Difference: WP4Outreach (1 vs. 7)

CoSADIE - Collaborative Sustainable Astronomical Data Infrastructure for Europe

WP4 Outreach towards education and the general public interested in astronomy

WP lead: Massimo Ramella (INAF)

WP Objectives

This Work Package co-ordinates the outreach activities towards education and the general public, in particular the general public interested in astronomy, such as amateur astronomers, to increase awareness of the wonders and excitement of science, and assesses the elements necessary to reach sustainability in these activities.

Description of Work

• Task 4.1: Consolidation of education and outreach activities

• Task 4.2: Assessment of medium term sustainability of the education activities.

Deliverables

• Report on education activities and sustainability

Activities

• Participation in the Astronet Task 5.3 Working Group (M. Ramella)

• Participation in the Astronet Workshop Astronomy Education & Public Outreach : The European perspective, Heidelberg, 17-18 June 2013, Presentation In classroom with the Virtual Observatory: a new tool for students and teachers (M. Ramella)

CoSADIE - Collaborative Sustainable Astronomical Data Infrastructure for Europe

WP4 Outreach towards education and the general public interested in astronomy

WP lead: Massimo Ramella (INAF)

WP Objectives

This Work Package co-ordinates the outreach activities towards education and the general public, in particular the general public interested in astronomy, such as amateur astronomers, to increase awareness of the wonders and excitement of science, and assesses the elements necessary to reach sustainability in these activities.

Description of Work

The Work Package is managed by the WP lead, INAF, assisted by the Outreach Working Group. The outreach material developed in the Euro-VO projects consists in tutorials and professional tools adapted for education usage (Aladin and Stellarium), which are made freely availble at http://wwwas.oats.inaf.it/aidawp5/eng_download.html. The tutorial and tools will be checked and updated In parallel, the possibility to reach medium term sustainability will be assessed, with actions both at the national and European level.

• Task 4.1: Consolidation of education and outreach activities

http://wwwas.oats.inaf.it/aidawp5/eng_download.html

• Task 4.2: Assessment of medium term sustainability of the education activities.

Deliverables

• Report on education activities and sustainability

CoSADIE - Collaborative Sustainable Astronomical Data Infrastructure for Europe

WP4 Outreach towards education and the general public interested in astronomy

WP lead: Massimo Ramella (INAF)

WP Objectives

This Work Package co-ordinates the outreach activities towards education and the general public, in particular the general public interested in astronomy, such as amateur astronomers, to increase awareness of the wonders and excitement of science, and assesses the elements necessary to reach sustainability in these activities.

Description of Work

The Work Package is managed by the WP lead, INAF, assisted by the Outreach Working Group. The outreach material developed in the Euro-VO projects consists in tutorials and professional tools adapted for education usage (Aladin and Stellarium), which are made freely availble at http://wwwas.oats.inaf.it/aidawp5/eng_download.html. The tutorial and tools will be checked and updated In parallel, the possibility to reach medium term sustainability will be assessed, with actions both at the national and European level.

• Task 4.1: Consolidation of education and outreach activities

http://wwwas.oats.inaf.it/aidawp5/eng_download.html

• Task 4.2: Assessment of medium term sustainability of the education activities.

Deliverables

• Report on education activities and sustainability

CoSADIE - Collaborative Sustainable Astronomical Data Infrastructure for Europe

WP4 Outreach towards education and the general public interested in astronomy

WP Objectives

This Work Package co-ordinates the outreach activities towards education and the general public, in particular the general public interested in astronomy, such as amateur astronomers, to increase awareness of the wonders and excitement of science, and assesses the elements necessary to reach sustainability in these activities.

Description of Work

Deliverables

CoSADIE - Collaborative Sustainable Astronomical Data Infrastructure for Europe

WP4 Outreach towards education and the general public interested in astronomy

WP lead

WP Objectives

This Work Package co-ordinates the outreach activities towards education and the general public, in particular the general public interested in astronomy, such as amateur astronomers, to increase awareness of the wonders and excitement of science, and assesses the elements necessary to reach sustainability in these activities.

Description of Work

The Work Package is managed by the WP lead, INAF, assisted by the Outreach Working Group. This Outreach Working Group comprises members from CoSADIE partners, who will bring their knowledge of their own educational system and stakeholders, but also representatives knowledgeable about other countries chosen in collaboration with Astronet. The Euro-VO education activity is recent, and the successful model established by EuroVO-AIDA, bring “big science” into the classroom using e-infrastructure and tools derived from the professional ones to access data from the physical infrastructure, needs to be consolidated by developing the coordination at European and international levels and continuing the development of outreach material. EuroVO-ICE has also succeeded in putting education and outreach in the IVOA agenda, and a specific Committee is being set up at that international level. In addition, material developed in Euro-VO projects is used by other projects, in particular in India and South Africa. The tools have been shown to be also of interest for the general public interested in astronomy, in particular the amateur astronomers. This material consists in 13 tutorials and professional tools adapted for education usage (Aladin and Stellarium), which are made freely availble at http://wwwas.oats.inaf.it/aidawp5/eng_download.html. The tutorial and tools will be checked and updated to take into account the evolution of the professional tools, and if possible increase the number of translations, and the updated material will be made available on the site. The detailed work plan will be defined in the Project plan D1.2. In parallel, the possibility to reach medium term sustainability will be assessed, with actions both at the national and European level. Collaboration will be sought with “Discover the Cosmos”, which is linked to Hands-on-Universe, GLORIA and the “Galileo Teacher Training Programme” on all these activities. The WP activities of the first year will be reported in D1.4, and the relevant findings of the first year of the project will feed the Intermediate Report on Euro-VO Sustainability (D5.1). WP4 will produce D4.1 Report on education sustainability, which will contain the conclusions of its two strands of work, consolidation of education and outreach activities (Task 4.1) and Assessment of medium term sustainability of the education activities (Task 4.2). WP4 will also comment on WP5 reports.

• Task 4.1: Consolidation of education and outreach activities. This task has several aspects:
  • co-ordination of education activities in the partner countries
  • update of the tutorials and tools taking into account feedback from the partners on the EuroVO-AIDA developments and EuroVO-ICE activities, and continuation of the efforts to translate them in different languages, to implement the best material to increase awareness about this activity in Europe and assess the technical needs for medium term maintenance. Feedback from other users (e.g., in South Africa) will also be taken into account.
  • development of a European network for VObs-related education activities ("education network")
    • identification of contact persons in other European countries, asking in particular the Astronet consortium, in which all the European countries are represented, the International Astronomical Union, which has built a set on contacts during the recent International Year of Astronomy (2009) and has recently set up an Office for Astronomy Development, and the Hands on Universe European project, for suggestions
    • a first meeting of the network and identification of the required actions (M8), a final meeting (M21) to discuss the Report on outreach and education activities sustainability (D4.1)
  • Discussion with non-European IVOA partners on the possibility to share material for outreach activities
  • Outreach material aimed at the general public interested in astronomy, for example:
    • Develop an outreach version of the educational tutorials with less emphasis on teaching astronomy and more on using our simplified tools to explore the sky
    • Develop outreach material to illustrate the VO in general (booklet, web page directed to the public)
• Task 4.2: Assessment of medium term sustainability of the education activities. This Task includes all the contacts at “political” level necessary to build up a plan for development and medium term sustainability of VO-related education activities in Europe.
  • Contacts with authorities in the different countries, starting with the partner countries, to assess the possibility to include the activity in official teaching programmes and to get support to it
  • Discussions with EC, to expose the very high potential impact of the activity, to determine if and how this activity can be included into an existing or to-be-created European work programme

Deliverables