Northern Site Education and Outreach

1. Northern Site Education and Outreach • My goal for the workshop is to write draft text (with • help) which could become a chapter in a Northern Site • Preliminary Design Report. Note: original Design Reports • had no outreach chapter. • This exercise will be useful for several reasons: • Text can form the basis of funding proposals for • Auger Education and Outreach, whether stand-alone • or integrated with more comprehensive proposals for • the Observatory • Help us understand how to enhance Southern Site • outreach efforts • Help us understand costs associated with enhanced • and expanded outreach activities in South and North

2. Text Organization • Description and experiences with education/outreach • efforts since the beginning of the Observatory. • Focus on the Southern Site, lessons learned. • (3 pages) • Capitalizing on what we have started in Colorado • (2 pages) • Design of an effective, comprehensive outreach program • for the future of the Observatory, North and South • (5 pages)

3. Southern Site Outreach Summary • Lots of written material to draw from: ICRC2001 and • 2005 proceedings, bi-monthly reports • Highlight main efforts, successes: Visitor center and • statistics, public talks, school visits, teacher training • workshops, Auger Science Fair, Malargüe Day parade • participation, Eureka museum exhibit, Michigan Tech • scholarship program, JWC school • Summarize professional impact study for some of the • lessons learned. Example: People living “south of the • clock” do not know what the Observatory is doing, why • we are in Malargüe.

4. What we have started in SE Colorado • We have established a strong connection with Lamar Community • College, the Southeastern Colorado Enterprise Development • (SECED), and the regional education community • Several collaborators have visited schools and given talks to civic • groups • We have started to collect materials and displays for a temporary • Visitor Center at LCC

5. Regional Science Fair at Lamar Community College • March 1 • Projects • from all • grade • levels • About • 100 entries About 400 students, teachers, parents in attendance J. Chirinos, J. Harton, F. Sarazin, G. Snow staffed Auger Observatory display

6. Day before the Science Fair …. Johana enlisting LCC students in star monitoring program

7. Regional Science Fair at Lamar Community College F. Sarazin and G. Snow mounted an Auger display with posters, brochures, Geiger counters, scintillators. oscilloscopes, …

8. Regional Science Fair at Lamar Community College J. Harton and F. Sarazin talking about the northern site with Science Fair visitors

9. Regional Science Fair at Lamar Community College J. Harton addressing assembly before awards ceremony Students waiting for judges

10. Northern Site Outreach • Things we learned from visitors to the Science Fair • The Auger Observatory is quite well known in SE • Colorado • People are anxious to learn more and get involved • “Please put a tank on our property!” • Teachers are interested in Auger outreach initiatives • in their schools • Overall, we judge EARLY and CONTINUING outreach • efforts to the communities and schools to be very • important to our success in the North

11. $5K from Colorado governor to seed Auger outreach in Colorado • Portable beeping Geiger counter display • Purchased 3 of these for use in SE Colorado schools • These are in Lamar and in use

12. Nebraska Auger Detector Models at LCC

13. LCC job announcement for Auger Outreach Coordinator/Instructor

14. LCC job announcement for Auger Outreach Coordinator • Announcement will appear soon in: • Lamar Daily News (print) • Pueblo Chieftain (print) • Denver Post (print) • HigherEdJobs.com (online) • Chronicle of Higher Education (online) • National Science Teachers Association (online) • Colorado chapter of American Association of Physics Teachers • (distribution list) • Auger Collaboration mailing list • LCC’s goal is to fill the position by October 1, 2006 • Snow, Harton, Sarazin, Bauleo, other Coloradans will help • recruit applicants and screen them • Then we will need to quickly fill the coordinator’s “job jar” and • work with and support this person seriously

15. LCC job announcement for Auger Outreach Coordinator • LCC secured $20K from the Colorado Community College System • to support the position • Travel • Malargüe, Northern Site proposal meetings, regional travel • Consumable materials • Observatory information brochures • Observatory posters for distribution • Observatory DVD videos for distribution • Equipment • Dedicated laptop computer for traveling and visitor center • presentations • Demonstration and presentation equipment for visitor center • Equipment for student cosmic ray research projects at LCC and • K-12 schools

16. A program of SE Colorado outreach … presented at the Lamar meeting in October 2005 • World-class Visitor Center at Lamar C.C. • complex • Series of public lectures • Public events – telescope viewings • Frequent visits to schools • Research projects for physics classes • Joining the growing high school cosmic ray • research network (CROP connection) • Science fair projects/entries • Teacher professional development programs • Programs targeting Spanish speaking community

17. The challenge to design an effective outreach program Observatory Resources Outreach Program Elements Impact and Evaluation Target Audiences Clearly define the links and interactions of these 4 components

18. The challenge to design an effective outreach program Observatory Resources • The Observatory • The Collaboration • 17 Countries • The Science • Lamar Community College • The Visitor Center Outreach Program Elements Impact and Evaluation Target Audiences • Teachers • Students • General Public • Media and Press

19. The challenge to design an effective outreach program Observatory Resources • The Observatory • The Collaboration • The Science • Lamar Community College • The Visitor Center Feedback to program Outreach Program Elements Impact and Evaluation A coordinated selection of activities Best done by a professional educational evaluator Target Audiences • Teachers • Students • General Public • Media and Press

20. Proposal of new names for the North and South Visitor Centers Auger Learning Center Auger Visitor Center • That’s what we want people to do there: learn • Enhances our ability to secure funding • Improvements discussed for South: cloud chamber or • spark chamber, large flat monitor for photo collections, • kiosks for short videos and interactive animations

21. Cosmic Ray Observatory Project (CROP) in Nebraska In early January, Rebecca Burke drove from Lincoln to Lamar with a carload of 4 scintillators/PMTs, extension cables, high voltage supply from CROP’s inventory.

22. We now have the equipment in Lamar for one detector set-up Lamar One data acquisition card and GPS from Hal Spinka, Argonne QuarkNet group Upcoming proposal for Phase II of CROP – statewide expansion – can include SE Colorado extension

23. Teacher Intern Program • We plan to secure funding for a teacher summer • intern program, 5-6 teachers per summer • The participants could: • Work with Auger scientists at universities • Be trained to staff the Auger Learning Center at LCC • for short periods • Visit Malargüe and perform shift tasks under supervision • Help develop classroom activities using real Auger data • Exchange program with Mendoza province teachers, • JWC school, for Spanish speaking teachers • Earn graduate credit from one of the collaborating • universities

24. Exercises with Auger data, publicly available • We would like to initiate a project to make Auger • data, properly distilled and sanitized, for use in • classroom exercises • Teacher input needed to develop exercises that match • their curriculum needs