The 2003 NASA Strategic Plan presents a clear set of goals and objectives related to education and public outreach

These NASA Goals seek to:

* Share the excitement of space science discoveries with the public

* Enhance the quality of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education, particularly at the pre-college level

* Help create our 21st century scientific and technical workforce

Addressing these 3 goals has led to the establishment of a multi-faceted portfolio of activities involving many types of partners and carried out in many types of communities across the country.

The Spitzer E/PO program adopted these goals as the backbone of our education program. All aspects of our plan are mapped to these goals, and are relevant and supportive of NASA’s educational philosophy.

For all aspects of our E/PO plan, we have gathered target audience requirements through existing science education research or new studies conducted by the appropriate experts. We seek to create educational products that have a real utility and will not add to the confusion that many teachers feel when faced with a myriad of overlapping space science products. We strive to respond to the teacher needs outlined in the Office of Space Science’s Partners in Education: a Strategy for Integrating Education and Public Outreach, as well as research conducted by the NASA educational forums.

The Spitzer E/PO initiatives fall into three key programmatic areas: formal education, informal education, and public outreach. In addition, there are various cross-cutting projects that support several areas of the plan.

Formal Education Initiatives

Invisible Universe On-Line Course

Spitzer E/PO, in conjunction with the SOFIA project and the Conceptual Astronomy and Physics Education Research (CAPER) Team at the University of Arizona, has developed an on-line teacher education course. The course is designed to give teachers a good foundation in the basics of our education threads, invisible light, and the concepts of heat and temperature.

Community College Initiative

The Spitzer E/PO group has partnered with the CAPER and Navigator groups and developed a series of tutorials for community college professors. The tutorials provide professional development and reinforce fundamental concepts in astronomy. The CAPER group provides evaluation of the program on an on-going basis, and the Navigator team assists in recruiting workshop attendees as well as tracking them after the event.

GEMS Guides and the Lawrence Hall of Science

Spitzer material is currently being distributed to over 500 middle and high schools as part of the Invisible Universe module in the Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) curriculum set published by the Lawrence Hall of Science. A new GEMS guide, developed in collaboration with the Origins Educational Forum, has made its debut in 2005.

Teacher Workshops and In-Services

In addition to our full on-line course, we also provide teachers with a shorter, but still significant educational training experience that can be used as continuing education credits. To do this, we offer “short courses” at all meetings of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), both national and regional.

Classroom Activities

The Spitzer E/PO group develops, tests, and evaluates standards-based, classroom activities that can be accessed on our Web sites (Cool Cosmos), as well as demonstrated in our teacher workshops. These curriculum activities, and their accompanying Web sites, are advertised in the NSTA newsletter and distributed to science teachers across the nation.

Touch the Invisible Sky

The book “Touch the Invisible Sky: A NASA Multi-wavelength Book” is a unique project in which images from several different wavelengths will be, for the first time, published and distributed to the blind and visually- impaired community.

This book’s goal is to introduce the world of multi-wavelength astronomy and a multi-wavelength Universe to a group of the population that has historically been underserved. It proposes to raise their awareness and understanding of astrophysics by publishing a book of tactile graphics.

The book combines Braille, large type print, and tactile images so visually impaired people can “feel” the images of astronomical objects observed in several different wavelengths. They will perceive the universe from an entirely new perspective, the same way Touch the Universe introduced Hubble Space Telescope images. The first book focused on planets and nearby star clusters -- the Touch the Invisible Sky will deliver objects in the Universe that are hidden to our eyes.

Informal Education Initiatives

ViewSpace

This innovative program, organized by the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute, allows smaller science museums access to cutting-edge data and discoveries. Over one hundred planetariums, universities, and science museums currently subscribe to this program. The first program on Spitzer is currently being distributed, with another in development.

Alien EarthsTraveling Museum Exhibit

The Spitzer E/PO program has been instrumental in developing and supporting the Space Science Institute’s traveling museum exhibition on the search for cosmic origins. The interactive exhibit is organized around three interrelated areas: Star Birth; PlanetQuest; and Search for Life: Are We Alone? The exhibit began a three-year tour to nine host museums and science centers in early 2005.

Whyville

Whyville is an interactive educational virtual Web community which is currently run my Numedeon, Inc. Spitzer has sponsored two science activities in Whyville and will develop at least one more: “Stellar Mysteries, Stellar Detectives” (SMSD).

To capture the imaginations of youth and the general public, SMSD capitalizes on their inherent interest in color, light, and astronomy. SMSD will engage 8–14-year-old students in chemistry and astronomy, emphasizing spectroscopy and stellar evolution. As part of Whyville, the SMSD laboratory will contain interactive, simulation-based activities that engage these students in exploring the fundamental concepts behind spectroscopy and its use in astronomy. The activities will be designed around real-time, scientifically accurate simulations. Students will be able to interact with and learn from one another, within the context of the Whyville community.

SpacePlace

The SpacePlace, managed at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is an interactive educational virtual Web community directed at younger students, specifically in primary and middle school. Spitzer has sponsored one interactive Web activity and will develop at least one more.

Public Outreach Initiatives

Ask an Astronomer Video Series

In this award winning video series we answer a plethora of questions that have been posed over the years. The "Ask an Astronomer" videos present a fresh look on astronomy with an extensive use of multimedia platforms and state of the art graphics and animations.

StarDate Radio Program

Spitzer E/PO funding supports the StarDate radio programs, produced by the McDonald Observatory. The syndicated radio shows air daily on over 500 radio stations affiliated with National Public Radio. The shows are also aired in Spanish, targeting minority communities in the Southwest.

PBS/NOVA Origins Series

For the last three years, member of Spitzer’s EPO staff have served as advisors for an up-coming four hour NOVA special broadcast about NASA’s Origins Program. The program made its debut in 2005.

Internet Initiatives

The Spitzer E/PO team has produced a multiple award-winning educational Web site: Cool Cosmos (http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/), dealing with both our educational threads, as well as other science and education goals of our mission. The site currently registers over five million hits a month, and has received more than 200 awards and citations, including a Telly award in 2003. We also have a Spanish-language version of our educational site, which is also continually updated.

Cross-Cutting Initiatives and Scientists Involvement

Crosscutting activities are those which impact more than one of the programmatic areas of formal education, informal education, and public outreach. These activities are critical to the program’s ability to deliver a successful and innovative education and outreach program and to achieve compliance with its vision and goals.

Involving Scientists in Education and Public Outreach

Today’s scientists and engineers are the current generation of Space Explorers and have a unique opportunity to impact scientific and technological literacy and “to inspire the next generation of explorers.”

The most important asset of any NASA mission is the people working on it. At the Spitzer Science Center, we have an outstanding group of research scientists available to assist us in public and educational events. The Spitzer E/PO group continues to work to involve and engage the science and engineering communities of the Spitzer mission in all aspects of its education and outreach programs and materials as well as to provide support to these scientific communities in their own education and public information initiatives.

Spitzer E/PO strives to provide opportunities for these scientists to impact their larger community, generating enthusiasm and interest in the sciences. On a national level, Spitzer E/PO also encourages our user community to get involved in educational activities, and we try to create meaningful partnerships between scientists and educators around the nation.

Involving Scientists in Education

After the Guest Observers (GO’s) are selected for Spitzer, the project makes approximately $160K available to support education efforts led by the GO’s. The Spitzer E/PO team organizes and convenes a selection committee to review the proposals and make award decisions. Members of the panel are selected from national education experts and E/PO leads from NASA missions. We then track and report the results of these activities.

Spitzer E/PO Director’s Discretionary Time

The Director’s Office of the Spitzer Science Center has allocated about 3.5 hours of Spitzer observational time for E/PO purposes, after the first full year of operations. With this in mind, the SSC E/PO office and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) have designed a program for teacher and student research using observing time on the Spitzer Space Telescope. This program allows a group of 12 teachers and their students to team with Spitzer and NOAO scientists and utilize the available director’s discretionary observing time on the Spitzer Space Telescope for educational observations.

The participating teachers attended a workshop to become familiar with the Spitzer Space Telescope archives, and to receive training in infrared astronomy and observational techniques. The teachers also attended a second workshop to learn about the observation planning process, and telescope and instrument capabilities.

The selected teachers were divided into teams and were expected to be active in, and develop competency in, the major aspects of carrying out a science investigation including planning, target selection, and data analysis and interpretation. Six proposals were submitted to and accepted by the SSC Director. The observations and data analysis are in progress. We expect to present results during various scientific and educational conferences.

After this experience teachers will become ambassadors not only for the Spitzer Space Telescope but more importantly, for astronomy and space science. The selected teachers are expected to promote a broader educational program that will involve other schools and a public outreach program that will extend to their larger community.

Each Spitzer teacher will be expected to give 3 half-day professional development workshops in their district, or neighboring school districts before the Spitzer observations are made, and at least 3 talks on the project at state, regional, or national teacher conferences after the observations are made. The workshops would focus on teaching about infrared astronomy and would utilize infrared teaching kits that we will provide to the teachers.

Conclusion

This Spitzer E/PO program is an example how a NASA mission is involving the public as well as teachers and students in science with multi-disciplinary educational resources produced with the goal of engaging the young minds of future generations of scientists. The continuous positive response of the public has been an absolute motivation to create new and innovative methods to reach them. The Education and Public Outreach Office at the Spitzer Science Center is a dynamic group that has made its vocation to revive the interest, excite the dreams and hopefully answer some of the questions and satiate the public thirst for knowledge of Space and Science.