Education and Public Outreach Plans of the US Planck Team

1. Education and Public Outreach Plans of the US Planck Team Progress report by Bruce Partridge for the EPO Working Group (Laura Cayon, Lloyd Knox, Erik Leitch, Steve Levin, Phil Lubin, Bruce Partridge, Elena Pierpaoli, Jatila van der Veen, Ben Wandelt)

2. Principles • Employ strengths/interests of US Planck Team Members • Create EPO activities with a durable legacy • Use ~1% of Planck DA budget (and matching funds) efficiently • Catalyze EPO activities throughout the Planck consortium • In US, focus primarily on education (a national need) • Widely spread activities, but centered and managed in one institution

3. A Phased Plan for EPO • Current Plan • ｷ Start with college-level education • ｷ Then widen to K-12 science education • ｷ Ensure careful outside evaluation • ｷ Aim for a lasting legacy • Phase 1 Start FY 06 • ｷ Planck EPO Web site (Erik Leitch, leader) • - Educational materials based on Planck • - Useful links to other cosmology and space science sites • - Canonical data and figures of Planck and Planck science • - (restricted access) compendia of slides, talks, etc. for use by Team members • ｷ Joint launch with ASP of a program for small grants (3 yrs at $10 k; more than matched by ASP) • An introductory physics curriculum based on conservation laws, cosmology and Planck (Phil Lubin and Jatila van der Veen, leaders)

4. Teaching Physics with Planck --A proposal by van der Veen & Lubin • We propose to develop a new set of curricula for undergraduate physics • based on the ideas of symmetry and the conservation laws, • with the thematic approach of modern cosmology. • Rather than start with Newtonian mechanics, • and never progress past the early twentieth century, • we propose a new undergraduate curriculum that will present Newtonian mechanics, • as well as classical topics of the traditional curriculum, • from a modern, symmetry-and-conservation-law based, viewpoint. • The rationale for such a curricular reform is based on two fundamental issues • facing physics educators in the twenty-first century: • the need for modernization of the curriculum itself, and • the need for a broader cultural and gender base in the physics professions.

5. Teaching Physics with Planck • It is IMAGINATIVE hence more attractive to a wider population of students • It is MODERN hence, offers a way to teach physics from a modern perspective • instead of starting with the 16th century and barely getting to the 20th century! • More women have historically been involved in astronomy than any other • branch of physics, and currently astronomy has the greatest number women of the • physics sub-fields • It offers many more opportunities for cultural pluralism in the physics curriculum • by using examples from archaeoastronomy. • Using the Planck Explorer as a thematic motivation, ALL aspects of undergraduate • physics can be addressed • It offers students a chance to experience physics first hand • It offers a variety of opportunities for collaboration with other campus departments

6. Possible Thematic Curriculum • Introduction: History of cosmology, cultural paradigms, introducing a “new” • narrative of physics based on Noether’s Theorems • Numbers in Nature: Symmetry, mathematics, art, and aesthetics – from the kitchen • to the cosmos • Dimensional Analysis: what are mass, length, and time? • Are they really independent (orthogonal)? In what circumstances can any of • them be measured independently of the other two? Are they always conserved? • What are the fundamental constants of Nature, and are they really constant? • Cosmology from Galileo to Einstein as seen through the eyes of Symmetry • The Expanding Universe as a Closed System – introduction to thermodynamics • The Shape of Space : Density = Destiny, Gravity and potential theory • How do we “know” anything? – harmonic motion, waves, and information theory • Light and the EM Spectrum – “seeing” with “other eyes” – how to “look” at space

7. Possible Thematic Curriculum, continued • Electricity, magnetism, and basic circuits • 20th Century Quantum Physics – particles and cosmology; CCDs and modern • electronics • 21st Century particle detectors - particles and the early universe • Shape of Space and the Future – basic concepts of General Relativity and • Beyond to Strings and Higher Dimensions • Understanding the CMB – clues from the distant past; measuring the oldest • radiation we can detect

8. A Phased Plan for EPO • Phase 1.5 Introduce in ‘07 • Outreach to, support for, Community College (CC) instructors of astronomy courses (Bruce Partridge, leader) • 100,000 students learn astronomy and space science in CC • - many CC instructors are not trained as astronomers or even physicists • - have asked for support, materials, up-to-date information on 21st Century astronomy • - we will work with CC astronomy leaders (e.g., Andy Fraknoi, Foothills College and Susana Deustua, Education Coordinators of AAS) to learn how we can most effectively help • invite ~10 CC astronomy leaders to help plan program (at 2007 “Cosmos in Classroom” meeting) • link to… • CMB themed session at next “Cosmos in the Classroom” meeting

9. A Phased Plan for EPO • Phase 1.5 Introduce in ‘07 • Outreach to, support for, Community College instructors of astronomy courses (Bruce Partridge, leader) • Phase 2 ’08 on: introduce EPO activities for younger students • ｷ Modules on astronomy and cosmology for high school Earth Science courses (Lloyd Knox, leader) • ｷ Training undergraduate students in outreach to high schools (Laura Cayon, leader) • ｷ Developing cosmology, astronomy & pace science materials (all) • ｷ Special outreach activities tied to launch, first light, first image… (all)

10. A Phased Plan for EPO • Phase 1.5 Introduce in ‘07 • Outreach to, support for, Community College instructors of astronomy courses (Bruce Partridge, leader) • Phase 2 ’08 on: introduce EPO activities for younger students • ｷ Modules on astronomy and cosmology for high school Earth Science courses (Lloyd Knox, leader) • ｷ Training graduate students in outreach to high schools (Laura Cayon, leader) • ｷ Developing cosmology, astronomy & space science materials (all) • ｷ Special outreach activities tied to launch, first light, first image… (all) • Phase 3 ~’10 on • ｷ Independent evaluation of initial programs • ｷ Addition of new programs • ｷ Preparation of educational materials based on Planck findings