subject of our own HST program to study colliding and merging galaxies within the context of an evolving universe. The connections between new data and previously catalogued astronomical data will show the students how new scientific results can be derived and how new research programs can be created for future missions of astronomical discovery. The methods and tools of the scientist, particularly the math tools, will be demonstrated and employed as part of the exercises. Scientific rationale for the research projects will be included in the lesson plans for use at the high school level. We will collaborate with local teachers, regional science education coordinators, NASA education offices, and the OSS E/PO Ecosystem in the development and dissemination of our E/PO project results. Our proposed tutorials will be accompanied by colorful ``business cards'' advertising our Web sites. A large number of cards will be distributed at regional conventions of math and science teachers and librarians. Our on-line educational resources will be made universally available via the WWW/Internet.

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