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

1. Education and Public OutreachBroader Impact of the NRAO as a Whole L. T. Shapiro

2. 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.

3. 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

4. Media Interactions • 21 in 2001 • 15 in 2002 Local Coverage • National Press Releases: • 12 in 1999 • 17 in 2000 • 18 in 2003 (to date) “Despite Appearances, Cosmic Explosions Have Common Origin, Astronomers Discover” VLA NRAO continues to provide support at national meetings including: AAS, AAAS NSTA, CCAP, SACNAS

5. 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

6. Science/Visitor Center Activity Science Center at Green Bank 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

7. Community Outreach • Children’s Fairs • Mall & Event Displays • School Presentations • Public Observing Sessions • School Observing Sessions • Science Fairs • Science Olympiad • Scout Presentations

8. 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

9. 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 Governor’s 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.

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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

13. 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

15. 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.

16. Green Bank Science Center

18. 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?

19. Programs

20. “Radio Astronomer for a Day” overnight fieldtrips “hey mom, we emit radio waves!” Neutral hydrogen scan Grade School to Undergraduate School

22. 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 • “Who’s using the telescopes?” http://www.mcdonaldobservatory.org/research/

23. Program Focus 2005-2009

24. 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