Scientific Research and Astronomy Education: the OAVdA Experience

1. Scientific Research and Astronomy Education: the OAVdA Experience Andrea Bernagozzi on behalf of the staff of the “Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS” www.oavda.it Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2010 Cape Town (South Africa), 19 March 2010

2. OAVdA stands for Astronomical Observatory of the Autonomous Region of the Aosta Valley, managed by the “Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS” with funding from local administrations Credit Paolo Calcidese-OAVdA

3. A quick look at the OAVdA • northwestern italian Alps • 1675 m above sea level • in the Saint-Barthélemy Valley • opened in 2003 • since 2005-2006 actively • involved in international research projects • scientific team in 2010: • 5 physicists, EU-ESF grant • permanently residing • in the Observatory

4. Scientific research projects: formal agreement of cooperation with the italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) • four topics: • Solar Corona • Asteroids • Transiting • Extrasolar • Planets • Active • Galactic • Nuclei 810 mm f/7.8 Bowen-Vaughan reflector

5. Scientific research projects: formal agreement of cooperation with the italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) • four topics: • Solar Corona • Asteroids • Transiting • Extrasolar • Planets • Active • Galactic • Nuclei 250 mm f/8 Maksutov 400 mm f/8 Ritchey-Chrétien reflector the meteo-seeing corner 250 mm f/20 Maksutov

6. Scientific research projects: formal agreement of cooperation with the italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) • four topics: • Solar Corona • Asteroids • Transiting • Extrasolar • Planets • Active • Galactic • Nuclei telescope mount “Jolanda” with EKPol, a Liquid Crystal Variable Retarder (LCVR) based polarimeter [14 March 2006, Italy]

7. Scientific research projects: formal agreement of cooperation with the italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) • four topics: • Solar Corona • Asteroids • Transiting • Extrasolar • Planets • Active • Galactic • Nuclei telescope mount “Jolanda” with EKPol, a Liquid Crystal Variable Retarder (LCVR) based polarimeter [29 March 2006, Libya]

8. Public Outreach & Education: fundamental activities at the OAVdA • scientific research and PO&E are • ‘the mission’ • declared in the Statute passed by the Regional legislative bodies • need for the admission fee • (min € 2,50-max € 10,00 • in 2010) the Heliophysics Laboratory 250 mm mirror, achromatic 120 mm f/16.5 lens

9. Public Outreach & Education: fundamental activities at the OAVdA • scientific research and PO&E are • ‘the mission’ • declared in the Statute passed by the Regional legislative bodies • need for the admission fee • (min € 2,50-max € 10,00 • in 2010) the Teaching Platform seven 250 mm f/10 Cassegrain reflectors

10. Why should someone come and visit our Observatory? Credit Patrizia Besenval+Piero Rosset

11. Public Outreach & Education: OAVdA theoretical framework the natural link between PO&E and scientific research the concept: knowledge we meet in life now (at school, at work etc) is the result of scientific researches made by scientists 10, 100, 1000 years ago... so knowledge that we will meet in life tomorrow is the result of scientific researches that scientists are making today including scientific research made at the OAVdA “egg of Columbus”

12. Public Outreach & Education: OAVdA theoretical framework the natural link between PO&E and scientific research the method: physicists at the OAVdA are necessarily involved (30% of their time) in PO&E activities about their own research topic, «know 10 to say 1» the goal: to open and establish a channel between society and OAVdA & to show connections between science and everyday life by communicating live the context of scientific research (people, method, results, meaning)

13. The appeal of scientific research: some ‘experimental’ results with schools and public at large why should someone come and visit our Observatory? + the natural link between PO&E and scientific research = a case study about people’s attitude towards science (only raw data)

14. The appeal of scientific research: some ‘experimental’ results Astronomy Education with the schools very snowy winter and rainy spring

15. The appeal ofscientificresearch: some ‘experimental’ results threeexperienceswithstudents&teachers in the Aosta Valley schoolsaskedusfor, triggeredby IYA2009 Experience I: introducing the world ofscientificresearch Experience II: facing a realproblemofscientificresearch Experience III: working in a realscientificresearch project in cooperation with the Regional Board of Education of the Aosta Valley

16. Experience I • in the multi-year education activity Saint-Roch Étoiles (2008-2013) hundreds of pupils from 5 to 12 years old of the “Istituzione Scolastica Saint-Roch” in Aosta are introduced to the world of scientific research through ‘meet the scientist’ sessions • http://www.scuole.vda.it/stroch/progetto_etoiles/frame2.htm

17. Experience I • in the multi-year education activity Saint-Roch Étoiles (2008-2013) hundreds of pupils from 5 to 12 years old of the “Istituzione Scolastica Saint-Roch” in Aosta are introduced to the world of scientific research through ‘meet the scientist’ sessions • http://www.scuole.vda.it/stroch/progetto_etoiles/frame2.htm

18. 2 1 with x Experience II in the education activity Oltre Galileo… La Vallée guarda lontano (2008-2009) 18 years old students of the “Istituzione Scolastica Binel-Viglino” in Pont-Saint-Martin and in Saint-Vincent faced a real problem of scientific research: the calculation of the heliocentric distance of an asteroid at the opposition from an original data set collected during the research activity at the OAVdA

19. Experience III In the education activity Tutti pazzi per Marte (2007-2008) both teachers and 18 years old students of the “Istituzione Scolastica Binel-Viglino” in Pont-Saint-Martin and in Saint-Vincent worked together with the physicist at the OAVdA in a real research project: the measure of the distance of planet Mars from Earth with the parallax method during Mars’ approach for 2008 opposition

20. Experience III

21. Experience III The education activity Tutti pazzi per Marte was made in cooperation with the University of Milan, Italy, and the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA). Being a real research project, the method developed with students and teachers during the initiative brought to two papers published on italian and international peer-reviewed journals: D. Cenadelli, M. Zeni, A. Bernagozzi, P. Calcidese, L. Ferreira, C. Hoang, C. Rijsdijk, “An international parallax campaign to measure distance to the Moon and Mars”, European Journal of Physics Vol.30, n. 1, January 2009, pp. 35-46 http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009EJPh...30...35C D. Cenadelli, M. Zeni, A. Bernagozzi, P. Calcidese, L. Ferreira, C. Hoang, C. Rijsdijk, “La parallasse e la misura della distanza di Marte”, Giornale di Fisica, Vol. L, n. 2, April-June 2009, pp. 117-125 http://www.sif.it/SIF/it/portal/riviste/gdf (the result was 0.9825 AU when the real value was 0.9384 AU: such a good value is partly due to chance because of the chosen approximations)

22. The appeal of scientific research: some ‘experimental’ results Public outreach with the public very good weather all along the summer very snowy winter and rainy spring

23. The appeal of scientific research: some ‘experimental’ results Q&A with 200 visitors did you know that the OAVdA is a research centre? YES = 63% NO = 37% Ref: q&a collected in the period 22 December 2007-8 march 2008 and published in C. Bottazzi, Analisi economica del distretto culturale: modello sistemico per lo sviluppo territoriale sostenibile. Il caso: Osservatorio Astronomico della Regione Autonoma Valle d’Aosta, Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS, laurea triennale (Bachelor’s degree), Università della Valle d’Aosta, a.a. 2006-2007

24. The appeal of scientific research: some ‘experimental’ results Q&A with 200 visitors if yes, was it important in choosing to come and visit the OAVdA? NO = 18% YES = 82% Ref: q&a collected in the period 22 December 2007-8 march 2008 and published in C. Bottazzi, Analisi economica del distretto culturale: modello sistemico per lo sviluppo territoriale sostenibile. Il caso: Osservatorio Astronomico della Regione Autonoma Valle d’Aosta, Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS, laurea triennale (Bachelor’s degree), Università della Valle d’Aosta, a.a. 2006-2007

25. The appeal of scientific research: some ‘experimental’ results Q&A with 200 visitors if no, didyouappreciatethisaspectof the OAVdAduringyourvisit? YES = 100% NO = 0% Ref: q&a collected in the period 22 December 2007-8 march 2008 and published in C. Bottazzi, Analisi economica del distretto culturale: modello sistemico per lo sviluppo territoriale sostenibile. Il caso: Osservatorio Astronomico della Regione Autonoma Valle d’Aosta, Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS, laurea triennale (Bachelor’s degree), Università della Valle d’Aosta, a.a. 2006-2007

26. The appeal of scientific research: some ‘experimental’ results Q&A with 200 visitors do youfeelyourastronomyknowledgewasimprovedafter the visit? YES = 96% NO = 4% Ref: q&a collected in the period 22 December 2007-8 march 2008 and published in C. Bottazzi, Analisi economica del distretto culturale: modello sistemico per lo sviluppo territoriale sostenibile. Il caso: Osservatorio Astronomico della Regione Autonoma Valle d’Aosta, Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS, laurea triennale (Bachelor’s degree), Università della Valle d’Aosta, a.a. 2006-2007

27. The appeal of scientific research: some ‘experimental’ results Q&A with 200 visitors willyou go on improvingyourastronomyknowledgeafter the visit? YES = 89% NO = 11% Ref: q&a collected in the period 22 December 2007-8 march 2008 and published in C. Bottazzi, Analisi economica del distretto culturale: modello sistemico per lo sviluppo territoriale sostenibile. Il caso: Osservatorio Astronomico della Regione Autonoma Valle d’Aosta, Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS, laurea triennale (Bachelor’s degree), Università della Valle d’Aosta, a.a. 2006-2007

28. The appeal of scientific research: some ‘experimental’ results Q&A with 200 visitors cost-benefitanalysis (travel, meals, change in habits, cold&dark…) BENEFIT>COST = 99.5% COST>BENEFIT = 0.5% Ref: q&a collected in the period 22 December 2007-8 march 2008 and published in C. Bottazzi, Analisi economica del distretto culturale: modello sistemico per lo sviluppo territoriale sostenibile. Il caso: Osservatorio Astronomico della Regione Autonoma Valle d’Aosta, Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS, laurea triennale (Bachelor’s degree), Università della Valle d’Aosta, a.a. 2006-2007

29. The OAVdA experience as a contribution for building on IYA2009 conclusions: ‘strong indications’ that scientific research can work to insipire and engage students, teachers and public to climb the mountain and beyond…

30. The next big thing: a planetarium at 1633 m above sea level! “virtual visit of the cosmos” based on science made at the OAVdA 849 students and 3362 people in 6 months

31. The appeal of scientific research: 15246 attendees in 2009 visiting the OAVdA and the Planetarium (very old-style media campaign) staff in 2009 = 10 1524.6 attendees/staff member staff in 2010 = 12 the staff of the “Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS” in 2010: from left to right Patrizia Dondeynaz, Albino Carbognani,Paolo Calcidese, Erika Bancod, Enzo Bertolini (director), Andrea Bernagozzi, Liliana Laval, Paolo Pellissier, Mario Damasso, Paolo Recaldini, Giorgio Toso; up in the frame: Matteo Soldi

32. We thank for supporting the Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS through different channels Regional Government of the Aosta Valley Mont Emilius Community Town Administration of Nus European Union European Social Fund

33. Scientific Research and Astronomy Education: the OAVdA Experience Andrea Bernagozzi on behalf of the staff of the “Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS” info@oavda.it tot siens! hambakahle!