themis ground-based observatories & education and public outreach dr. laura peticolas

THEMIS GBO & E/PO - 1Polar Gateways 200823-29 Jan 2008

THEMIS Ground-Based Observatories

&Education and Public Outreach

Dr. Laura Peticolas Space Sciences Laboratory, UC Berkeley

Thanks to Dr. S. Mende for several slides


THEMIS = Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms

•What Events? • Substorm Onset (GBO All-Sky Cameras and Mags)• Current Disruption and Redirection (THEMIS Probes)• Magnetic Reconnection (THEMIS Probes)

P1P3,P4,P5 P21000-1500 km/s!

THEMIS


Red circles represent the all-sky camera coverage at 110 km altitude.

Magnetometers are located at or near these stations.

Small blue circles represent magnetometers located in schools.

Global coverage of the THEMIS GBOs


http://themis.ssl.berkeley.edu/gbo/display.py

All-Sky Imager data (UC Berkeley)


http://aurora.phys.ucalgary.ca/cgi-bin/themis_gbo_realtime.pl?

All-Sky Imager data (University of Calgary)


Red ‘arrows’ represent magnetometer data.

Substorm on 12/23/2006


Localized gradual current intensification


Brightening of the equatorward arc (Akasofu’s definition


Arc break up 6:18:48


Break-up is clearest at 6:18:54.


Red circles represent the all-sky camera coverage at 110 km altitude.

Magnetometers are located at or near these stations.

Small blue circles represent magnetometers located in schools.

Education and Public Outreach


Overall E/PO Program

• Geomagnetic Event Observation Network by Students (GEONS) program: magnetometers in schools with active interaction with teachers, data on-line, curriculum & “research”, and long-term professional development (PD) for teachers

• Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) PD site (long-term) in Nevada

• Short term PD for teachers around the country• THEMIS and auroras in science centers around the country

through ViewSpace• Website with THEMIS news, science, videos and images,

data, and information about us.


GEONS program

Main AC Power

GMAG sensor

Buried under the ground

GPS

Magnetometer Computer

Roof of Building

Inside of Building

Internet connection

|-- 5 inch --|

|-- 5 inch --|

|--- 6 inch

---|

|---------------------

---- 40 inch

---------------------------

---|

Chassis

USB cable

PHOTO of real setup

Fort Yates, ND

GPS

Buried Cable to Mag. Sensor

The states with research-grade magnetometers at schools: AK, OR, NV, MT, ND, SD, WI, MI, PA, and VT


GEONS accomplishments

• Installed 12 magnetometers• Directly involved 14 schools with 14

teachers including weekly emails and bi-monthly telecons

• Real-time data on the web• Archived data available on the web both

ASCII and plots • 3 GEONS teacher workshops held in

June 2004, June 2005, and March 2007• Many more (over 20) short-term

workshops for teachers around the country

• Developed, tested, & revised THEMIS teacher guides, now in-use in classrooms


THEMIS Teacher Guides

THEMIS GEONS

Background Science

and User’s Guide

1. Magnetism and

Electromagnetism

2. Exploring Magnetism on Earth

3. Space Weather

4. Earth’s Magnetic

Personality

• Sequenced• Reviewed/tested by

THEMIS teachers• Reviewed (some

twice) by NASA review panel


Evaluation results: how are we doing?

• Three main ways of evaluating the GEONS program: – Teacher Professional Development workshop questionnaires– Yearly phone interviews with teachers– Direct teacher feedback via email or at workshops

GEONS Teacher feedbackGEONS Teacher feedback Most chose to be Most chose to be part of this program part of this program to motivate and/or to motivate and/or involve students in involve students in ‘real science’‘real science’ All are using THEMIS All are using THEMIS materialsmaterials 5 teachers have 5 teachers have presented materials at presented materials at state science state science workshops to other workshops to other teachersteachers

Most have given Most have given materials to other materials to other teachers in their teachers in their school.school. 4 of 8 teachers 4 of 8 teachers indicated this program indicated this program has increased general has increased general interest in science at interest in science at their (or a their (or a neighboring) schoolneighboring) school 2 of 8teachers 2 of 8teachers indicated this program indicated this program has caused course has caused course enrollment increases enrollment increases ((e.g. in chemistry and physics)


• Evaluating our short-term PD program: – Teacher Professional Development workshop questionnaires

These workshops are a partnership between THEMIS, FAST, STEREO-IMPACT, RHESSI EPO programs and the Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum at UC Berkeley

We have held these We have held these workshops over the workshops over the past 3 years (~30 past 3 years (~30 events)events) In the last year, we In the last year, we reached 168 teachers reached 168 teachers

41% elementary41% elementary 27% middle school27% middle school 28% high school28% high school 4% other4% other

These teachers reach These teachers reach underserved students underserved students (on average, 47% (on average, 47% female, 20% male and female, 20% male and minority in science, minority in science, 50% students on 50% students on free/reduced lunches)free/reduced lunches) On average, the 168 On average, the 168 teachers said they were teachers said they were “Very likely” to use “Very likely” to use what we taught as an what we taught as an integral part of their integral part of their basic science course.basic science course.




• Data on the GEMS site launch showed that we reached many rural Nevada elementary school teachers who were “Very Likely” to use the GEMS materials in their classroom

• ViewSpace is a program to bring science content to museums and science centers via a plasma screen display, beautiful imagery, text, and background music through a subscription. The THEMIS show has been shown around the country in thousands of locations.



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


Making GEONS happen

• Don Dearborn at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) installed the magnetometers and outreached to the communities while in their town.

• Kathryn Rowe at UCLA maintains the magnetometer network• David Pierce at UCLA created software that produces plots of the

real-time data for the website and teacher use.• Igor Ruderman and Tim Quinn at UC Berkeley put the real-time

and archived data on the web and maintain the data servers.• Karin Hauck and Bryce Roberts at UC Berkeley help to

maintain contact with the teachers every week.• The teachers – bring the data, lessons, and information on the

mission to their students, their community, and to other teachers in their state.

themis ground-based observatories & education and public outreach dr. laura peticolas

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