THEMIS Education and Public Outreach: Past and Future

1. THEMIS Education andPublic Outreach: Past and Future L. M. Peticolas1, N. Craig, M. B. Moldwin2, S. Odenwald3, V. Trautman4, L. Orr5, C. DeWolf 6, J. Bean7, A. Walker8, C.T. Russell2, and V. Angelopoulos2 1. UC, Berkeley, 2. UC, Los Angeles, 3. Catholic University, 4. Petersburg High School, 5. Ukiah School, 6. Chippewa Hills High School, 7. Carson City High School, 8. Cornerstone Evaluation

2. Overall E/PO Program • Geomagnetic Event Observation Network by Students (GEONS) program: magnetometers in schools with active interaction with teachers, data on-line, curriculum & “research”, and long-term professional development (PD) for teachers • Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) PD site (long-term) in Nevada • Short term PD for teachers around the country • THEMIS and auroras in science centers around the country through ViewSpace • Website with THEMIS news, science, videos and images, data, and information about us.

3. Fort Yates, ND GPS Buried Cable to Mag. Sensor GEONS program PHOTO of real setup The states with research-grade magnetometers at schools: AK, OR, NV, MT, ND, SD, WI, MI, PA, and VT

4. GEONS accomplishments • Installed 12 magnetometers • Directly involved 14 schools with 14 teachers including weekly emails and bi-monthly telecons • Real-time data on the web • Archived data available on the web both ASCII and plots • 3 GEONS teacher workshops held in June 2004, June 2005, and March 2007 • Many more (over 20) short-term workshops for teachers around the country • Developed, tested, & revised THEMIS teacher guides, now in-use in classrooms

5. Making GEONS happen • Don Dearborn at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) installed the magnetometers and outreached to the communities while in their town. • Kathryn Rowe at UCLA maintains the magnetometer network • David Pierce at UCLA created software that produces plots of the real-time data for the website and teacher use. • Igor Ruderman and Tim Quinn at UC Berkeley put the real-time and archived data on the web and maintain the data servers. • Karin Hauck and Bryce Roberts at UC Berkeley help to maintain contact with the teachers every week. • The teachers – bring the data, lessons, and information on the mission to their students, their community, and to other teachers in their state.

6. THEMIS Teacher Guides • Sequenced • Reviewed/tested by THEMIS teachers • Reviewed (some twice) by NASA review panel 2. Exploring Magnetism on Earth 1. Magnetism and Electromagnetism 4. Earth’s Magnetic Personality THEMIS GEONS Background Science and User’s Guide 3. Space Weather

7. Evaluation results: how are we doing? • Three main ways of evaluating the GEONS program: • Teacher Professional Development workshop questionnaires • Yearly phone interviews with teachers • Direct teacher feedback via email or at workshops • Most have given materials to other teachers in their school. • 4 of 8 teachers indicated this program has increased general interest in science at their (or a neighboring) school • 2 of 8teachers indicated this program has caused course enrollment increases (e.g. in chemistry and physics) GEONS Teacher feedback • Most chose to be part of this program to motivate and/or involve students in ‘real science’ • All are using THEMIS materials • 5 teachers have presented materials at state science workshops to other teachers

8. Evaluation results: how are we doing? • Evaluating our short-term PD program: • Teacher Professional Development workshop questionnaires These workshops are a partnership between THEMIS, FAST, STEREO-IMPACT, RHESSI EPO programs and the Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum at UC Berkeley • We have held these workshops over the past 3 years (~30 events) • In the last year, we reached 168 teachers • 41% elementary • 27% middle school • 28% high school • 4% other • These teachers reach underserved students (on average, 47% female, 20% male and minority in science, 50% students on free/reduced lunches) • On average, the 168 teachers said they were “Very likely” to use what we taught as an integral part of their basic science course.

9. Evaluation results: how are we doing? • Data on the GEMS site launch showed that we reached many rural Nevada elementary school teachers who were “Very Likely” to use the GEMS materials in their classroom • ViewSpace is a program to bring science content to museums and science centers via a plasma screen display, beautiful imagery, text, and background music through a subscription. The THEMIS show has been shown around the country in thousands of locations.

10. Evaluation results: how are we doing? • Anecdotal evidence from independent sources (staff at the PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer, teachers, NASA education review panel) indicates that our website is “excellent” with understandable content, interesting images and movies, easy to use THEMIS E/PO magnetometer data, and up-to-date news on the mission.

11. Future THEMIS E/PO • NASA would like to see more impact with the E/PO programs, which means in part by combining efforts into one program • Several other Heliophysics Mission E/POs are part of the Senior Review • We plan to work directly (financially) with ARTEMIS, AIM, FAST, RHESSI, and STEREO-IMPACT all towards a “National Heliophysics Ambassador Program”

12. Heliophysics Ambassador Program This program will work with master teachers around the country to inspire more teachers and students. The program will: • Expand THEMIS GEONS program and teacher’s guides to more teachers around the country • Incorporate other heliophysics missions into the program in order to bring the Sun-Earth connection to students in a more meaningful way • Involve more THEMIS scientists in the program

13. Heliophysics Ambassador Program We will build on the experience of the “ambassador” programs of THEMIS, AIM, Sonoma State, Solar System Forum. We will recruit master teachers mostly, but also potentially amateur astronomers.

14. Heliophysics Ambassador Program In more detail, we will: • Hold a week-long workshop including content and lessons from the participating missions as well as sessions on diversity, teaching teachers, and writing grants for the teachers to sustain their own efforts • Host a website with the content for the ambassadors and any work they want to share with each other • Support the ambassadors over the lifetime of the missions • Involve THEMIS/ARTEMIS scientists as “guest speakers” at remote-learning events to share the newest discoveries