Using Internet-Based Robotic Telescopes to Engage Non-Science Majors in Astronomical Observation

1. Using Internet-Based Robotic Telescopes to Engage Non-Science Majors in Astronomical Observation Preliminary data presentation—KATieberryhill

2. purpose • Field-testing perceived value to students of conducting simple astronomical observations of their own using internet-based robotic telescopes

3. Research question • To what extent do students prefer an astronomical image that they have taken themselves compared to an image of the same object taken by a professional telescope or spacecraft?

4. Potential findings? • Students definitely prefer their own images • Students definitely prefer the professional “pretty pictures” • Or responses could be equivocal • Potential for difference between online and on-ground student responses

5. Current and future participant pools • 16 students in online class—Assignment officially due this Sunday • Four participants have completed pre-activity survey • One participant has completed post-activity survey • Three more online classes (23 students each) will begin assignment at the end of December, January, and February, respectively • On-ground class at UW in spring semester

6. Pre-activity survey • Had you had any experience with telescopes for astronomical observation prior to this class? • Please briefly describe your prior telescope experience. • What does a telescope do? • Have you ever done any astrophotography (capturing a photographic image of the night sky with or without a telescope)? • Please briefly describe any astrophotography experience. • Images from professional telescopes and spacecraft are available on the Internet and are often published in print media. How often, if at all, have you looked at these images? • List 5-8 words that come to your mind when you think of these professional astronomical images. • Is this your first astronomy class? • Gender • Age

7. (very) preliminary results—4 participants • Prior experience • 1 – Museum/star party with explainer present • 2 – Someone else’s telescope w/out explainer present • 3 – Had/used own telescope as a kid • 0 – Currently have/use own telescope • 0 – None • Question also had open-ended response • I have used telescopes at friends houses and I used a very nice one in New Mexico at the Bosque del Apache star education party. • Just mostly when I was a kid, I used to look up at the night sky. • I used a cheap telescope as a child to observe the moon as well as a few stars. • The telescope was quite inferior, the only things I could observe were the neighborhood street lights.

8. (very) preliminary results—4 participants • What does a telescope do? • A telescope brings otherwise unobservable objects into focus. Depending on the strength of the telescope those objects may be several light years away or just a few months, i.e. Mars. • It magnifies a distant object you are looking at. • A telescope allows us to see objects very far away, allowing us to study these objects for research. • It concentrates/ focuses the visible light of interstellar objects

9. (very) preliminary results—4 participants • First astronomy class? • 4 – Yes • Gender • 2 – Male • 2 – Female • Age • 1 – 18-27 • 3 – 28-37 • Astrophotography experience? • None • Frequency of looking at professional/spacecraft images in print/online • 3 – I enjoy looking at them, but I don’t seek them out • 1 – Frequently, I seek them out

10. (very) preliminary results—4 participants

11. Post-activity survey • Please describe your opinion of the activity. What did you like about it? What did you not like about it? • Did you successfully make an image during the activity? • List 5-8 words that come to your mind when you look at your image. • At the end of the laboratory activity, you were asked to find an image of the object that you had previously photographed. This second image was taken by either a spacecraft or a professional telescope. List 5-8 words that come to your mind when you look at the image taken by a spacecraft or professional telescope. • Compare your image to the spacecraft’s image. What do you think when you see these two images next to each other? • If you were going to show a friend or family member a picture of this object, which of these images would you use? • Do you think this activity might influence how often you seek out news about astronomy?

12. (very) preliminary results—1 participant • Opinion of activity • I really liked this activity. The only problem I had was that the Windows version on my computer does not support the FIT format. • 5-8 words about own image • I wish the crab Nebula was a little more detailed • 5-8 words about professional image of same object • absolutely breath-taking, amazing • Compare the two images • My image is a zoomed-out version of the professional image • Which would you show to a friend/family member? Why? • Professional image; Professional image is a clearer picture of the nebula • Will activity influence frequency of seeking out astronomy news? • Yes, I’ll look for astronomy news and images more often.

13. Thoughts… • Need to know more about technology issue with Windows • Software issues were one predicted limitation of study • Did participant not feel strongly about image due to tech issue? • Question wording issue? • Why did participant answer with sentence instead of 5-8 discrete words • Participation issue • No incentive to complete surveys, students don’t often do “extra” work • Is resolution of professional images enough to outweigh any “ownership” preference? • Would it be better to provide professional images that aren’t Hubble quality instead of having students seek out their own?