Before introducing the Public Information and Outreach efforts underway at the Gemini Observatory and Mauna Kea at large, it is useful to review the Gemini Project as well as a bit of the history and recent developments on Mauna Kea.

The Gemini Observatory Project consists of a seven-country partnership between the United States (50%), the United Kingdom (25%), Canada (15%), Australia (5%), Chile (5%), Brazil (2.5%) and Argentina (2.5%). Each of these countries has contributed to fund the $184 Million (US dollars) construction of twin 8-meter telescopes, one on Hawaii's Mauna Kea (Gemini North) and one in Chile on a mountaintop called Cerro Pachon (Gemini South). Together, these twin telescopes allow access to the entire sky and provide an important resource to astronomers in each partner country without restrictions to institutional affiliation.

The Gemini telescopes are designed to observe the universe in both optical and infrared light and have been optimized to perform exceptionally well at infrared wavelengths that will give them unique capabilities among existing ground-based telescopes. The telescopes are designed to operate remotely and utilize Internet technologies to achieve optimum operational efficiency by matching observations with atmospheric conditions to obtain the best possible scientific data.

At this time, the Gemini North telescope has begun limited scientific operations and Gemini South is undergoing commissioning and poised to begin scientific operations in mid-2001. Gemini South is slated to be dedicated in January of 2002.

It is relevant to this discussion to pay particular attention to the location of the Gemini North telescope which is located among a large community of astronomical observatories near the 13,824 foot summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. Several important instruments lie among this collection of telescopes including the world's largest optical/infrared observatory, the twin 10-meter Keck telescopes, and the 8-meter Subaru Observatory of Japan. Other facilities include:

• James Clark Maxwell Submillimeter Telescope

• Caltech Submillimeter Telescope

• Smithsonian Submillimeter Array

• NASA Infrared Telescope Facility

• United Kingdom Infrared Telescope Facility

• University of Hawaii 88" Telescope

• Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope

• Very Large Baseline Array

A very selective history of Mauna Kea (geologic and modern) follows for perspective:

• 10,000 years B.P. summit glaciers melted

• 3,500 years B.P. last volcanic eruptions on Mauna Kea

• 2,000 years B.P. Polynesians arrive

• 1700's Western contact

• 1964 Road to summit built and small observatory test site on Pu`u Poliahu

• 1970 First major telescope completed (UH 88")

• 1993 Keck I begins scientific operations

• 2001 Gemini and Subaru operational

As can be seen, the past 40 years has seen significant changes to the summit area of Mauna Kea. However, the future will probably not see a repeat of this level of development.

In addition to the development of the Mauna Kea summit area, observatory headquarters have been established in the Big Island communities of Hilo and Waimea with the majority being located near the University of Hawaii at Hilo's University Park. In addition, a substantial support facility has been established at the 9,200' level of Mauna Kea called Hale Pohaku. This "mid-level" facility provides lodging and acclimatization for visiting astronomers as well as a Visitor's Information Station (VIS) which services up to 100,000 visitors annually (more details on the VIS provided later).

It is estimated that astronomy and related activities have produced a total capital investment of about $1 Billion, an annual influx of $61 Million and over 750 jobs for the island of Hawaii.

Until now the development of Mauna Kea has been guided by a "Master Plan" that was established in the mid-1980's. As we enter the twenty-first century, it has become necessary to develop a new "Master Plan" for the next 20 years, and this process has been difficult, at best. Many groups have expressed concern over the continued development of Mauna Kea, since it is an important cultural site for native Hawaiians and has a unique and fragile environment. After many emotional and heartfelt testimonies at public meetings, a new Mauna Kea Master Plan has been developed and approved (in 2000) by the University of Hawaii's Board of Reagents. This plan allows for limited new summit construction that includes a possible new generation 30-50 meter telescope as well as the renewal of existing observatory sites with input and review by several groups sensitive to Mauna Kea cultural and environmental concerns. In the immediate future, the W.M. Keck Observatory will exercise this process by requesting permission to build four small outrigger telescopes to support its joint interferometry project with NASA.

The new Master Plan also mandates a significant increase in outreach activities at the VIS and work on this has already begun.

One of the critical outreach needs identified for Mauna Kea is the expansion, updating and modernizing of the VIS exhibits and programming. Currently the center is undersized by a factor of about 4 and exhibits are extremely out of date and not representative of the state-of-the-art facilities on the mountain. To help address this problem, a committee called the Mauna Kea Observatories Outreach Committee (MKOOC) was formed in early 2000 with representatives from each observatory. To date, this committee has helped to establish a very successful monthly lecture series called "The Universe Tonight" which utilizes observatory staff and scientists to share the latest research at their facility. In addition, a MKOOC subcommittee has been formed to assess the VIS exhibit needs and develop a plan to revamp exhibits and displays. The VIS also holds monthly "Cultural Nights" to share the cultural significance of Mauna Kea with the public.

Currently the VIS accommodates up to 100,000 visitors per year and provides evening stargazing 7 days a week with up to 4 large portable telescopes (10"-16" aperture). The current paid staff is approximately 4 FTE's and 50 intermittent community/student volunteers. Because of the success of the evening stargazing program, additional telescopes are planned and an existing 20" telescope is envisioned for permanent installation at the center within the next 5 years. Donations are accepted at the center and monthly donations often exceed $5,000.

In addition, a 1-meter class educational telescope is planned for installation near the summit of Mauna Kea within the next five years for use by informal science educational institutions and undergraduate students via a consortium of contributing universities.

The largest single outreach initiative currently underway that involves all of the Mauna Kea observatories is a planned science education center in Hilo called "The Mauna Kea Astronomy Education Center" (MKAEC). Although significant planning funds have been released through NASA, this center is still in the early planning phases and a Director is being sought and is expected to be announced shortly. The center is scheduled to be completed by 2005 and feature extensive state-of-the-art exhibits, links to the nearby observatory facilities, a large planetarium and classrooms that will serve as a major educational center for Mauna Kea to service local students and visitors. It is expected that construction funds will be on the order of $20-25 Million.

In addition to the coordinated efforts of the Mauna Kea Observatories, most of the individual observatories perform some level of local outreach from presentations at local schools to science fair judging. For example, the W.M. Keck Observatory has been sponsoring a student employee program for many years and provided meaningful employment for approximately 70 area students, many of which have gone on to pursue technical or scientific careers. Subaru has begun a regular lecture series for the public and is exploring the creation of a visitor's gallery at the observatory similar to the existing gallery at the Keck I facility.

Because of the difficulty and health risk involved with public visitation to the summit of Mauna Kea, the Gemini Observatory has focused its outreach resources in Hawaii on sea-level activities. The Gemini Observatory PIO effort currently consists of a PIO Manager, Local Outreach Assistant and part time (0.5 FTE) Librarian and Web Master. Current initiatives include a StarLab portable planetarium project that services local schools in both Gemini communities (Hawaii Island and Chile).

The Gemini Observatory outreach effort is currently undergoing a 5-year expansion phase that has resulted in the recent hiring of a full-time Outreach Assistant in Hawaii and plans to hire a similar position in Chile by mid- 2001. These positions will facilitate media relations in both locations as well as providing extensive coverage to area schools and students in the Gemini communities in both Hawaii and Chile. Over the next 5-years Gemini will expand its PIO efforts locally and internationally with the hiring of a PIO Media Assistant to provide media support and a Graphics Specialist to produce animations, illustrations and graphical elements for educational products.

The Gemini PIO effort in Chile has realized significant leveraging by partnering with the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). CTIO has been involved with several local initiatives such as a group called REDLASER and the Mamalluca Observatory that provide educational programming to local schools and the public. A key objective of these efforts have been to provide information and recommendations on lighting which will save money and preserve the dark skies surrounding the Chilian observatories. The Gemini Observatory has also presented a StarLab portable planetarium to CTIO and the REDLASER group and this has proved to be an extremely effective educational resource that will be expanded with the hiring of an Outreach Assistant in Chile.

Over the past few years, the Gemini PIO efforts have resulted in the production of many materials and resources such as extensive video archives and b-roll, animations, high-quality images and educational classroom resources for teachers. One initiative that has been identified as a key project for the next two years is the development of a Gemini Virtual Tour. Currently this project is in the prototype stage and test versions of the tour are installed in local museums and the VIS to obtain user feedback and suggestions. It is envisioned that this tour will be available via the World Wide Web and on CD-ROM for schools as well as informal educational facilities such as museums to provide a stand-alone behind-the-scenes tour of Gemini and other observatories on Mauna Kea and in Chile.

Other outreach initiatives being explored or initiated at Gemini are the establishment of a Gemini PIO liaison network involving representatives from all of the Gemini partners. A local student observation program with webcast interaction between students and scientists. Hawaii and Chile teacher exchanges and the continued development of educational and media resources are also being considered for the next few years.

SOUTHWESTERN CONSORTIUM of OBSERVATORIES for PUBLIC EDUCATION (SCOPE)

By Sandra Preston of the McDonald Observatory

The Southwestern Consortium of Observatories for Public Education (SCOPE) was formed in 1996. The idea for the collaboration came from Dr. Roger Mitchell, a program officer at the National Science Foundation in Informal Science Education.

MEMBERSHIP

On November 13, 1996, the following original members of SCOPE, met for the first time at the National Solar Observatory, Sunspot, New Mexico to create the collaboration:

McDonald Observatory, Fort Davis, Texas

Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona

Whipple Observatory, Amado, Arizona

Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson, Arizona

Apache Point Observatory, Sunspot, New Mexico

National Solar Observatory, Sunspot, New Mexico

National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, New Mexico

The requirements for membership were:

1. An institution must be a professional research observatory located in the Southwest. (Southwest was defined as Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico.)

2. The institution must have an active public program in place.

3. At least one staff member must be devoted to the public programs.

In 1999, The University of Arizona's Flandrau Science Center joined the Consortium.

MISSION AND GOALS

The mission statement for the organization is:

We are Southwestern Research Observatories working together to inspire public awareness of astronomy through access and education.

The goals of the SCOPE organization are to:

1. encourage ethnic and minority involvement in astronomy

2. improve science literacy

3. enable the public to make informed decisions about a science

4. inform people about our observatories

5. make research astronomy relevant to everyone

6. create better advocacy for science

7. preserve the research environment

8. assist educators, students, parents, and families in learning science and astronomy

9. provide links and networks for other astronomy resources

MEETINGS

SCOPE members generally meet each quarter or trimester. The purpose of the meetings are for member institutions to give updates on their programs and to discuss collaborations. Responsibility for hosting and chairing the meetings rotates among the member institutions.

ACTIVITIES/PROJECTS

At the inception meeting, SCOPE institutions listed the following projects as possible ways to accomplish its mission. (The numbers in parentheses indicate how many votes the potential project received. Members present were asked to vote on their top three project choices. Some institutions had more than one member voting.)

Submit joint grant proposals (10)

Create traveling exhibits (7)

Travel tour Industry, public service announcements promoting science, astronomy, attitudes (5)

Teacher packages and means of distribution (3)

Promo videos and/or cd roms (2)

Homepage (2)

Sharing ideas, failures, successes (2)

Product Development (2)

Bilingual opportunities (2)

Work with AAS Education Office for publicity and consultation (1)

Long distance learning between sites (1)

Cooperative marketing (U.S. Visitors) (1)

To conduct live solar viewing via Internet (0)

Participate in micro observing project (0)

Familiarity -- meet and get to know each other (0)

Visitor Overlap study (0)

Economy of scale: A. exhibits, B. brochures (0)

Target audience--Hispanic population (0)

Hire staff to share (0)

Highlights of Activities and Projects Conducted

A. Trade Shows

From 1997-1999 the SCOPE group had a booth at the American Astronomical Society's winter meetings. The purpose of the booth was to make astronomers aware of the formation of SCOPE and also to offer them an educational/public outreach opportunity for their NASA grant proposals. Since SCOPE has no funds to purchase booth space, the booth is shared with other SCOPE members.

B. Proposals

Several educational proposals have been submitted to both NASA and NSF, and several have been successful.

C. Brochures

General information brochures about SCOPE were produced by Kitt Peak National Observatory and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and printed by Whipple Observatory. These brochures were distributed at the American Astronomical Society's January 1998 and 1999 meetings.

Promotional and educational fliers were produced and paid for by Astronomy Magazine in the summers of 1997 and 1998. The fliers advertised SCOPE and Astronomy Magazine. Each press run for these pieces was in excess of 100,000. They were disseminated by Astronomy Magazine and by the member observatories. They contained summer star charts and an advertisement for Astronomy Magazine. These fliers were very popular at the star parties conducted by the various observatories.

D. Posters

Three posters have been produced and disseminated to large student and teacher audiences by the SCOPE organization.

In 1998, the first poster was produced to promote education and access to the seven research observatories in the Southwest . The poster was entitled "Visit the Observatories of the Southwest" and featured a Roger Ressmeyer photo of McDonald Observatory at night. The poster was designed to encourage teachers and students to visit the observatories. The poster provided access to travel information together with URL's where more information could be obtained. K-12 activities on the back of the poster offered teachers, students, and parents an opportunity to participate in sky-watching activities that focused on the summer sky.

Funds to produce this poster were provided by the New Mexico Space Grant and the Texas Space Grant Consortium. A total of 40,000 posters were printed and disseminated to teachers through the seven observatories, the New Mexico Space Grant, the Texas Space Grant Consortium, and at the National Science Teachers Association meeting in New Orleans, LA April 3-6, 1997

The theme of the second poster, produced in early 1999, was "Contact Your Local Observatory." This poster featured a spectacular photograph of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array taken by Roger Ressmeyer and Gene Rously donated by Corbis. The back of the poster included a map and information on visiting the SCOPE members, answers to questions about life at an observatory, an activity on observing the moon, star charts for the year, and tales about how the universe was created. About 15,000 copies of this poster were distributed by the various SCOPE members.

The theme of the third poster (printed in 2000) was "Our Star The Sun/El Sol Nuestro Estrella." This poster highlighted a spectacular image of the Sun made by the National Solar Observatory. Information on the back of the poster included the solar activities taking place at each observatory and/or visitors center/science center, four K-12 activities on the Sun that align with National Standards for Science Education, a map showing the location of the SCOPE members, references on resources about the Sun, frequently asked questions about the Sun, and instructions to go to the SCOPE website for the Spanish version of the activities and the evaluation.

The poster was disseminated to 25,000 middle school teachers in the National Science Teachers Association journal, Science and Children in the back-to-school issue for September/October 2000. An article on the Sun, written by Dr. Mary Kay Hemenway accompanied the poster. An additional 15,000 copies were distributed by the SCOPE members. The posters were paid for by SCOPE members and the National Solar Observatory covered the cost of the posters that were inserted in Science and Children.

All three posters were designed at The University of Texas McDonald Observatory.

E. Tourist Brochure Display

A tourist brochure display was constructed of Plexiglas. This display holds about 50 of each of the member institutions' brochures. A large astronomical photograph and map of the Southwest indicates where each observatory is located. Each member institution has the display mounted in a high traffic area encouraging visitors to pick up information about other observatories. The tourist brochure displays were designed and constructed by Flandrau Planetarium and Kitt Peak National Observatory.

F. Website

SCOPE's website, http://www.as.utexas.edu/mcdonald/scope/scope.html, contains links to each of the member institutions, a map showing the location of each institution, educational activities posted in both English and Spanish and a form to evaluate the educational activities. The web page was originally created by UT McDonald Observatory and is served by the UT McDonald server. It has recently been redesigned by Kitt Peak National Observatory. Responsibility for responding to inquiries from the website is handled by Kitt Peak National Observatory.

BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES

SCOPE members have experienced both benefits and challenges.

SCOPE's benefits include producing promotional and educational information at reduced costs and gaining wide dissemination. Additionally, by being able to include the leveraging and dissemination opportunities available through SCOPE, some of the member observatories have successfully competed for NASA Education/Public Outreach funds and/or National Science Foundation funding for Informal Science Education.

Other benefits of collaboration include finding opportunities to work together. For example, Whipple Observatory helped to get the Spanish version of StarDate, Universo, produced by McDonald Observatory on the local Nogales, Arizona radio station. Also, Kitt Peak produced a brochure on Comet Hale-Bopp and in addition to their local distribution, they were distributed to the thousand teachers using McDonald Observatory's StarDate/Universo in the Classroom.

Challenges for the organization were created when it moved away from the original membership criteria and because there has always been a lack of formal and salaried leadership. In 1999 the group moved away from the requirements for membership that were set up at inception. The group is looking at ways to clarify the membership criteria and investigating possibilities for formal leadership in the future.

TEXAS ASTRONOMY EDUCATION CENTER (TAEC)

By Mary Kay Hemenway

Planning formal programming for the Texas Astronomy Education Center (TAEC) is underway. The expected audience includes schoolteachers, groups of students, and adults participating in formal learning events. Our preparation includes incorporating the National Science Education Standards for professional development into the programs and preparing new instructional materials. The inherent belief underlying our efforts is that "Learning is an active process." Evaluation of the programs and materials occurs at several levels. Additional materials are being prepared for pre/post visit use and for dissemination over the web.

The new Texas Astronomy Education Center will open in late 2001. This paper on formal learning parallels that of Cianciolo (2001) on informal learning.

PLANNING NEW PROGRAMMING

In the arena of formal learning, our efforts have been guided by the beliefs inherent in the US National Science Education Standards (NSES, 1996) that:

Science is for all students (all people)

· Learning is an active process.

Planning has included building frameworks to coordinate the various sites (the classroom, the museum, the theater, the small telescopes, the observing areas, and the tours) for learners at the TAEC, and preparation and field-testing of new activities for various school levels. Some activities were field tested with small groups of teachers at state and local science teachers' meetings, but the first "on-site" experience will come in June 2001 (before the completion of the TAEC) with several resident groups of teachers. For each group, a program is custom designed to fulfill their needs and make maximum use of our facilities. All programs are designed to meet the National Science Education Standards. They emphasize non-computer based "hands-on/minds-on" learning.

NEW INSTRUCTIONAL UNITS

· Telescope Technology for Teachers. This unit consists of four challenges concerning the construction of the HET. Learners explore the cost-benefits of segmented mirrors and how to use simple geometry to position the mirrors; they make a human model and "tip, tilt, and piston" the mirror segments while attempting to form a steady image, then explore the reason for a tracker. An additional activity exploring fiber optics completes the set. (Hemenway and Armosky, 2000).

· Spectroscopy. Learners begin this series by constructing and using a small spectroscope. Classifying spectra allows them to estimate stars' effective temperatures. Transposing visual spectra to line tracings leads to an exploration of how line widths change due to atmospheric pressure. The conclusion is that stars can have the same temperature, but different diameters. The final segment pulls all the concepts together to develop the H-R diagram as a tool for studying the life history of a star.

· Our Star The Sun. This series of activities was developed to appear on the back of a poster of the same name. One goal was to have NSES based activities that spanned a number of grade levels, especially elementary school. The units (Shadow Play, Reflective Solar Cooker, Equatorial Sundial, and Sunspots) were nationally pilot-tested with classroom teachers. These show a northern hemisphere bias. (Hemenway, 2000)

· A revision of the StarDate/Universo Teacher Guide is currently under development. This guide will offer suggestions for teachers on how to use StarDate or Universo audio CD-ROMs in their classrooms, as well as, offer auxiliary hands-on astronomy activities. Pilot testing will begin in March 2001.

STANDARDS FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

As we prepare to use these, and other, activities in teacher workshops, we are aware that meeting the Standards concerning content and pedagogy is only one factor. We are also striving to meet the Standards for Teacher Professional Development.

1. Professional development for teachers of science requires learning essential science content through the perspectives and methods of inquiry.

2. Professional development for teachers of science requires integrating knowledge of science, learning, pedagogy, and students. It also requires applying that knowledge to science teaching.

3. Professional development for teachers of science requires building understanding and ability for lifelong learning.

Good programs share several elements:

· Reflect on classroom and system practice

· Use feedback to improve practice

· Encourage collegial and self-reflection

· Involve mentors and peer-coaches

· Include research and experiential knowledge

· Apply research to gain knowledge about science and teaching

4. Professional development programs for teachers of science must be coherent and integrated.

MEETING THE STANDARDS FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Some of these elements are easier to achieve than others. There is a real temptation to shove so much "content" into a workshop that not enough time is allowed for building community among the participants or allowing them to reflect on what they do within their own teaching. However, their long-term use of that content may depend upon these factors more than the brilliance of the instructional unit or the workshop facilitator.

To prepare the TAEC staff for new roles as education facilitators, we began by offering a small teacher workshop in May 2000 at the current Visitor Center. A Visitor Center staff member partnered with each teacher while performing an educational activity on solar heating that was new to all of them. Following the mini-workshop, the pedagogy was discussed with the staff. The new education coordinator for TAEC (Marc Wetzel) has begun to attend state and national science teachers meetings, to come to Austin for training sessions and discussions on workshop presentation, state and national standards, effecting systemic change, and planning.

EVALUATION OF PROGRAMMING

To measure the effect and impact of our efforts, we have written several evaluation instruments for use in pilot-testing and classroom visits. Although we have more sophisticated instruments, one of the most useful for the teacher workshops has been a simple index card. On one side of the card, we ask the teacher-participant to write one sentence concerning the workshop. On the other, they write three words: USE, SHARE, CHANGE – and a short statement of "what they will use" from the workshop, "what they will share," and "what they would change (either in the activity or the workshop itself)." This is a short and valuable tool to help us access our progress as facilitators and developers of astronomy workshops and materials.

PREPARATION FOR SCHOOL GROUPS

An important part of preparing instructional units, and preparing the TAEC staff to interact with school groups, has been to have the staff practice presenting astronomy units in schools. When the TAEC is open, much of the educational coordinator's work will be to present hour-long activity-based lessons for visiting school groups. Since the new facility will have a theater and museum, as well as tours, large groups can be separated into smaller groups that rotate through the classroom activity. This keeps the group size at 24 or under. It is easier to do hands-on, minds-on activities with smaller groups of students arranged in cooperative learning groups. Our goal is to have a menu of topics targeted for different grade levels. Teachers will pre-select the activity their visiting group will perform. The activity will be integrated into their other experiences at the observatory. Eventually, we will have pre-visit and post-visit materials available for the teachers so that the activities can be anticipated prior to and continued following the physical visit.

OTHER EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES

Although most of the groups that visit can be separated into groups of informal visitors or formal-education groups, the observatory is a regular host to at least one special group. Older adult learners who participate in the international Elderhostel program desire to go beyond the level of tourist as they expand their knowledge of astronomy with life-long learning. They bring many life experiences and interests into their observatory interaction. We plan to expand our current offerings to them by incorporating portions of the telescope technology units and building spectrometers. We will also expand our "Introduction to the Night Sky" with more formal instruction on using planispheres and star maps.

Among the other resources produced at McDonald Observatory are the daily radio show StarDate (in English, with its companion programs in German "Sternzeit" and Spanish "Universo"). (Barnes, 1996) Each show is two minutes in length. Six issues per year of StarDate magazine provide another avenue for the public to learn about astronomy. The related StarDate and Universo web sites contain auxiliary materials aimed at learners, including versions of special publications such as a guide to the solar system (McDonald Observatory, 1998) in English and Spanish and educational posters with classroom activities are available for teachers.

CONCLUSION

Although most programs described here physically occur at McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, by putting materials on the web and continuing our outreach through state and local science teachers' meetings, we anticipate a much broader use for the products we are developing. Our goal for the TAEC is that it becomes the hub for all astronomy education for the state of Texas. It has been a challenge to plan an integrated series of activities that span the expected population of visitors and learners of all ages.

Facilities, staff, instructional activities, support -- all unite to form a robust and organized program.

In conclusion, consider these words of Richard Feynmann:

The world looks so different after learning science.

For example, trees are made of air, primarily. When they are burned, they go back to air, and in the flaming heat is released the flaming heat of the sun, which was bound in to convert the air into tree. And in the ash is the small remnant of the part which did not come from air, that came from the solid earth, instead.

These are beautiful things, and the content of science is wonderfully full of them. They are very inspiring, and they can be used to inspire others. (NSES page viii)

We astronomers have a wonderfully inspiring subject – let's learn to work together to inspire others.

TEXAS ASTRONOMY EDUCATION CENTER (TAEC)

Currently under construction at the base of Mt. Locke, the Texas Astronomy Education Center (TAEC) was designed to meet the physical needs of a projected 250,000 annual visitors to the University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory and to educate, inform, and stimulate interest in astronomy and astronomical research. To achieve these goals, the TAEC will include an outdoor telescope park and observing area, a state of the art theater with live telescope video imaging capabilities, a classroom for teacher workshops and student hands-on activities, and an NSF-funded exhibit designed to explain the technique of spectroscopy and its fundamental importance to the understanding of the universe

LOCATION

The Texas Astronomy Education Center (TAEC) will be the focus for many of the onsite educational activities at the University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory. Founded in 1931, McDonald is located in far-west Texas at altitude of 2070 meters (6800 ft.) (Latitude 30 degrees 40 minutes North) in one of the darkest sites of any major observatory in North America. The Observatory is actively working to maintain these dark sky conditions by working with the surrounding communities to control the growth of outdoor lighting. Over the past year, lighting ordinances have been enacted in at least 2 of the larger towns within 100 miles of the Observatory and similar ordinances are being considered in several others.

SITE

The TAEC will be located at the base of Mts. Locke (site of the Harlan J. Smith 107" and the Otto Struve 82" Telescopes) and Fowlkes (site of the Hobby•Eberly Telescope) . Currently under construction adjacent to the existing Visitors' Center (built in 1981 and currently host to over 80,000 visitors each year), work on the TAEC is proceeding on schedule for an opening in late 2001.

TAEC

The Texas Astronomy Education Center is a multi-phase project which includes:

· The George T. Abell Gallery (GTAG) - a public gallery, already in use at the Hobby•Eberly Telescope (HET), where visitors can learn more about this unique design, its operation and purpose, and where they are treated to a virtually unobstructed view of one of the world's largest optical telescopes.

· The TAEC building itself.

· A large, light-shielded, outdoor amphitheater (for conducting public naked-eye constellation tours for up to 350 people), a new telescope park, and a sundial court.

· An NSF funded educational exhibit entitled "Decoding Starlight."

· Remodeling the existing Visitors' Center for TAEC staff offices and to support amateur astronomy

The TAEC building has 11,000 sq. feet (or 1024 sq. meters) of floor space and will serve as the focus for many of the Observatory's educational programming.. It houses a 1500 sq. foot theater with seating for over 90, and an 800 sq. foot classroom, which is described in more detail by Mary Kay Hemenway elsewhere in this document. The centerpiece of the TAEC is the Decoding Starlight exhibit which focuses on how astronomers study objects through the technique of spectroscopy. Emphasizing this scientific technique for the exhibit seemed an obvious choice given not only the design and primary use of the Hobby•Eberly Telescope but also the power that spectroscopy has to teach us about the universe.

Currently, retail efforts support a significant portion of public program costs, and the new Center will house an 1100 sq. feet gift shop. The TAEC will also house an 800-sq. feet Café with seating in a shaded courtyard. The existing Visitors' Center and Public Observatory will be remodeled to included office, work, and meeting space for staff, storage space for retail stock, and facilities for amateur astronomers.

THEATER

Theater presentations are currently in the very early stages of development. Hands-on demonstrations of spectroscopy, discussions on archeo-astronomy, current research at McDonald and other observatories, lighting control, and HET design are under development. Another use of the theater is to present live telescopic video images. This technique has been used quite successfully with the Center's current equipment but can be greatly improved with the use of the new TAEC theater and additional video equipment currently being reviewed.

The use of video equipment on the Center's 16" Meade telescope has proven to be an excellent addition to eyepiece viewing. While direct eyepiece views through telescopes are vital for giving visitors a direct connection to the cosmos, video projection is an essential tool for presenting detailed views and explanations of astronomical objects to large groups. Inexpensive video equipment is relatively easy to use and to maintain, yet provides telescopic views to people who might otherwise not have been able to see them. This is particularly helpful for visitors with visual or physical challenges that make it difficult to look through the eyepiece of a telescope.

IN CONCLUSION

This facility is designed to meet the needs of a projected 250,000 visitors per year for many years to come and provides the educational background to understand the HET at McDonald Observatory.

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

By Terry J. Teays of the Space Telescope Science Institute/Computer Sciences Corporation

The Hubble Space Telescope conducts an extensive program for education and public outreach. Descriptions are given of the various components for formal science education (kindergarten – 12^th grades), informal science education (museums, planetariums, etc.), and online outreach. Discussion of the overall philosophy and "lessons learned" from the program is also presented. HST is one of NASA's Origins missions. NASA's Origins Education Forum is directed by the author as well, and some insights are shared based on his experience with coordinating the education & public outreach efforts of the Origins missions, especially as they might apply to the confederation under discussion.

INTRODUCTION

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is operated for NASA by the Associated Universities for Research in Astronomy at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland. An important part of the operation of HST is the education and public outreach programs (EPO) of the Office of Public Outreach.

THE ORIGINS EDUCATION FORUM

HST is part of NASA's Astronomical Search for Origins and Planetary Systems theme. One of OPO's tasks is to conduct the Origins Education Forum, which works with the individual missions to coordinate their EPO efforts. The Origins Forum is one of four education forums that are part of the NASA Office of Space Science Education Support Network (see http://spacescience.nasa.gov/education/index.htm for more information).

The Education Support Network fosters a wide variety of highly leveraged EPO activities that are disseminated across the country. Leveraging is a key concept. Not only does it increase the efficiency and impact of our efforts, but it is also absolutely necessary. Science education is a big challenge, and even the large astronomical research organizations represented at this conference are a very small part of the effort to address it. Our limited resources need to be partnered with the existing education expertise and ongoing reform programs to achieve real effect. (Of course, leveraging is not a new concept: "Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand and I will move the earth" – Archimedes.)

The Origins Forum provides a number of services to its member missions, which may be relevant to our deliberations at this conference. It is important to maintain regular communication among the members of a collaboration. We conduct monthly telecons and operate an email exploder and an electronic bulletin board for communication among the members. We make use of the fact that many of the EPO Leads attend the American Astronomical Society meeting to staff informational booths, to have an informal meeting. We also host a yearly retreat where we discuss collaborations in some detail. The Education Support Network issues a monthly, internal newsletter, and the Forum coordinates and edits the input for this organization.

Another important Forum service is to coordinate meeting attendance. If an Origins mission plans to attend a meeting, perhaps because it is nearby, then all of the other missions can send materials to be distributed to one central booth. Furthermore, the Origins EPO Leads are knowledgeable about the other missions and their respective EPO products and programs. The Origins Forum also maintains an evaluation service. Any Origins mission can submit a product that is in development, and obtain a formative evaluation from experts on the Forum staff, at no cost to the mission. By doing this before extensive production costs have been incurred we save time and money, as well as fostering better products.

The formation of connections is an important outcome of forming a collaboration such as we are discussing at this meeting. I would like to cite some examples of recent, interesting connections that we have experienced at HST. (1) The Teach for American program is an organization that recruits recent college graduates to work for two years as teachers in under-resourced school districts. While we made the connection serendipitously at a local level, we are now discussing providing a training session at their annual national training workshop. (2) For the past two years, there has been an excellent conference held in Salt Lake City for science education Web site developers. The attendees of this small, by-invitation conference are selected based on their exemplary Web sites. The sharing of common problems and the diversity of approaches to solving them has made this a truly exciting conference. The participants seem to be groping their way towards forming some sort of professional society or other confederation. The participants are a useful collection of experts from which to draw advice, obtain product reviewers, recruit peer review panelists, or look for proposal partners, because they share a common understanding of what is involved in constructing a science education Web site. A similar synergy might occur between large institutions with state-of-the-art telescopes that have significant EPO programs. (3) The sharing of work to produce education products, especially if both telescopes/missions are working on common subject matter is especially useful. None of us can afford to have all of the material and human resources necessary to produce a full range of creative EPO products.

The Origins Education Forum also hosts the Space Science Education Resource Directory for NASA's Office of Space Science. This is an online directory that can be searched by grade level and topic or key words to find what space science education materials are available to meet an educator's curriculum needs. The products that are listed in the Directory have been checked for scientific accuracy and contain information about how the product was evaluated. The intention is to be a "trusted source" of high-quality materials. At present, in this first year of the prototype, only electronically-accessible items are listed (Web sites and PDF files), but the Support Network is working hard to add the ability to order hardcopy products such as CD-ROMs, posters, etc. from the Directory. The development and continuing operation and enhancement of this Directory would not be possible without assistance from many committed collaborators. The Resource Directory is located at http://teachspacescience.stsci.edu.

There have been many lessons learned during the course of the development of the Origins Forum. One of the best ways to bring a group of individuals together and turn them into a real partnership is to give them a critical task to perform together. Selecting a specific project that members of this group can agree to work together on in the near term, would do a lot towards crystallizing our partnership. Another issue that will have to be confronted is that of ensuring that individual observatories (missions, in our case) get sufficient credit and recognition for their contribution, while maintaining a unified message and product identification. Does a logo cease to be an effective advertising mechanism if you have to put twenty of them on the product, so that it looks like a racing car?

THE HST EPO PROGRAM

OPO is the organization that conducts HST's EPO program. It has branches that deal with the news and press relations, scientist outreach, formal education, informal education, and online outreach, as well as the Origins Education Forum discussed above.

· News

The news team at HST is regarded as a model of effective science communication. The experience of the staff and the effectiveness of their processes contributes substantially to the success it enjoys. One point that I will note is that the News team at HST works closely with the EPO team, and this is a practice that I heartily recommend. Many images, video, and text developed for a press release can find reuse in education products.

· Scientist Involvement and Scientist Outreach

This audience does not need to be told that it is essential for scientists to be integrated into the development of all EPO products. It is also important to communicate the story of your observatory (mission) to the scientific community so that they will support it and make the best use of the telescope. NASA's Office of Space Science has a goal of trying to increase the number of scientists who are engaged in "giving back" to the public through EPO activities. It is important to understand that there are many ways of contributing. To many astronomers, EPO suggests that they should go into a school classroom and give a talk on their research, albeit at a "watered down" level. Scientists, however, can play many roles, such as checking the scientific accuracy of a museum exhibit or Web site.

· Formal Education

· Some general observations

Formal education usually refers to learning that takes place in classrooms within a formal curriculum structure and with specific learning objectives. Here, I am generally restricting my discussion to pre-college education, though our program also includes pre-service teachers. In general, NASA develops products that support curricula, rather than developing entire curricula. In order for a product to be useful in the classroom, it must meet many requirements. It goes without saying that scientific accuracy is essential in any materials produced, and this is an area where major research institutions can play a key role, since they have a degree of name recognition that will allow the educators to feel confident in adopting their material. One key point frequently raised by teachers is the lack of time that they have to check out new resources. They want to be able to go to a "trusted source" and know that they will find accurate and uniformly high quality products without having to sort through a large volume of chaff. In the United States, teachers must have materials that they can integrate into the curriculum, of their state, or they will not be able to use the product, even if it is an attractive one.

Another important aspect of formal education is teacher training. I will not say a great deal about this topic, since large-scale teacher training is not the job of the observatory (nor do they have the expertise or resources to do it). We do in-service teacher training workshops, but primarily when they are highly-leveraged opportunities where we are training "master teachers" (i.e. those who will train other teachers) or there is a very special target audience. When developing products one must factor in whether or not effective use of the product will require training or is it usable "off the shelf". The latter may require more development work to provide the necessary information to the teacher.

One of the most common characteristics of programs that have developed exemplary astronomy education materials is that scientists and educators developed them in partnership. At STScI, we make use of this approach in developing all of our formal education materials. This team approach is used throughout the process in a concurrent engineering methodology.

· Hardcopy materials

STScI has put a strong focus on developing materials for the World Wide Web. Some key advantages of the Web are: (1) it is a very cost effective way to reach a large number of constituents, (2) full advantage can be taken of animation, sound, etc., (3) content is easily updated, (4) allows collaborative learning projects, and (5) wider range of possibilities for interactive learning. While most schools in the USA are hooked up to the Web in some fashion, somewhere in the school, they are still a long way from being in common use in the classroom. For this reason alone, there will be a need for hardcopy products for some time yet. In addition, hardcopy products accommodate students with different learning styles.

At STScI we produce a wide range of materials including posters, lithographs, teacher guides, activity packages, trading cards, bookmarks, and business cards. The last two items serve largely as reminders of the URL for our Web sites. As a side note, the trading cards (we have one set for the solar system and one for galaxies) are one of our most sought after items by educators. It is worth noting that many of the images, animations, etc. that are used in our education materials were first developed for use by the HST news team.

· Amazing Space

Amazing Space is the name of our collection of interactive, online activities that support kindergarten to 12th grade education. While we use HST data and images in the activities, our aim is to address basic science and mathematics concepts. The HST data are the "hook" to grab the students' attention. The activities are grouped into various modules that have a common set of teacher resource pages, navigation, "look and feel", and target audience. Some key points about Amazing Space are summarized below. The activities are based on US national education standards and have assessment activities built in. They contain (online) an extensive collection of information for the teacher. Amazing Space is used by many school districts and has received many accolades as one of the top science education Web sites.

It is worthwhile to recall that astronomy does not appear extensively in the curriculum. Note, however, that astronomy strictly as content isn't the only way for students to be exposed to astronomy. They are also expected to learn process skills such as classifying and sorting, forming hypotheses, understanding the scientific method, etc. Why not have them learn these skills through an astronomical subject?

After yearly lessons learned sessions, and constant refinement, Amazing Space has developed a model for developing the modules. The basic activity is developed in a five-week summer workshop where teachers are brought to STScI to work with scientists, graphics artists, education evaluators, curriculum specialists, and other experts. Following this, the activity goes into production. An extensive program of alpha and beta testing is performed; the latter makes use of a large network of volunteer educators who review the products.

We have two new modules coming out this year. In the future, we will be making more extensive use of partnerships with other organizations to produce the modules. Amazing Space can be found at http://amazing-space.stsci.edu.

D. Informal Science Education

Informal education refers to the lifelong learning experiences that occur at science museums, planetariums, libraries, and related institutions. This represents another set of channels to educate and inspire people about our science. The number of people, of all ages, who annually visit these institutions is staggering, and they are there by choice, so they have some level of interest already. Following are some highlights of STScI informal science projects. We supported the development of an HST exhibit at the Maryland Science Center, which is HST's official visitor's center. In collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, we created traveling exhibits (a large and small version) about HST, which are touring the USA for the next four years. Another interesting development is called ViewSpace, which allows interested institutions to show short computer-based videos about current HST science, which STScI feeds to them. Other services, tailored to the special needs of planetariums and museums are provided. For more information about our informal science projects, see http://informal-sci.stsci.edu/.

E. Online Outreach

General public outreach about HST is handled by our http://hubble.stsci.edu/ Web site.

THE VERY LARGE ARRAY (VLA) and VERY LONG BASELINE ARRAY (VLBA) OUTREACH

By David G. Finley of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), a facility of the U.S. National Science Foundation, has a long history of educational activities and support for public outreach. The fame and public visibility of the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico have generated steadily increased interest in radio astronomy, leading to greater participation in the Observatory's education and public-outreach programs. A number of new educational initiatives are underway and the NRAO plans both to increase its educational and public-outreach activities and to build a new, state-of-the-art visitor center for the VLA, to coincide with the planned expansion of the VLA itself.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has hosted educational and public-outreach efforts for decades. In recent years, these efforts have grown. New initiatives at both Green Bank, West Virginia, and Socorro, New Mexico, promise a greatly expanded role for NRAO in both formal and informal science education. In New Mexico, the fame and public visibility of the VLA, coupled with plans to expand and improve the radio telescope, provide a tremendous opportunity to reach students and the general public with effective, state-of-the-art educational programs.

THE NATIONAL RADIO ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a research facility of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). We provide state-of-the-art radio telescopes for use by the scientific community. We conceive, design, build and operate radio telescopes used by scientists from around the world. Scientists use our facilities to study virtually all known types of astronomical objects, from planets and comets in our own Solar System to quasars and galaxies billions of light-years away.

Founded in 1956, the NRAO has its headquarters in Charlottesville, Virginia, and operates major radio telescope facilities at Green Bank, West Virginia and Socorro, New Mexico. These facilities include the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (the world's largest fully-steerable radio-telescope antenna dedicated in 2000), the Very Large Array (VLA), and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), which are both operated from the Array Operations Center (AOC) in Socorro. The NRAO is also the U.S. partner in the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), an international observatory planned for the high-altitude Atacama Desert in Chile. The NRAO is operated for the NSF by Associated Universities, Inc., under a cooperative agreement.

THE VERY LARGE ARRAY

The VLA is a collection of 27 steel-and-aluminum parabolic dish antennas, each with a dish 82 feet (25 meters) in diameter and weighing 230 tons. These antennas are arranged in a giant "Y" pattern 20 miles across on the high-desert Plains of San Agustin, 50 miles west of Socorro. All 27 antennas work together as a single, interferometric radio-telescope system to produce exquisitely-detailed images of radio-emitting objects in the Universe.

The year 2000 marked the 20th anniversary of the VLA's dedication. In its career, more than 2,200 researchers from hundreds of institutions around the world have used the VLA for more than 10,000 observing projects.

Major discoveries made by the VLA have ranged from the surprising detection of water ice on Mercury, the nearest planet to the Sun, to the first detection of radio emission from a Gamma Ray Burster in 1997. The VLA also discovered the first "Einstein Ring" gravitational lens in 1987, and the first "microquasar" within our own Milky Way Galaxy in 1994. Over the past two decades, the VLA has also made major contributions to our understanding of such topics as active regions on the Sun, the physics of superfast "cosmic jets" of material pouring from the hearts of distant galaxies, the mysterious central region of our own Galaxy, and the atmospheres of other stars. In addition to such landmark research accomplishments, the VLA also has served as a prime tool for training young astronomers. More than 200 Ph.D. degrees have been awarded by U.S. and foreign universities based on dissertation research done using the VLA.

To ensure that the VLA remains a state-of-the-art instrument well into the new century, the NRAO plans to replace dated equipment left over from the VLA's original construction in the 1970s and add eight new radio-telescope dish antennas to the current, 27-dish system. This plan for an Expanded VLA (EVLA) received a strong endorsement in 2000 when the Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee of the National Academy of Sciences gave the project one of its highest ratings as a priority for the next decade in its report entitled "Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium."

The VLA Expansion Project will use modern electronics and computer technology to greatly improve the VLA's ability to observe faint celestial objects and to analyze their radio emissions. The set of eight new dish antennas, added to the current 27-antenna system, will allow the VLA to produce images with ten times greater detail. The project will build on the VLA's current infrastructure, including its antennas, the railroad tracks for moving those antennas, and the existing buildings and access roads.

THE VERY LONG BASELINE ARRAY

The Very Long Baseline Array is a system of ten identical radio telescopes, each 25 meters in diameter, controlled from a common headquarters and working together as the world's largest dedicated, full-time astronomical instrument. The ten telescopes are located at stations ranging from the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean to Mauna Kea on Hawaii, providing a maximum baseline between antennas of more than 8,000 km. This system offers scientists the most detailed views of celestial objects available from any telescope on Earth or in space.

Since its dedication in 1993, the VLBA has made major contributions in a variety of astronomical specialties. The VLBA was the first astronomical instrument to map the magnetic field of a star other than the Sun, and also made the first "movie" of gas motions in a star other than the Sun. It directly measured the expansion of the explosion debris of Supernova 1993J in the galaxy M81, some 11 million light-years away. Its tremendous resolution has allowed astronomers to detect -- in a mere ten days -- evidence of the Solar System's orbital motion around the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Researchers used the VLBA to produce the most accurate extragalactic distance measurement ever made, a measurement that spurred recalibration of the entire extragalactic distance scale.

The VLBA also has served as the ground component for Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations in conjunction with the Japanese HALCA satellite. Adding this radio-astronomy satellite antenna to the VLBA for observations can more than double the maximum baseline, and thus the available resolution.

NRAO EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

Education and Public Outreach have a long history at NRAO. For example, the Observatory has hosted college students as part of the NSF's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program for decades, and a significant number of former participants in that program now are professional astronomers, many as staff scientists at NRAO.

Green Bank has hosted a two-week Science Teachers Institute since 1987, providing K-12 teachers with intensive training in astronomy and the scientific method. The cornerstone of this program is a research project in which the teachers use a 40-foot radio telescope to collect and analyze data. Nearly 800 teachers have participated in this program, which encourages them to assist other teachers at their schools in developing inquiry-based science activities and to bring their students in for visits to the Observatory. In this way, more than 5,000 teachers have been impacted by this program.

The 40-foot radio telescope at Green Bank also is used for student projects at both the K-12 and college levels, some of which have resulted in papers published in refereed astronomical journals. Since 1988, Green Bank has hosted a Chautauqua Short Course for college teachers, primarily teachers at 2-year and non-research 4-year institutions.

A completely new Visitor Center now is in the design stage at Green Bank, and this facility will host a wide range of educational activities, in addition to a new suite of exhibits entitled "Catching the Wave."

Throughout NRAO, a number of programs support aspiring and newly-minted astronomers, including the REU program, predoctoral fellowships for graduate students and the Jansky Postdoctoral Fellowships for recent Ph.D. graduates. Since the VLA came on line more than two decades ago, NRAO has conducted a Synthesis Imaging Summer School every three years to introduce observers to the techniques of radio interferometry. Because of demand, this school now will be held every two years. In 2001, NRAO is collaborating with Arecibo Observatory to conduct a similar school in single-dish radio astronomy techniques.

EDUCATION AND PUBLIC OUTREACH AT NRAO-NEW MEXICO

The VLA has become perhaps the most famous radio telescope in the world, through widespread exposure in movies, news media, magazines and science textbooks for all grade levels. This exposure has generated steadily increasing interest in the VLA and radio astronomy in general from both the public and educators. This interest, in turn, has brought more participation in NRAO's Socorro-based educational programs and allowed us to expand those programs.

The Socorro educational programs include the VLA Visitor Center and a growing range of cooperative efforts involving local and regional schools and colleges, other observatories and amateur organizations, in addition to providing public lectures and educational support to public events.

The NRAO-NM educational programs include efforts aimed at developing the next generation of astronomers, efforts in support of formal K-14 education, and informal science education programs.

THE VLA VISITOR CENTER

The VLA Visitor Center is a popular destination, hosting more than 50,000 tourists annually. In a typical year, these tourists come from all 50 U.S. states and some 40 countries.

The visitor center features an automated video presentation, displays on the history of radio astronomy, the operation of the VLA and VLBA, and information on scientific results from both instruments. It is the starting point for a self-guided walking tour that provides visitors a close-up look at a VLA antenna and, from an outdoor balcony on the control building, views of the electronic equipment and the control room. A free brochure guides visitors around the walking tour and informational signs at strategic points on the tour explain the workings of the instrument.

The VLA Visitor Center was built in 1983 and the last wholesale upgrade to its exhibits was made in 1989. At 1,500 square feet, it is small in comparison to many other observatory visitor centers. To bring the VLA back to the state of the art in public outreach, the NRAO plans to build a new VLA Visitor Center that will serve as a far more effective tool for attracting and educating tourists about astronomy and NRAO research, and also will become the centerpiece for a wide range of new educational outreach programs.

The Albuquerque architectural firm SMPC has donated its efforts to produce the initial design for a new, 20,000-square-foot visitor center at the VLA. In addition to extensive exhibit space, this facility will include an auditorium, classroom and gift shop, as well as staff office and workshop space. This new facility will allow NRAO to offer a staffed visitor center, regular guided tours, and public-education presentations. The new visitor center also will serve as the home for expanded programs for the formal educational community, including on-site science programs for K-12 students and teacher workshops aimed at integrating research and engineering aspects of the VLA into classroom curricula.

Funding for the new visitor center will be sought from private corporations and foundations, individuals and appropriate government agencies. In the coming year, we will produce a suite of informational materials about this project and prepare material for proposals to funding entities.

GUIDED TOURS

Though the current VLA Visitor Center is designed to provide a self-guided educational experience for tourists, NRAO also provides a number of guided tours. In the summer months, we offer regularly scheduled weekend tours, using our REU summer students as guides. Throughout the year, by appointment, we conduct guided tours for educational and scientific groups. These include school and university classes, amateur astronomy clubs, engineering societies and others. In a typical year, we provide more than 60 of these special tours, serving more than 1,500 people.

In the past year, we provided guided tours to elementary and secondary school groups from New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Colorado. The University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Tech, and Los Alamos National Laboratory regularly schedule guided VLA tours for classes and summer-student programs.

We distribute a booklet entitled "Bringing Your Class to the VLA," that provides teachers with background information and tips on maximizing the educational value of a class visit through prior preparation and follow-up activities.

CURRICULUM MATERIALS

In the summer of 2000, we hosted two secondary-school teachers in directed-study courses that are part of New Mexico Tech's Master of Science Teaching program. One teacher produced a Web-based virtual tour of an astronomical observing project, aimed at high-school students. The other produced a series of curriculum materials and classroom exercises built around research results from the VLA, and aimed at middle-school students. These classroom exercises will be tested and refined in this teacher's classroom during the school year, then published by NRAO and distributed to teachers nationwide. These materials are designed to assist teachers in meeting the National Science Education Standards.

LECTURES AND PUBLIC EVENTS

Both in Socorro and at the VLBA sites, NRAO staff members frequently give lectures at schools and to local organizations. Some area teachers regularly use NRAO staff members as guest speakers, and we attempt to make the availability of our staff well known to the schools. We provide speakers to service clubs and other organizations throughout New Mexico.

NRAO provides a display and staffing for career days at area schools, a particularly important function in a region where there are large numbers of minority and disadvantaged children who need to be made aware of the possibility of scientific or technical careers.

In cooperation with the National Solar Observatory and Apache Point Observatory, we provide and staff a display at the New Mexico State Fair, an event that in a typical year draws about 400,000 attendees.

We provide a display and staffing for the Albuquerque Astronomical Society's annual Astronomy Day event at New Mexico's largest shopping mall. More than 40,000 people usually visit that mall during the Astronomy Day exhibition.

SCIENCE FAIRS AND SCIENCE OLYMPIAD

NRAO provides financial support and prizes for science fairs in Socorro County, the state science fair and the New Mexico Science Olympiad. We also provide numerous staff members as judges and officials for these events. Both the New Mexico State Science Fair and the state Science Olympiad are held every year in Socorro, and we schedule a special, guided VLA tour for participants of both.

SOUTHWEST CONSORTIUM OF OBSERVATORIES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION (SCOPE)

NRAO-Socorro is a member of this consortium, which also includes Kitt Peak National Observatory, Lowell Observatory, Whipple Observatory, McDonald Observatory, Apache Point Observatory, the Flandrau Science Center (Tucson) and the National Solar Observatory. SCOPE is an effective vehicle for cooperation and information exchange about public-education programs among the participating observatories. In addition, this organization has raised funds from both public and private sources to produce educational materials about astronomy. These materials have been distributed at no charge to tourists at the VLA Visitor Center, to visitors at other regional tourist attractions, and to area schools. A SCOPE-produced educational poster on solar science was included as a centerfold insert in the September 2000 issue of "Science & Children," the journal of the National Science Teachers Association.

PROJECT ASTRO

NRAO is a member of the Southern New Mexico Project ASTRO coalition, which serves schools in the southern half of the state. Project ASTRO is an educational program of the

Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and was established with funds from the National Science Foundation. This program links professional and amateur astronomers with elementary and middle-school teachers to bring astronomy into the classroom. NRAO staff members serve as team members with local schoolteachers, and we also support Project ASTRO by providing educational materials, information and class tours for teachers in this program.

CHAUTAUQUA SHORT COURSE FOR COLLEGE TEACHERS

In cooperation with the University of Dayton, we conducted the third Socorro short course for college teachers in 2000. The course, "Interferometry in Radio Astronomy: The VLA and VLBA," was similar to the course we first offered in 1998. The short course included lectures on the theory and practice of interferometry and aperture synthesis, as well as, several areas of astronomical research at the VLA and VLBA. The course also included detailed technical tours of the Array Operations Center and the VLA. This course has been extremely well received by the participants, and we intend to make this a permanent part of the Socorro educational program.

OBSERVING TIME FOR ASTRONOMY CLASSES

Small but useful amounts of VLA observing time are regularly given to astronomy professors for educational exercises. Harvard University, Agnes Scott College, Haverford College and other institutions have thus used the VLA to provide hands-on exercises with real observational data.

AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS

Amateur astronomers are a proven resource for public education, many of them showing great enthusiasm for bringing astronomical information to the public and to schools.

NRAO has forged close ties with New Mexico's extensive amateur astronomy community. We regularly provide lectures and tours for amateur groups. In addition, NRAO provides staff assistance, VLA tours and lecturers for the annual Enchanted Skies Star Party, an event that draws amateur astronomers to Socorro from across the U.S. and several other countries. Participants at this event have commented that the VLA tour and the opportunity to interact with professional astronomers have been the highlight of their visit.

AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS

NRAO is ideally positioned to use the amateur radio community, with more than 650,000 licensed operators in the U.S., as a force multiplier for public education efforts. As expected, many of our staff members are licensed radio amateurs and are involved in local and national radio organizations. Staff members present lectures to amateur radio organizations and NRAO provides displays and information about radio astronomy at amateur radio events. We also have frequent contact with national amateur radio publications, resulting in articles on NRAO scientific results and technical developments. An example is this author's feature article on the GBT, "Ham Radio and the World's Largest Fully-Steerable Antenna," in the August 2000 issue of QST, the nation's largest-circulation amateur radio magazine.

THE WORLD WIDE WEB

The NRAO World Wide Web site is accessed more than 5 million times annually. More than eight percent of those accesses are to the public-information and press-release areas of the site; thus, this form of public outreach has an annual audience of more than 400,000 every year.

Currently, we have basic information about radio astronomy, the VLA and VLBA, and information about the VLA Visitor Center on the Web, in addition to NRAO press releases about recent research results. The amount of information aimed at the general public will be increased steadily. The plans for outreach associated with the planned new VLA Visitor Center include a significant component of Web-based information dissemination and educational activities.

SUMMARY

The VLA remains a popular and well-known destination for tourists and educational groups, and demand for NRAO's educational and outreach programs is growing constantly. The VLA Expansion Project, which will multiply the instrument's scientific capabilities tenfold, also undoubtedly will increase its public visibility, providing NRAO with expanded opportunities for science education. A number of new programs in the past few years have built our momentum in education, and there is increased support for expansion in this area. We look forward to further expanding our educational outreach efforts and ultimately to building a new, state-of-the-art facility to host new programs in both formal and informal science education.

THE GRAN TELESCOPIO CANARIAS

By Luis Cuesta of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias

The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is a Public Consortium created by a Law in 1982. It is composed of three main structures:

· Instituto de Astrofísica, the IAC's head office on the campus of the University of La Laguna.

· Observatorio del Teide (Tenerife), where one of the most efficient solar telescopes of the world is installed.

· Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (La Palma), which has one of the largest batteries of telescopes in the Northern Hemisphere.

Collectively, all of these form the European Northern Observatory, which is the European Organisation for Astronomy in the North. The quality of the Canarian sky is protected by a law introduced in 1988, with the aim of avoiding light pollution by setting limits to the levels of artificial lighting. This law regulates not only outside illumination but also radioelectric power, industrial contamination and air traffic over the Observatories. The peaks of the islands of Tenerife and La Palma may therefore be considered as an astronomical "reserve".

The IAC is divided in four sections:

· Astrophysical research;

· Technological development;

· Training of research;

· Educational outreach.

The IAC is a centre of scientific research in astrophysics that was established by an international team of experts who cover a broad range of subjects that include:

· The Universe and Cosmology;

· Galaxies;

· Stars;

· The Sun;

· Interstellar Matter;

· Planetary Systems;

· Adaptive Optics.

Also, the IAC is a centre of advanced technology that has extensive experience in the following areas:

· Telescope Design;

· Astronomical Instrumentation (optical and infrared);

· Optical Fibres;

· High Spatial Resolution Astronomical Observations;

· Space-based Observations;

· Social Applications (telecommunications, medicine, etc.).

The IAC has a division dedicated to the training of research scientists and technicians covering a wide range of activities that include:

· A Permanent Postgraduate School;

· Grants funded through the International Agreements on Cooperation in Astrophysics;

· A Post-doctoral program;

· A Resident Technician and Astrophysicists program;

· Seminars and courses;

· An International astrophysics school "The Canary Island Winter School of Astrophysics";

· The Department of Astrophysics at University of La Laguna.

Finally, the cultural popularisation and diffusion of Astronomy is a very important question for IAC and a dedicated division has been established that provides information through:

· WWW pages;

· Publications (IAC NOTICIAS, brochures, press releases, etc.);

· Participation in cultural events;

· Open days at observatories and organised visiting;

· The Science and Cosmos Museum of Tenerife.

Finally, there is a division dedicated to the administrative support of the other divisions.

Gran Telescopio Canarias

The Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC) is a high performance segmented 10.4 meter telescope to be installed in one of the best sites of the Northern Hemisphere: the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma). First Light is planed for the beginning of 2003. The GTC project is a Spanish initiative, led by the IAC with the firm support of the Spanish Central Administration and the Regional Government of the Canary Islands, now with USA and Mexico as partners. GRANTECAN is undertaking the construction of the GTC.

The GTC main scientific drivers are:

· Large collecting surface (10.4m diameter equivalent);

· Excellent image quality (0.18" FWHM on axis (CIR=0.70) and segments figuring to 11nm rms);

· Telescope designed for integration of Adaptive Optics

· High operational efficiency (advanced control system, only one secondary mirror, abatable tertiary, classical & queue scheduling);

· High reliability (less than 2% downtime for scheduled maintenance and less than 2% failures).

POPULARISATION OF SCIENCE POLICY

Science is an important part of general knowledge. In reality, it is impossible to understand a society without technical/scientific advances. This implies that many topics of actual interest are related to science and some political decisions have implications for scientific knowledge. Therefore, it is very important that society has a deep scientific background.

From this point of view, it is necessary that science reach society at large. However, science is often very hard to understand, because often, the message is complicated by the difficult language used by scientists and an excess of scientific rigour. Moreover, the journalists do not help matters with big titles and little content appearing daily in papers.

All of these points place science very far from society and sometimes it is rejected. So, how do we transmit scientific culture to society?

At the IAC, the dissemination of astronomical knowledge is regarded as an important and continuous activity and is entrusted to the Director's Support Team. It is constantly endeavoured to popularise the science of Astronomy, and make it more accessible to the general public. This policy of approaching society has different methodologies. The first, and probably the easiest method, includes activities such as:

· Outreach campaigns in primary and secondary schools;

· "Open days" at the observatories;

· "Star parties";

· Concourses ("Tales of Astronomy", "Cometake…," etc.);

· Training courses for primary and secondary school teachers;

· Participation in the Universal Exhibitions of Seville and Hannover;

· Organisation of cultural expositions ("20 years of Astronomy in Canaries", "Sky, Sea and Land of Canaries," etc.);

· Collaboration with the Science and Cosmos Museum of Tenerife.

Also, the Director's Office is responsible for IAC publications and educational products which seeks to keep citizens informed regarding the multifarious activities of the IAC and make astronomy accessible to all. Some of these products include:

· Posters with educational contents

· Books of activities

· Images of the sky

· CDROM about events

· Press releases

· Videos to support press releases

· IAC NOTICIAS magazine

· Annual Reports

· Brochures

· WWW pages

· Merchandising (stickers, pins, shirts, cups, etc.)

USING GTC

GTC is a scientific, technological and cultural project that incorporates educational outreach and diffusion of culture as an important target from the beginning. Also, due to the special characteristic of this kind of large installation, the GTC concentrates the interest of the general public that puts their attention on it. Different strategies to reach society can be made with GTC.

First, GTC is designed to be visited. The buildings and installations have been designed in order to be able to receive visiting people without disturbing astronomical observations. A great hall and access to the telescope chamber and control room will be available. Also, "Open Doors Days" will be common.

GTC is a project with a clear target on the limits of the knowledge of astronomy. However, the possibility of dedicating some time to popular programs including amateur astronomers programs and astrophotography is also under study.

One of the features of GTC is the possibility of being remotely operated via Internet. This characteristic could be used in educational programs in which a teacher and a group of students could observe the process of observations remotely.

A GTC database of images will be public and used for educational outreach.

Moreover, actual and future WWW resources could be used to diffuse the activities and research done with the GTC. Some of them will include:

· Web-Cam

· Video-conferencing

· News

· Chats

The general public will be informed about the research and discoveries done with the GTC through different modes of communication:

· WWW pages

· Press releases

· Documentation

· Videos

· Expositions

· Public events

CONCLUSION

GTC will be one of the best tools of IAC and all of the Spanish scientific community to give astronomical culture background to society. This is one of the best ways of returning the benefit of our work.

UK Educational Outreach Programmes

By Ian Morison of the Jodrell Bank Observatory

UK SCIENCE AND ASTRONOMY CENTRES

A. Jodrell Bank Observatory (www.jb.man.ac.uk)

Jodrell Bank is the home of two major instruments. The 76-metre Lovell Telescope is still the third largest fully-steerable radio telescope in the world - now undergoing a major upgrade to substantially increase its capabilities. MERLIN is a linked array of telescopes stretching 217 km across England and provides radio images of similar resolution to the Hubble Space Telescope. The Lovell Telescope plays a major role in Pulsar research, forms part of the Project Phoenix SETI programme and is used in the MERLIN, European and Global arrays to provide the highest resolution studies of any astronomical instruments. A further research group is studying the Cosmic Microwave Background using ground based arrays and is building receivers for the European Space Agency Planck Surveyor spacecraft.

There are two linked areas of public outreach:

1. Jodrell Bank Science Centre

This had its origins in a marquee, which was set up beside the 76-metre telescope to show the public something about the work of the Jodrell Bank Observatory. Dedicated buildings followed in the late 1960's and have gradually been expanded to include several exhibition halls and a large shop. This is an important source of income! A 140-seat Planetarium was added using a Spitz projector. The projector was upgraded and the planetarium was refurbished in the late 1990's. There is also an Environmental Discovery Building associated with a 30-acre arboretum.

The Science Centre now has around 130,000 visitors per year - down from a peak of 150,000 - which include 170 school children per day in term time, or approximately 28,000 a year. They are mostly of primary school age (up to 11 years old), but now an increasing number of secondary classes come who are given talks by the education officer or one of the astronomers. Special Planetarium and "Living Science" shows for school parties are provided.

The center has nine permanent staff: a Manager, Education Officer, Administration Officer, Technical Officer, Arboretum Officer, Arborist, Shop Manager and two Administrative Assistants. These jobs are supported by seasonal part-time staff as required.

The center does have some problems which will need to be resolved in the near future. The reduction in the astronomy content of the schools curriculum and the rise in fuel costs, which has made school visits very expensive, has resulted in falling school numbers. Over the past decade many new visitor attractions have been built, and so the number of family visits has also been falling. The operation of the center has had many hidden subsidies in the past, but is now under the commercial wing of the University and must pay its way. A further problem is that the original buildings - of relatively cheap construction - are now past their life expectancies and considerable capital would be required to replace them. As a result, the University is considering its future, and we await the outcome of their deliberations. The consultants have made the point that no small visitor can survive of gate receipts alone.

2. Jodrell Bank Observatory

The staff of the Observatory also undertake significant outreach work giving individual lectures on the work of the observatory to Astronomy Societies, Amateur Radio Societies, Professional Bodies such as the IEE and Institute of Physics, Round Table and Probus clubs.

They also give series of Evening Classes in Greater Manchester and Cheshire on such topics as "Introduction to Observational Astronomy", "Life in the Universe" and Cosmology. Group Visits are organized for societies and professional groups. These are 2 1/2 hour visits to the research laboratories for 1 hr of talks and 1 1/2 hour of tours. All-day Schools in Radio Astronomy are also held which are extended versions of the group visits.

Both Observatory and Science Centre staff help to provide a phone and e-mail enquiry service on astronomical topics. The Jodrell Bank Web Site - www.jb.man.ac.uk - has many pages of public interest such as:

· The History of the Observatory and a "Virtual Tour" around it

· Webcams

· The night sky each month

At times, such as Science Weeks, a variety of special events are held involving both Science Centre and Observatory staff such as:

· Public Lectures and Observing Evenings

· Telescopes on show and advice available

· Special Presentations such as "Sir Isaac and the Orbiting Apple" - The story of the forces that hold the Universe together - a demonstration packed lecture with lots of audience participation

B. The Royal Observatory Greenwich (ROG) (www.rog.nmm.ac.uk)

In 1956 the Old Royal Observatory became part of the National Maritime Museum. The museum is open to the public every day (except December 24-26) and has a historical sites and galleries for the public to view:

· The Courtyard with the Meridian Line

· Flamsteed House housing the "Harrison Clocks" and the "Story of Longitude"

· The Meridian Building

· The 28" Telescope and the Arthur Weller Gallery of Modern Astronomy.

They also have a Planetarium with shows on weekday afternoons.

They provide opportunities to make safe observations of the Sun, evening skywatches, opportunities for a quick look through the 28" telescope in winter and 2-hour evening programmes, which start in the Planetarium and end in the 28-inch dome.

They provide Astronomy Courses such as "Getting Started in Astronomy" and "GCSE Astronomy", and series of Planetarium Lunchtime Lectures on a wide variety of astronomical topics.

ROG provide a full astronomical enquiry service to the public at astroline@nmm.ac.uk.

C. Royal Observatory Visitor Centre, Edinburgh (www.roe.ac.uk)

The Royal Observatory Edinburgh is the home of the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Edinburgh, which is one of the UK's major centres of research on cosmology, active galaxies and star formation, as well as, the UK Technology Centre, which is the "UK's national centre for the design and production of state of art astronomical technology" and provides instruments and support for UK observatories around the world. On its site, opened in 1981, the ROE Visitor Centre aims to introduce the general public and visiting groups to the fascinating world of modern astronomy and space research. The Visitor Centre is housed in the original 1894 Observatory building and contains several exhibit areas, 2 large telescopes and a gift shop.

The exhibitions include:

· The Discovery Zone with hands on exhibits using lights, lenses and prisms

· Reaching for the Stars where one can learn about the history of the Observatory and its current work in Hawaii and Australia

· The Computer Gallery where you can explore the Universe using CD-ROMs

· The West Tower where you can learn about the UK Scmidt Telescope in Australia

· The historic 36inch telescope

The visitor centre organizes popular observing sessions using a 6" telescope every Friday evening from 13th October to 30th March and provides a free Autumn and Winter lecture series which covers a wide variety of astronomy-related topics open to the general public. 2-hour morning, afternoon and evening group visits can be arranged and special events are arranged for Science Week.

The center now has approximately 12,000 visitors annually, which they hope to expand up to 35,000. There are plans for a new £4M building, possibly funded by the Lottery Heritage Fund.

D. National Space Science Centre (www.nmm.ac.uk)

Funded by a £40 million grant from the Millennium Commission and opening in June 2001 this will be a major space and astronomy attraction. It will include two big astronomy galleries and a state-of-art Spitz Planetarium. The quality of the exhibition will be first class and a range of programmes, linked to the UK National Curriculum, have been produced. It is expected to have around 300,000 visitors per year.

E. National Schools Observatory (www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk/)

This will provide a web-based resource to allow schools to use world-class astronomical telescopes around the world including the 2-metre Liverpool Telescope on La Palma, 5% of whose time will be available for Schools and amateur astronomers. Two further 2-metre telescopes on Hawaii and in Australia, called the Faulkes Telescopes and funded by the Dill Faulkes Educational Trust, will be totally dedicated to school and amateur use. Schools will be able to take complete control of the Telescopes and observe with them during the daytime. There may well be a "Faulkes Fellow" to assist teachers in their use. It is hoped the Hawaii telescope will be operational by the end of 2001. Observing time has been specially reserved on these professional Instruments for schools. Working with the resources developed by the Schools' Observatory, students can prepare and carry out their own astronomical research and share in the excitement of discovery. Using the full power of the Internet, the Schools' Observatory brings cutting-edge science and technology into the classroom.

The National Schools' Observatory is being developed by Liverpool John Moores University in conjunction with teachers as a major on-line educational resource. Some of the aims are to provide:

· access to professional astronomical telescopes sited around the world

· a stimulus for pupil learning through the exciting use of professional state-of-the-art multi-million pound technology

· "hands on" applications of ICT to enrich the teaching of a range of National Curriculum subjects

· contact with students around the world as part of international collaborative programmes.

DISTANCE LEARNING IN ASTRONOMY

A wide range of Astronomy courses at about first-year university level are now being provided by a University Consortium - www.Astronomy.ac.uk - for the general public. The Universities are:

· The University of Central Lancashire

· John Moores University, Liverpool

· The University of Manchester (Jodrell Bank Observatory)

Courses currently available are:

· Astronomy

· Exploring the Universe

· The Universe Through A Small Telescope

· Galaxies

· An Introduction to Radio Astronomy

· Cosmology

· IT for Astronomy

· Life in the Universe and SETI

· The History of Astronomy

Further courses are in preparation, some at second-year level.

NATIONAL ASTRONOMY AND IONOSHERE CENTER, ARECIBO OBSERVATORY EDUCATION AND OUTREACH

By Daniel Altschuler and Jose Alonso

The Arecibo Observatory is part of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), a national research facility operated by Cornell University under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF). As the site of the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, the Arecibo Observatory is recognized internationally as one of the most important centers for research in radio astronomy, planetary radar and atmospheric sciences.

The Arecibo Observatory inaugurated its Angel Ramos Foundation Visitor Center in early 1997. The Visitor Center consists of approximately 10,000 square feet of building and outdoor space. It houses 3,500 square feet of exhibits, a 100-person auditorium, a science store, and appropriate meeting rooms and office space. It also provides an observation platform that offers a breathtaking view of the 305-meter radio telescope.

Since its opening, more than 450,000 visitors have enjoyed its educational exhibits and programming. This figure represents an annual average of over 100,000 visitors. Children (mostly in the form of school groups and summer camps) account for approximately 25% of the visitor flow.

Funding for the facility was obtained from private and government sources in Puerto Rico. The Angel Ramos Foundation provided a matching grant of 50% of the total construction cost which was approximately 1.5 million (US$). The City of Arecibo, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, the Government of Puerto Rico and several corporations and individuals provided the rest of the funds. The National Science Foundation funded the museum exhibits.

The educational program focuses on the theme "More than Meets the Eye," which reflects the general idea that we can study our world with tools that extend our direct sensory experience. The program introduces visitors to the Electromagnetic Spectrum as a means of exploration, it offers a framework of basic astronomy and atmospheric science, and provides an understanding of the function and operation of the Arecibo radio telescope. Here, through a variety of interactive exhibits, audiovisual displays, and informative panels, the visitors are introduced to basic astronomy, atmospheric science, and the operation of the radio telescope and its related research areas.

Other education and outreach elements at the Arecibo Observatory either made possible or enhanced by the Angel Ramos Foundation Visitor Center summer teacher workshops and numerous media presentations related to space science events, as well as:

1. School Visits

About 500 school groups visit the Arecibo Observatory every year. The school visits program impacts about 25,000 school children every year.

2. Student Guides

A collaboration between the Arecibo Observatory and the Arecibo Campus of the University of Puerto Rico, allows science majors from the campus to participate as Visitor Center tour guides. Participants receive on-site training about the Observatory, including technical aspects of the telescope and its related science. Between 15–20 tour guides are appointed and trained every year.

3. Teacher in Residence

A summer internship is offered to a science teacher from the region (what region? Puerto Rico?) The Teacher in Residence benefits from the same opportunities as those participating in the REU program (what does REU stand for?) every summer. In this case, the participant is expected to contribute to our educational and outreach programs by enhancing those programs already in progress, or by developing new initiatives.

4. Teacher Workshops

One of the Visitor Center's goals is to help improve science teaching in Puerto Rico. To accomplish this goal we have developed a series of teacher workshops that provide participants with basic science concepts, related classroom activities, and teaching materials. About 50 teachers participate every summer in a 1-week residential program.

SALT/SAAO EDUCATION and PUBLIC OUTREACH PROGRAMMES

By Case Rijsdijk, SAAO

The history leading up to the present crisis in education in general, and science education in particular, is well known. The problems start in South African schools with under- or un-qualified teachers.

The questions that are then asked are:

1. Of what use is astronomy education?

2. How can astronomy contribute to a culture of science?

These questions are particularly relevant when one considers the small size of the astronomical community in South Africa – about 50 IAU members. However, we are extremely fortunate in that we have a government and a public that is very supportive of astronomy, but if we are to succeed we must exploit niche areas of research and take advantage of our geographical position. Success with our science produces the status and funding that will provide the leverage to contribute positively toward South Africa's educational process.

The country of South Africa is presently in the process of completely reforming its educational policy and philosophy. This process involves the development of appropriate skills, knowledge, and attitudes, as well as, the understanding of the principles, processes and skills of the Natural Sciences, that will enable learners to make sense of their natural world. Another result of this effort will be to help develop responsible and scientifically literate citizens and equip learners with the tools necessary for conserving, managing, developing and utilizing natural resources at sustainable levels.

Following are the principal problems that have been identified:

· many schools, especially rural ones have limited if any resources

· there are virtually no laboratories

· classrooms are overcrowded with as many as 120 learners per class

· many classrooms lack even basic facilities such as electricity, telephones or ablution facilities

In addition to these problems, teachers are under- or un-qualified. Only 16% of science teachers in the country have studied university science for one or more years. Of the remaining 84%, many teachers are teaching students who are more advanced in the subject matter than the teacher! Often, the only science subject that teachers have been exposed to is biology or physiology (an apartheid legacy!) and yet these are the same teachers expected to teach physics and chemistry.

There is no culture of science or learning among the youth in South Africa. Often, it is important for young people to go out and work to support their family – especially in rural schools. Children will get out of school as soon as possible to begin work because learning is not seen as important whereas work and earning money is. Also contributing to this is the lack of newspapers, books and magazines in the home environment.

To address these problems, in 1996, the South African government started an ambitious transformation of the education system. An Outcomes Based Education (OBE) structure was implemented which requires a major paradigm shift by practicing teachers. The language of OBE was complex and clumsy and not widely understood. A process of curriculum reform has begun and will be implemented in 2003. However, both systems envisage the bulk of learners who leave the formal education structures at the end of grade 9. This means that whatever the child learns by grade 9 will have to equip her/him for life!

South Africa has the unique distinction of having 11 official languages, of which English,

Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa can be considered primary. In addition, these languages, new languages/dialects are constantly being formed as part of a long oral tradition in South

Africa – this leads to a lack of common vocabulary. For example, in addition to the normal problems experienced when teaching physics, it becomes even more difficult when the word "amandla" means power, force and energy! In addition, just like in any other part of the world, there are the usual misconceptions about space, time, gravity, etc.

When I started the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) outreach programme I had to find some way to help address these difficult circumstances. In setting up the SEI, I realized that it was not possible to teach astronomy in an environment where there was little or no science in the first place! I decided that the best approach would be to use astronomy as a vehicle to promote science and science education. With this in mind, the SEI set as its initial goals:

1. use astronomy as a vehicle to stimulate young people into Science, Engineering and Technology (SET)

2. develop resources for learners and teachers

3. develop and present workshops for learners and teachers

4. put astronomy back into the new curriculum

5. raise public awareness of astronomy, SAAO and the Southern African Large Telescope, SALT

It was fortunate that, shortly after the SEI was set up and began operations, the government declared 1998 to be the Year of Science and Technology (YEAST). This was an ambitious duration for the project especially compared to other countries where a science week, or even a fortnight, are typical durations! As a part of YEAST, the government funded the SAAO to run a project to promote astronomy (in anticipation of the advent of SALT) in South Africa. This became the "Friends with the Universe" program which continues now as the EPO of the SAAO.

I started running workshops for teachers. Initially, I developed some resources, including the making of a simple telescope, directed at learners. However, despite the fact that these were very successful, I soon realized that not enough children were being reached and SAAO staff were becoming surrogate teachers.

As a result, workshops were re-designed to target teachers and the resources developed were aimed at them rather than learners. However, this did not mean that learners were to be excluded, rather the target group changed. It has been found that the best target group is, in fact, teachers undergoing their teacher training at various colleges and universities.

Another group that has often been overlooked is parents. Parents obviously have influence over their children and when programmes combine teachers, learners and parents, all three groups are very attentive!

Resources developed for this effort always consider the need to empower teachers. While the resources are created to support the teachers in the classroom, the problem comes in sustaining the effort. In order to achieve this, "Friends with the Universe" began working on developing 'cluster' schools. Here, one or two teachers who have attended a workshop at the observatory are encouraged to run workshops for teachers at other nearby schools. A group of teachers then organize and set-up a workshop which is supported by "Friends with the Universe".

The resources are seen as a key for teacher support and they must:

1. be simple

2. use cheap and readily available material

3. be of a modular format

4. focus on group work and skills development

5. be supported with an activity and assessment material

While these 'low-tech' resources have their place, there is also a need to bridge the 'digital divide' so that our youth can catch up with their counterparts in the developed world. Progressively, more of our communities and schools are getting access to the Internet and that access must be harnessed to support and empower our educational system.

During YEAST, "Friends with the Universe" initiated a project known as the "Starbus". This was simply a mini-bus equipped with many of the resources used in workshops as well as some telescopes, computers, data, overhead and slide projectors and a CCD camera. This vehicle then went into rural areas to visit schools that would normally not have access to these resources. "Friends with the Universe" continues to run the project when funding is available.

The government is very supportive of astronomy in South Africa, which stems from a statement in a White Paper on Science and Technology that was published in 1996. This document states:

"Its is also important to maintain a basic competence in 'flagship' sciences such as physics and astronomy for cultural reasons. Not to offer them would be to take a negative view of our future - that we are a second class nation, chained forever to the treadmill of feeding and clothing ourselves".

Funding for SALT can be seen as a direct consequence of this philosophy. As a result, SALT has incorporated the Collateral Benefits Plan into its operations. This includes an industrial empowerment plan, an educational empowerment plan to develop a research culture at historically black universities and to grow the astronomical community in South Africa. In addition there will be other public outreach and direct educational benefits with the construction of science education/visitor centres or Stargates. Through these efforts, it is hoped that SALT will be seen as an African facility.

Some of these have already started with the design phase of the Stargates. Furthermore, the production of solar viewers has provided a positive social impact on the Sutherland community.

It should also be noted that South Africa has a rich oral tradition, which includes many stories about the stars and night sky. For example, the cluster we refer to as the

Pleiades is known to many local people as "isiLemela" or the "digging stars". The rising of isiLemela in the early morning of June would indicate to the people that it was time to start preparing the soil for planting crops. Many of these stories will disappear within a generation unless they are documented and archived. Promoting ethno-astronomy will help in fulfill the need to establish self-esteem for indigenous South Africans by exploring their knowledge and science.

The visitor centres or Stargates at Sutherland and Cape Town have both reached the stage where models have been made to facilitate presentations. Both are envisioned as multi-purpose centres that serve not only as a traditional "visitor centre" but also as a training facility for learners, teachers and undergraduate students. In addition, some sort of robotic facility operated through the Internet and an imaging facility will be included. Since spectroscopy forms the backbone of research at SAAO and SALT is primarily a spectroscopic telescopic, the main exhibit in the Stargates will be called "Fingerprinting Starlight".

"Friends with the Universe" is also very much involved with more traditional public awareness efforts. It runs a weekly radio slot and a monthly column in the local press in addition to supplying the usual data about sunrise/set, moonrise/set, Moon phases, planetary data, star maps and eclipse details.

To date, SAAO has been reasonably successful with its EPO programmes and projects. However, if we are to continue to be successful we will need to sustain and enhance our present efforts, which means a substantial increase in our human resources. With SALT coming on-line within a few years, our EPO efforts will be further stretched. One way to try and alleviate this load will be to learn how others are dealing with these and similar issues and share ideas. The collaboration that is being set up here can only be of benefit to all and I look forward to participating fully in this collaboration.

As Luis did before today, I will end with :

"A knowledge of astronomy produces a humility that creates a respect for planet Earth and an awareness of the delicacy of its environment."