Tag Archives: Physics Education

VIPER – Student research on extraterrestrial ice penetration technology [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1805.01758


Recent analysis of scientific data from Cassini and earth-based observations gave evidence for a global ocean under a surrounding solid ice shell on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Images of Enceladus’ South Pole showed several fissures in the ice shell with plumes constantly exhausting frozen water particles, building up the E-Ring, one of the outer rings of Saturn. In this southern region of Enceladus, the ice shell is considered to be as thin as 2 km, about an order of magnitude thinner than on the rest of the moon. Under the ice shell, there is a global ocean consisting of liquid water. Scientists are discussing different approaches the possibilities of taking samples of water, i.e. by melting through the ice using a melting probe. FH Aachen UAS developed a prototype of maneuverable melting probe which can navigate through the ice that has already been tested successfully in a terrestrial environment. This means no atmosphere and or ambient pressure, low ice temperatures of around 100 to 150 K (near the South Pole) and a very low gravity of 0.114 m/s$^2$ or 1100 {\mu}g. Two of these influencing measures are about to be investigated at FH Aachen UAS in 2017, low ice temperature and low ambient pressure below the triple point of water. Low gravity cannot be easily simulated inside a large experiment chamber, though. Numerical simulations of the melting process at RWTH Aachen however are showing a gravity dependence of melting behavior. Considering this aspect, VIPER provides a link between large-scale experimental simulations at FH Aachen UAS and numerical simulations at RWTH Aachen. To analyze the melting process, about 90 seconds of experiment time in reduced gravity and low ambient pressure is provided by the REXUS rocket.

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F. Baader, M. Reiswich, M. Bartsch, et. al.
Mon, 7 May 18
10/39

Comments: N/A

LGBT+ Inclusivity in Physics and Astronomy: A Best Practices Guide [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1804.08406


We present the second edition of a Best Practices Guide for academic departments and other institutions striving to create more inclusive environments for physicists and astronomers in the LGBT+ community. Our recommendations incorporate new research since the original, 2014 edition, and are designed for anyone who wishes to become aware of — and help mitigate — the extra burdens that face members of the LGBT+ community in the physical sciences.

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N. Ackerman, T. Atherton, A. Avalani, et. al.
Tue, 24 Apr 18
12/87

Comments: 85 pages

New Science, New Media: An Assessment of the Online Education and Public Outreach Initiatives of The Dark Energy Survey [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1804.00591


We present a case study of the online education and public outreach (EPO) program of The Dark Energy Survey (DES). We believe DES EPO is unique at this scale in astronomy, as it evolved organically from scientists’ volunteerism. We find that DES EPO online products reach 2,500 social media users on average per post; 94% of these users are predisposed to science-related topics. We find projects which require scientist participation and collaboration support are most successful when they capitalize on participating scientists’ hobbies. Throughout the article, we present recommendations for others interested in facilitating EPO for large science collaborations.

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R. Wolf, A. Romer and B. Nord
Tue, 3 Apr 18
26/57

Comments: 31 Pages, 7 Figures, Preprint submitted to Science Communication 22 March 2018

Gaia: 3-dimensional census of the Milky Way Galaxy [IMA]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1803.09463


Astrometry from space has unique advantages over ground-based observations: the all-sky coverage, relatively stable, and temperature and gravity invariant operating environment delivers precision, accuracy and sample volume several orders of magnitude greater than ground-based results. Even more importantly, absolute astrometry is possible. The European Space Agency Cornerstone mission Gaia is delivering that promise. Gaia provides 5-D phase space measurements – 3 spatial coordinates and two space motions in the plane of the sky – for a representative sample of the Milky way’s stellar populations, including over two billion stars, being about one percent of the stars over about 50 percent of the radius. Full 6-D phase space data is delivered from Gaia’s line-of-sight (radial) velocities for the 300 million brightest stars. These data make substantial contributions to astrophysics and fundamental physics on scales from the Solar System to cosmology. A knowledge revolution is underway.

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G. Gilmore
Wed, 28 Mar 18
1/148

Comments: published in Contemporary Physics as 10.1080/00107514.2018.1439700

An Acoustical Analogue of a Galactic-scale Gravitational-Wave Detector [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1803.05285


By precisely monitoring the “ticks” of Nature’s most precise clocks (millisecond pulsars), scientists are trying to detect the “ripples in spacetime” (gravitational waves) produced by the inspirals of supermassive black holes in the centers of distant merging galaxies. Here we describe a relatively simple demonstration that uses two metronomes and a microphone to illustrate several techniques used by pulsar astronomers to search for gravitational waves. An adapted version of this demonstration could be used as an instructional laboratory investigation at the undergraduate level.

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M. Lam, J. Romano, J. Key, et. al.
Thu, 15 Mar 2018
9/53

Comments: 21 pages, 9 figures, submitted to the American Journal of Physics

A Robotic "Social Media" Controlled Observatory for Education and Research [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1802.01440


I describe the world’s first robotic observatory to interact with its observers entirely using the social media platforms Facebook or Twitter. The telescope “tweets” what it’s doing, posts live images, and responds to observer commands through a comprehensive command set. Observation requests are queued and observed by a responsive queue engine. Its architecture, social media based image processing capability and several usage examples are also described.

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D. Lane
Tue, 6 Feb 18
60/62

Comments: Accepted for publication in the proceeding of the Robotic Telescopes, Student Research, and Education Conference, June 2017

A better communicator is always a better scientist, or the reason why every PhD student should engage in science outreach [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1801.08874


The ability to communicate with all audiences is a skill that is rapidly becoming a must-have for any future scientist. As more physicists engage in communicating science to non-expert audiences, research shows that this experience helps them to get a better understanding of their own research and the impact on society, improves the perception of science by lay audiences and can also become an area of personal growth as a citizen. A recent deployment of a PhD student to the Amundsen Scott South Pole Station, as part of the IceCube Collaboration, provided a ready opportunity to spark interest. We present results of the efforts made by the Universit\’e libre de Bruxelles (ULB), the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and the Interuniversity Institute for High Energies, IIHE (ULB-VUB), to introduce Belgian students and citizens to science and the life of a scientist. The essential parts of this program will be identified to show why the contributions of a PhD student to the organization of these activities are beneficial to the development of new skills as a scientist, but also to broaden the audiences and the impact of the local university and/or the specific research outreach program.

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C. Clercq, J. Schauwers, G. Wasseige, et. al.
Mon, 29 Jan 18
37/54

Comments: Submitted to the 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2017, Busan, South Korea)

Insights into the effects of indicators on knowledge production in Astronomy [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1801.08033


Nine interviews were conducted with astronomers from Leiden University, and a document analysis was performed on relevant institutional (self-) evaluation documents, annual reports, and CVs of the interviewees. The aim was to perform a qualitative study about the relationship between the research behaviour of astronomers and how their science is being evaluated. This study encompassed the funding and publication system as well as the indicators used to measure the scientific output, its quality and the research performance. This report sheds light on how astronomers define high-quality research and how they think that creating knowledge of value is encouraged or hampered by the evaluation processes. We found that astronomers are realists who define scientific quality on the basis of “truth” and are driven by curiosity. These two factors make up their intrinsic values and motivation to perform Astronomy. Publication pressure, arising from the requirements of “the system”, creates an extrinsic motivation to perform. This results in premature publications, low readability and replicability, risk aversion and a focus on quantity rather than quality. Hence, indicators do not merely represent quality, but also co-constitute what counts as good research. While we observe such constitutive effects of indicator use on research behaviour and content, we do not see that the astronomer’s intrinsic values are co-constituted. This gives rise to a discrepancy between what is being measured by indicators and what astronomers define as scientific quality; the so-called “evaluation gap”. Findings on constitutive effects and the evaluation gap in Astronomy lays out the conceptual groundwork for further empirical research and for policy advice on alternative evaluation practices and innovative indicators with the aim of bridging the “evaluation gap”.

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J. Heuritsch
Thu, 25 Jan 18
42/67

Comments: N/A

The International Cosmic Day – An Outreach Event for Astroparticle Physics [IMA]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1711.01441


The International Cosmic Day (ICD) is an astroparticle physics outreach event for high-school students and brings together students and different physics outreach projects from all over the world. Groups of scientists, teachers, and students meet for one day to learn about cosmic rays and perform an experiment with atmospheric muons. All participating groups investigate an identical question. The students are enabled to work together like in an international collaboration, discussing their results in joint video conferences. Analyzing data, comparing and discussing with other “young scientists” gives the students a glimpse of how professional scientific research works. Scientists join the video conferences and give lectures to provide an insight in current astroparticle physics research. Several participating research experiments analyze big science data tailored to the questions addressed by the students and present their results on equal terms with the students. To create a lasting event, proceedings with measurement results of all participating groups are published. Every participant receives a personal e-mail with his certificate and the proceedings booklet. Organized by DESY in cooperation with Netzwerk Teilchenwelt, IPPOG, QuarkNet, Fermilab, and national partners like INFN, the ICD is a growing event with more and more popularity. We present the organization of the event and the experience from five years of ICD.

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M. Hutten, T. Karg, C. Schwerdt, et. al.
Tue, 7 Nov 17
96/118

Comments: presented at the 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference, Busan, July 2017

Hack Weeks as a model for Data Science Education and Collaboration [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1711.00028


Across almost all scientific disciplines, the instruments that record our experimental data and the methods required for storage and data analysis are rapidly increasing in complexity. This gives rise to the need for scientific communities to adapt on shorter time scales than traditional university curricula allow for, and therefore requires new modes of knowledge transfer. The universal applicability of data science tools to a broad range of problems has generated new opportunities to foster exchange of ideas and computational workflows across disciplines. In recent years, hack weeks have emerged as an effective tool for fostering these exchanges by providing training in modern data analysis workflows. While there are variations in hack week implementation, all events consist of a common core of three components: tutorials in state-of-the-art methodology, peer-learning and project work in a collaborative environment. In this paper, we present the concept of a hack week in the larger context of scientific meetings and point out similarities and differences to traditional conferences. We motivate the need for such an event and present in detail its strengths and challenges. We find that hack weeks are successful at cultivating collaboration and the exchange of knowledge. Participants self-report that these events help them both in their day-to-day research as well as their careers. Based on our results, we conclude that hack weeks present an effective, easy-to-implement, fairly low-cost tool to positively impact data analysis literacy in academic disciplines, foster collaboration and cultivate best practices.

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D. Huppenkothen, A. Arendt, D. Hogg, et. al.
Thu, 2 Nov 17
24/71

Comments: 15 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PNAS, all relevant code available at this https URL

Forty Years of Linking Variable Star Research with Education [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1710.04492


In this review, I reflect on four decades of my experience in linking astronomy research and education by supervising variable-star research projects by undergraduates, and by outstanding senior high school students. I describe the evolution of my experience, the students I have supervised, the nature of their projects, the educational contexts of the projects, the need for “best practices”, the journals in which we publish, and the special role of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). I then describe our recent research on pulsating red giants and related objects, including three astrophysical mysteries that we have uncovered. Finally, I suggest how my projects might be scaled up or extended by others who supervise student research.

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J. Percy
Fri, 13 Oct 17
21/56

Comments: Submitted to the proceedings of the conference “Remote Telescopes, Student Research, and Education”

An item response theory evaluation of the Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory national data set [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1709.05255


This paper presents the first item response theory (IRT) analysis of the national data set on introductory, general education, college-level astronomy teaching using the Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory (LSCI). We used the difference between students’ pre- and post-instruction IRT-estimated abilities as a measure of learning gain. This analysis provides deeper insights than prior publications into both the LSCI as an instrument and into the effectiveness of teaching and learning in introductory astronomy courses. Our IRT analysis supports the classical test theory findings of prior studies using the LSCI with this population. In particular, we found that students in classes that used active learning strategies at least 25% of the time had average IRT-estimated learning gains that were approximately 1 logit larger than students in classes that spent less time on active learning strategies. We also found that instructors who want their classes to achieve an improvement in abilities of average $\Delta \theta = 1$ logit must spend at least 25% of class time on active learning strategies. However, our analysis also powerfully illustrates the lack of insight into student learning that is revealed by looking at a single measure of learning gain, such as average $\Delta \theta$. Educators and researchers should also examine the distributions of students’ abilities pre- and post-instruction in order to understand how many students actually achieved an improvement in their abilities and whether or not a majority of students have moved to post-abilities significantly greater than the national average.

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C. Wallace, T. Chambers and E. Prather
Mon, 18 Sep 17
37/52

Comments: 14 pages, 60 figures, submitted to Physical Review: Physics Education Research

Discovering New Variable Stars at Key Stage 3 [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1707.07337


Details of the London pilot of the `Discovery Project’ are presented, where university-based astronomers were given the chance to pass on some real and applied knowledge of astronomy to a group of selected secondary school pupils. It was aimed at students in Key Stage 3 of their education, allowing them to be involved in real astronomical research at an early stage of their education, the chance to become the official discoverer of a new variable star, and to be listed in the International Variable Star Index database, all while learning and practising research-level skills. Future plans are discussed.

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K. Chubb, R. Hood, T. Wilson, et. al.
Tue, 25 Jul 17
21/70

Comments: 10 pages, 1 figure

Statistical methods in astronomy [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1707.05834


We present a review of data types and statistical methods often encountered in astronomy. The aim is to provide an introduction to statistical applications in astronomy for statisticians and computer scientists. We highlight the complex, often hierarchical, nature of many astronomy inference problems and advocate for cross-disciplinary collaborations to address these challenges.

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J. Long and R. Souza
Thu, 20 Jul 17
2/56

Comments: 9 pages, 5 figures

Incorporating Current Research into Formal Higher Education Settings using Astrobites [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1706.01165


A primary goal of many undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in the physical sciences is to prepare students to engage in scientific research, or to prepare students for careers that leverage skillsets similar to those used by research scientists. Even for students who may not intend to pursue a career with these characteristics, exposure to the context of applications in modern research can be a valuable tool for teaching and learning. However, a persistent barrier to student participation in research is familiarity with the technical language, format, and context that academic researchers use to communicate research methods and findings with each other: the literature of the field. Astrobites, an online web resource authored by graduate students, has published brief and accessible summaries of more than 1,300 articles from the astrophysical literature since its founding in 2010. This article presents three methods for introducing students at all levels within the formal higher education setting to approaches and results from modern research. For each method, we provide a sample lesson plan that integrates content and principles from Astrobites, including step-by-step instructions for instructors, suggestions for adapting the lesson to different class levels across the undergraduate and graduate spectrum, sample student handouts, and a grading rubric.

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N. Sanders, S. Kohler, C. Faesi, et. al.
Tue, 6 Jun 17
39/67

Comments: Accepted by AJP. 15 pages, 4 figures

JHelioviewer – Time-dependent 3D visualisation of solar and heliospheric data [SSA]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1705.07628


Context. Solar observatories are providing the world-wide community with a wealth of data, covering large time ranges, multiple viewpoints, and returning large amounts of data. In particular, the large volume of SDO data presents challenges: it is available only from a few repositories, and full-disk, full-cadence data for reasonable durations of scientific interest are difficult to download practically due to their size and download data rates available to most users. From a scientist’s perspective this poses three problems: accessing, browsing and finding interesting data as efficiently as possible.
Aims. To address these challenges, we have developed JHelioviewer, a visualisation tool for solar data based on the JPEG2000 compression standard and part of the open source ESA/NASA Helioviewer Project. Since the first release of JHelioviewer, the scientific functionality of the software has been extended significantly, and the objective of this paper is to highlight these improvements.
Methods. The JPEG2000 standard offers useful new features that facilitate the dissemination and analysis of high-resolution image data and offers a solution to the challenge of efficiently browsing petabyte-scale image archives. The JHelioviewer software is open source, platform independent and extendable via a plug-in architecture.
Results. With JHelioviewer, users can visualise the Sun for any time period between September 1991 and today. They can perform basic image processing in real time, track features on the Sun and interactively overlay magnetic field extrapolations. The software integrates solar event data and a time line display. As a first step towards supporting science planning of the upcoming Solar Orbiter mission, JHelioviewer offers a virtual camera model that enables users to set the vantage point to the location of a spacecraft or celestial body at any given time.

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D. Mueller, B. Nicula, S. Felix, et. al.
Tue, 23 May 17
8/68

Comments: 13 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

The Role of Gender in Asking Questions at Cool Stars 18 and 19 [IMA]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1704.05260


We examine the gender balance of the 18th and 19th meetings of the Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stellar Systems and the Sun (CS18 and CS19). The percent of female attendees at both meetings (31% at CS18 and 37% at CS19) was higher than the percent of women in the American Astronomical Society (25%) and the International Astronomical Union (18%). The representation of women in Cool Stars as SOC members, invited speakers, and contributed speakers was similar to or exceeded the percent of women attending the meetings. We requested that conference attendees assist in a project to collect data on the gender of astronomers asking questions after talks. Using this data, we found that men were over-represented (and women were under-represented) in the question sessions after each talk. Men asked 79% of the questions at CS18 and 75% of the questions at CS19, but were 69% and 63% of the attendees respectively. Contrary to findings from previous conferences, we did not find that the gender balance of questions was strongly affected by the session chair gender, the speaker gender, or the length of the question period. We also found that female and male speakers were asked a comparable number of questions after each talk. The contrast of these results from previous incarnations of the gender questions survey indicate that more data would be useful in understanding the factors that contribute to the gender balance of question askers. We include a preliminary set of recommendations based on this and other work on related topics, but also advocate for additional research on the demographics of conference participants. Additional data on the intersection of gender with race, seniority, sexual orientation, ability and other marginalized identities is necessary to fully address the role of gender in asking questions at conferences.

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S. Schmidt, S. Douglas, N. Gosnell, et. al.
Wed, 19 Apr 17
38/62

Comments: 16 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Cool Stars 19 Proceedings. Related resources available at this https URL

An educational distributed Cosmic Ray detector network based on ArduSiPM [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1703.09843


The advent of microcontrollers with enough CPU power and with analog and digital peripherals makes possible to design a complete particle detector with relative acquisition system around one microcontroller chip. The existence of a world wide data infrastructure as internet allows for devising a distributed network of cheap detectors capable to elaborate and send data or respond to settings commands. The internet infrastructure enables to distribute the absolute time (with precision of few milliseconds), to the simple devices far apart, with few milliseconds precision, from a few meters to thousands of kilometres. So it is possible to create a crowdsourcing experiment of citizen science that use small scintillation-based particle detectors to monitor the high energetic cosmic ray and the radiation environment.

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V. Bocci, G. Chiodi, P. Fresch, et. al.
Thu, 30 Mar 17
31/69

Comments: N/A

Robotic Telescopes in Education [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1702.04835


The power of robotic telescopes to transform science education has been voiced by multiple sources, since the 1980s. Since then, much technical progress has been made in robotic telescope provision to end users via a variety of different approaches. The educational transformation hoped for by the provision of this technology has, so far, yet to be achieved on a scale matching the technical advancements. In this paper, the history, definition, role and rationale of optical robotic telescopes with a focus on their use in education is provided. The current telescope access providers and educational projects and their broad uses in traditional schooling, undergraduate and outreach are then outlined. From this background, the current challenges to the field, which are numerous, are then presented. This review is concluded with a series of recommendations for current and future projects that are apparent and have emerged from the literature.

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E. Gomez and M. Fitzgerald
Fri, 17 Feb 17
21/43

Comments: 42 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables

Street lights as standard candles: A student activity for understanding astronomical distance measurements [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1702.02391


Astronomers measure cosmic distances to objects beyond our own galaxy using standard candles: objects of known intrinsic brightness, whose apparent brightnesses in the sky are then taken as an indication of their distances from the observer. In this activity, we use street lights and a digital camera to explore the method of standard candles as well as some of its limitations and possible sources of error.

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M. Possel
Thu, 9 Feb 17
52/67

Comments: 7 pages, 7 figures

Strangeon and Strangeon Star [HEAP]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1701.08463


The nature of pulsar-like compact stars is essentially a central question of the fundamental strong interaction (explained in quantum chromo-dynamics) at low energy scale, the solution of which still remains a challenge though tremendous efforts have been tried. This kind of compact objects could actually be strange quark stars if strange quark matter in bulk may constitute the true ground state of the strong-interaction matter rather than Fe^56 (the so-called Witten’s conjecture). From astrophysical points of view, however, it is proposed that strange cluster matter could be absolutely stable and thus those compact stars could be strange cluster stars in fact. This proposal could be regarded as a general Witten’s conjecture: strange matter in bulk could be absolutely stable, in which quarks are either free (for strange quark matter) or localized (for strange cluster matter). Strange cluster with three-light-flavor symmetry is renamed strangeon, being coined by combining “strange nucleon” for the sake of simplicity. A strangeon star can then be thought as a 3-flavored gigantic nucleus, and strangeons are its constituent as an analogy of nucleons which are the constituent of a normal (micro) nucleus. The observational consequences of strangeon stars show that different manifestations of pulsar-like compact stars could be understood in the regime of strangeon stars.

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X. Lai and R. Xu
Tue, 31 Jan 17
31/58

Comments: Proceedings CSQCD5, 23-27 May 2016 GSSI and LNGS (L’Aquila, Italy)

Teaching the Doppler Effect in Astrophysics [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1701.04478


The Doppler effect is a shift in the frequency of waves emitted from an object moving relative to the observer. By observing and analysing the Doppler shift in electromagnetic waves from astronomical objects, astronomers gain greater insight into the structure and operation of our universe. In this paper, a simple technique is described for teaching the basics of the Doppler effect to undergraduate astrophysics students using acoustic waves. An advantage of the technique is that it produces a visual representation of the acoustic Doppler shift. The equipment comprises a 40 kHz acoustic transmitter and a microphone. The sound is bounced off a computer fan and the signal collected by a DrDAQ ADC and processed by a spectrum analyser. Widening of the spectrum is observed as the fan power supply potential is increased from 4 to 12 V.

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S. Hughes and M. Cowley
Wed, 18 Jan 17
32/61

Comments: 9 pages, 5 figures, published in Eur. J. Phys

Training telescope operators and support astronomers at Paranal [IMA]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1607.07227


The operations model of the Paranal Observatory relies on the work of efficient staff to carry out all the daytime and nighttime tasks. This is highly dependent on adequate training. The Paranal Science Operations department (PSO) has a training group that devises a well-defined and continuously evolving training plan for new staff, in addition to broadening and reinforcing courses for the whole department. This paper presents the training activities for and by PSO, including recent astronomical and quality control training for operators, as well as adaptive optics and interferometry training of all staff. We also present some future plans.

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H. Boffin, D. Gadotti, J. Anderson, et. al.
Tue, 26 Jul 16
64/75

Comments: Paper 9910-123 presented at SPIE 2016

Sustaining educational and public outreach programs in astronomy [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1606.04578


We advocate meaningful support of sustained education-outreach partnerships between regional metropolitan undergraduate institutions and astronomical clubs and societies. We present our experience as an example, in which we have grown a partnership between the University of Michigan-Dearborn (hereafter UM-D, a 4-year primarily undergraduate institution or PUI), Henry Ford College (hereafter HFC, a 2-year undergraduate college), and maintained a strong collaboration with the Ford Amateur Astronomy Club (FAAC), which is highly active in the Detroit Metropolitan Area. By allowing each organization to play to its strengths, we have developed a continuum of education-outreach efforts at all levels, with connecting tissue between the previously disparate efforts. To-date, faculty and staff effort on these initiatives has been nearly entirely voluntary and somewhat ad-hoc. Here we suggest an initiative to sustain the continuum of education-outreach for the long-term. There are two levels to the suggested initiative. Firstly, partner institutions should dedicate at least half an FTE of faculty or staff effort specifically to education and outreach development. Secondly, professional societies like the AAS now have a great opportunity to support the education-outreach continuum at a national level, by facilitating communication between institutions and clubs that are considering a long-term partnership, by acting as a central resource for such partnerships, and possibly by convening or sponsoring events such as professional meetings among the metropolitan educational community.

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W. Clarkson, D. Bord, C. Swift, et. al.
Thu, 16 Jun 16
45/67

Comments: 3 pages, Whitepaper submitted to the American Astronomical Society Education Task Force, June 2016

The Importance of Computation in Astronomy Education [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1606.02242


Computational skills are required across all astronomy disciplines. Many students enter degree programs without sufficient skills to solve computational problems in their core classes or contribute immediately to research. We recommend advocacy for computational literacy, familiarity with fundamental software carpentry skills, and mastery of basic numerical methods by the completion of an undergraduate degree in Astronomy.
We recommend the AAS Education Task Force advocate for a significant increase in computational literacy.
We encourage the AAS to modestly fund efforts aimed at providing Open Education Resources (OER) that will significantly impact computational literacy in astronomy education.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Zingale, F. Timmes, R. Fisher, et. al.
Wed, 8 Jun 16
7/45

Comments: white paper submitted to the AAS Education Taskforce call (this https URL)

Using graphical and pictorial representations to teach introductory astronomy students about the detection of extrasolar planets via gravitational microlensing [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1603.06866


The detection and study of extrasolar planets is an exciting and thriving field in modern astrophysics, and an increasingly popular topic in introductory astronomy courses. One detection method relies on searching for stars whose light has been gravitationally microlensed by an extrasolar planet. In order to facilitate instructors’ abilities to bring this interesting mix of general relativity and extrasolar planet detection into the introductory astronomy classroom, we have developed a new Lecture-Tutorial, “Detecting Exoplanets with Gravitational Microlensing.” In this paper, we describe how this new Lecture-Tutorial’s representations of astrophysical phenomena, which we selected and created based on theoretically motivated considerations of their pedagogical affordances, are used to help introductory astronomy students develop more expert-like reasoning abilities.

Read this paper on arXiv…

C. Wallace, T. Chambers, E. Prather, et. al.
Wed, 23 Mar 16
1/73

Comments: 10 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in the American Journal of Physics

Demonstrating Martian Gravity [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1602.06858


The surface gravity on Mars is smaller than the surface gravity on Earth, resulting in longer falling times. This effect can be simulated on Earth by taking advantage of air resistance and buoyancy, which cause low density objects to fall slowly enough to approximate objects falling on the surface of Mars. We describe a computer simulation based on an experiment that approximates Martian gravity, and verify our numerical results by performing the experiment.

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P. Pirkola and P. Hall
Wed, 24 Feb 16
42/48

Comments: 2015 Phys. Educ. 50 643

Science Learning via Participation in Online Citizen Science [IMA]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1601.05973


We investigate the development of scientific content knowledge of volunteers participating in online citizen science projects in the Zooniverse (www.zooniverse.org), including the astronomy projects Galaxy Zoo (www.galaxyzoo.org) and Planet Hunters (www.planethunters.org). We use econometric methods to test how measures of project participation relate to success in a science quiz, controlling for factors known to correlate with scientific knowledge. Citizen scientists believe they are learning about both the content and processes of science through their participation. Won’t don’t directly test the latter, but we find evidence to support the former – that more actively engaged participants perform better in a project-specific science knowledge quiz, even after controlling for their general science knowledge. We interpret this as evidence of learning of science content inspired by participation in online citizen science.

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K. Masters, E. Oh, J. Cox, et. al.
Mon, 25 Jan 16
24/56

Comments: 32 pages (9 pages of Appendix material). Accepted for publication in the Journal of Science Communication (JCOM; this http URL)

Everyday Radio Telescope [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1601.02982


We have developed an affordable, portable college level radio telescope for amateur radio astronomy which can be used to provide hands-on experience with the fundamentals of a radio telescope and an insight into the realm of radio astronomy. With our set-up one can measure brightness temperature and flux of the Sun at 11.2 GHz and calculate the beam width of the antenna. The set-up uses commercially available satellite television receiving system and parabolic dish antenna. We report the detection of point sources like Saturn and extended sources like the galactic arm of the Milky way. We have also developed python pipeline, which are available for free download, for data acquisition and visualization.

Read this paper on arXiv…

P. Mandal, D. Agarwal, P. Kumar, et. al.
Wed, 13 Jan 16
50/81

Comments: 13 pages, 7 figures

Physics GRE Scores of Prize Postdoctoral Fellows in Astronomy [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1512.03709


The Physics GRE is currently a required element of the graduate admissions process in nearly all U.S. astronomy programs; however, its predictive power and utility as a means of selecting “successful” applicants has never been examined. We circulated a short questionnaire to 271 people who have held U.S. prize postdoctoral fellowships in astrophysics between 2010-2015, asking them to report their Physics GRE scores (this should not in any way be interpreted as a belief that a prize fellowship is the best or only metric of “success” in astronomy). The response rate was 64%, and the responding sample is unbiased with respect to the overall gender distribution of prize fellows. The responses reveal that the Physics GRE scores of prize fellows do not adhere to any minimum percentile score and show no statistically significant correlation with the number of first author papers published. As an example, a Physics GRE percentile cutoff of 60% would have eliminated 44% of 2010-2015 U.S. prize postdoctoral fellows, including 60% of the female fellows. From these data, we find no evidence that the Physics GRE can be used as an effective predictor of “success” either in or beyond graduate school.

Read this paper on arXiv…

E. Levesque, R. Bezanson and G. Tremblay
Mon, 14 Dec 15
43/59

Comments: 12 pages, 5 figures

Atomic beings and the discovery of gravity [CEA]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.05431


We aim to bring a new perspective about some aspects of the current research in Cosmology. We start with a brief introduction about the main developments of the field in the last century; then we introduce an analogy that shall elucidate the main difficulties that observational sciences involve, which might be part of the issue related to some of the contemporary cosmological problems. The analogy investigates how microscopic beings could ever discover and understand gravitational phenomena.

Read this paper on arXiv…

G. Conto and G. Franzmann
Wed, 18 Nov 15
56/61

Comments: 16 pages, 2 figures

Astronomía al Aire: Media Convergence in Astronomy & Astrophysics [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1510.07147


We describe the experience of running an Astrophysics outreach initiative involving traditional mass media like radio broadcast and new digital media like blog, microblogging and internet video channel. Some very successful preliminary results are also presented. This unique experience is helping to create new science informal education environments for Spanish speaking people in Latin America.

Read this paper on arXiv…

L. Nunez and H. Rago
Thu, 29 Oct 15
52/67

Comments: N/A

A New Lecture-Tutorial for Teaching about Molecular Excitations and Synchrotron Radiation [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1509.01726


Light and spectroscopy are among the most important and frequently taught topics in introductory, college-level, general education astronomy courses. This is due to the fact that the vast majority of observational data studied by astronomers arrives at Earth in the form of light. While there are many processes by which matter can emit and absorb light, Astro 101 courses typically limit their instruction to the Bohr model of the atom and electron energy level transitions. In this paper, we report on the development of a new Lecture-Tutorial to help students learn about other processes that are responsible for the emission and absorption of light, namely molecular rotations, molecular vibrations, and the acceleration of charged particles by magnetic fields.

Read this paper on arXiv…

C. Wallace, E. Prather, S. Hornstein, et. al.
Tue, 8 Sep 15
4/69

Comments: 13 pages, 7 figures Accepted for publication in The Physics Teacher

Characterization of transiting exoplanets by way of differential photometry [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1509.01238


This paper describes a simple activity for plotting and characterizing the light curve from an exoplanet transit event by way of differential photometry analysis. Using free digital imaging software, participants analyse a series of telescope images with the goal of calculating various exoplanet parameters, including its size, orbital radius and habitability. The activity has been designed for a high school or undergraduate university level and introduces fundamental concepts in astrophysics and an understanding of the basis for exoplanetary science, the transit method and digital photometry.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Cowley and S. Hughes
Fri, 4 Sep 15
22/58

Comments: 8 pages, 7 figures, published in Phys. Educ

Numerical radiative transfer with state-of-the-art iterative methods made easy [IMA]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1509.01158


This article presents an on-line tool (rttools.irap.omp.eu) and its accompanying software ressources for the numerical solution of basic radiation transfer out of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). State-of-the-art stationary iterative methods such as Accelerated $\Lambda$-Iteration and Gauss-Seidel schemes, using a short characteristics-based formal solver are used. We also comment on typical numerical experiments associated to the basic non-LTE radiation problem. These ressources are intended for the largest use and benefit, in support to more classical radiation transfer lectures usually given at the Master level.

Read this paper on arXiv…

J. Lambert, F. Paletou, E. Josselin, et. al.
Fri, 4 Sep 15
57/58

Comments: 8 pages, 5 figures – see also (and use!) this http URL

High energy astroparticle physics for high school students [IMA]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.03968


The questions about the origin and type of cosmic particles are not only fascinating for scientists in astrophysics, but also for young enthusiastic high school students. To familiarize them with research in astroparticle physics, the Pierre Auger Collaboration agreed to make 1% of its data publicly available. The Pierre Auger Observatory investigates cosmic rays at the highest energies and consists of more than 1600 water Cherenkov detectors, located near Malarg\”{u}e, Argentina. With publicly available data from the experiment, students can perform their own hands-on analysis. In the framework of a so-called Astroparticle Masterclass organized alongside the context of the German outreach network Netzwerk Teilchenwelt, students get a valuable insight into cosmic ray physics and scientific research concepts. We present the project and experiences with students.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Krause, H. Bretz, L. Classen, et. al.
Tue, 18 Aug 15
4/43

Comments: 8 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherlands, PoS(ICRC2015)304

The Duhem-Quine thesis and the dark matter problem [CL]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1507.06282


There are few opportunities in introductory physics for a genuine discussion of the philosophy of science, especially in cases where the physical principles are straightforward and the mathematics is simple. Terrestrial classical mechanics satisfies these requirements, but students new to physics usually carry too many incorrect or misleading preconceptions about the subject for it to be analyzed epistemologically. The problem of dark matter, and especially the physics of spiral galaxy velocity rotation curves, is a straightforward application of Newton’s laws of motion and gravitation, and is just enough removed from everyday experience to be analyzed from a fresh perspective. It is proposed to teach students about important issues in the philosophy of physics, including Bacon’s induction, Popper’s falsifiability, and the Duhem-Quine thesis, all in light of the dark matter problem. These issues can be discussed in an advanced classical mechanics course, or, with limited simplification, at the end of a first course in introductory mechanics. The goal is for students to understand at a deeper level how the physics community has arrived at the current state of knowledge.

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M. Reynolds
Thu, 23 Jul 15
37/39

Comments: 15 pages, 3 figures, submitted to the American Journal of Physics

The Quantitative Reasoning for College Science (QuaRCS) Assessment, 1: Development and Validation [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1507.03997


Science is an inherently quantitative endeavor, and general education science courses are taken by a majority of college students. As such, they are a powerful venue for advancing students’ skills and attitudes toward mathematics. This article reports on the development and validation of the Quantitative Reasoning for College Science (QuaRCS) Assessment, a numeracy assessment instrument designed for college-level general education science students. It has been administered to more than four thousand students over eight semesters of refinement. We show that the QuaRCS is able to distinguish varying levels of quantitative literacy and present performance statistics for both individual items and the instrument as a whole. Responses from a survey of forty-eight Astronomy and Mathematics educators show that these two groups share views regarding which quantitative skills are most important in the contexts of science literacy and educated citizenship, and the skills assessed with the QuaRCS are drawn from these rankings. The fully-developed QuaRCS assessment was administered to nearly two thousand students in nineteen general education science courses and one STEM major course in early 2015, and results reveal that the instrument is valid for both populations.

Read this paper on arXiv…

K. Follette, D. McCarthy, E. Dokter, et. al.
Thu, 16 Jul 15
43/61

Comments: N/A

From the Scale Model of the Sky to the Armillary Sphere [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.03732


It is customary to employ a semi-spherical scale model to describe the apparent path of the Sun across the sky, whether it be its diurnal motion or its variation throughout the year. A flat surface and three bent semi-rigid wires (representing the three solar arcs during solstices and equinoxes) will do the job. On the other hand, since very early times, there have been famous armillary spheres built and employed by the most outstanding astronomers for the description of the celestial movements. In those instruments, many of them now considered true works of art, Earth lies in the center of the cosmos and the observer looks at the whole “from the outside.” Of course, both devices, the scale model of the sky and the armillary sphere, serve to represent the movement of the Sun, and in this paper we propose to show their equivalence by a simple construction. Knowing the basics underlying the operation of the armillary sphere will give us confidence to use it as a teaching resource in school.

Read this paper on arXiv…

A. Gangui, R. Casazza and C. Paez
Fri, 15 May 15
31/71

Comments: Published version available at this http URL

Animating Fermi – A Collaboration Between Art Students and Astronomers [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.03390


Undergraduate animation students at the Maryland Institute College of Art teamed up with scientists from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope to produce a set of animations on several astronomy topics. We describe the process and discuss the results, including educational benefits and the cross-cultural experience. These animations are freely available online.

Read this paper on arXiv…

L. Arcadias and R. Corbet
Thu, 14 May 15
10/57

Comments: 2 pages. Accepted for publication in Leonardo (Transactions). Main animations available at this https URL

A dimensao espacial das fases da Lua: contribuicoes para uma proposta de ensino [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.03186


In this chapter, we present some reflections about the learning process -and its implications in the teaching- of notions related to the phases of the Moon.

Read this paper on arXiv…

A. Gangui, E. Dicovskiy and M. Iglesias
Thu, 14 May 15
33/57

Comments: Article in Portuguese, PDF document including 11 figures. Published version available at this http URL in Ensino de astronomia na escola: concepcoes, ideias e praticas, edited by M.D.Longhini, Campinas: Atomo editora, Chapter 17, p. 339-358, 2014

Free the Globe [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1504.05918


The parallel globe is an old, very simple and ingenious device that, when systematically employed in astronomy classes, becomes a teaching tool with great potential. Properly oriented according to the local meridian, this instrument allows us to follow the shadows in any region of the Earth that is illuminated by the Sun, as well as offering a clear view of the terminator, the fast-moving grey line that divides the day from the night on our planet. With knowledge of the shadows, it is possible to estimate the latitude of a site and to infer local solar time anywhere in the planet’s sunlit hemisphere. Furthermore, by using the parallel globe we may understand simply the existence of regions in which objects sometimes do not cast shadows, and also other regions which, on the contrary, sometimes become “long-shadow” countries. In this work, we first review the device and the basics of its assembly and operation. In the second part, we describe in detail some activities targeted to facilitate its use in the classroom, which our research group has been developing during teacher training workshops.

Read this paper on arXiv…

A. Gangui
Thu, 23 Apr 15
49/61

Comments: Article in Spanish, PDF document including 14 figures. Published version available at this http URL

Simulating the Phases of the Moon Shortly After Its Formation [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.03041


The leading theory for the origin of the Moon is the giant impact hypothesis, in which the Moon was formed out of the debris left over from the collision of a Mars-sized body with the Earth. Soon after its formation, the orbit of the Moon may have been very different than it is today. We have simulated the phases of the Moon in a model for its formation wherein the Moon develops a highly elliptical orbit with its major axis tangential to the Earth’s orbit. This note describes these simulations and their pedagogical value.

Read this paper on arXiv…

E. Noordeh, P. Hall and M. Cuk
Wed, 11 Mar 15
1/63

Comments: 4 pages, 2 figures

Peer-review Platform for Astronomy Education Activities [IMA]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1501.07116


Hundreds of thousands of astronomy education activities exist, but their discoverability and quality is highly variable. The web platform for astronomy education activities, astroEDU, presented in this paper tries to solve these issues. Using the familiar peer-review workflow of scientific publications, astroEDU is improving standards of quality, visibility and accessibility, while providing credibility to these astronomy education activities. astroEDU targets activity guides, tutorials and other educational activities in the area of astronomy education, prepared by teachers, educators and other education specialists. Each of the astroEDU activities is peer-reviewed by an educator as well as an astronomer to ensure a high standard in terms of scientific content and educational value. All reviewed materials are then stored in a free open online database, enabling broad distribution in a range of different formats. In this way astroEDU is not another web repository for educational resources but a mechanism for peer-reviewing and publishing high-quality astronomy education activities in an open access way. This paper will provide an account on the implementation and first findings of the use of astroEDU.

Read this paper on arXiv…

P. Russo, T. Heenatigala, E. Gomez, et. al.
Thu, 29 Jan 15
37/49

Comments: 8 pages, Published, 2015, eLearning Papers #40 ISSN: 1887-1542

Introduction to the application of the dynamical systems theory in the study of the dynamics of cosmological models of dark energy [CL]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1501.04851


The theory of the dynamical systems is a very complex subject which has brought several surprises in the recent past in connection with the theory of chaos and fractals. The application of the tools of the dynamical systems in cosmological settings is less known in spite of the amount of published scientific papers on this subject. In this paper a — mostly pedagogical — introduction to the application in cosmology of the basic tools of the dynamical systems theory is presented. It is shown that, in spite of their amazing simplicity, these allow to extract essential information on the asymptotic dynamics of a wide variety of cosmological models. The power of these tools is illustrated within the context of the so called $\Lambda$CDM and scalar field models of dark energy. This paper is suitable for teachers, undergraduate and postgraduate students from physics and mathematics disciplines.

Read this paper on arXiv…

R. Garcia-Salcedo, T. Gonzalez, F. Horta-Rangel, et. al.
Wed, 21 Jan 15
43/52

Comments: 15 pages, 2 figures

Crowdfunding Astronomy Outreach Projects: Lessons Learned from the UNAWE Crowdfunding Campaign [CL]

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http://arxiv.org/abs/1412.2115


In recent years, crowdfunding has become a popular method of funding new technology or entertainment products, or artistic projects. The idea is that people or projects ask for many small donations from individuals who support the proposed work, rather than a large amount from a single source. Crowdfunding is usually done via an online portal or platform which handles the financial transactions involved. The Universe Awareness (UNAWE) programme decided to undertake a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign centring on the resource Universe in a Box2. In this article we present the lessons learned and best practices from that campaign.

Read this paper on arXiv…

A. Ashton, P. Russo and T. Heenatigala
Mon, 8 Dec 14
12/61

Comments: Published – Communicating Astronomy with the Public journal #16 (4 pages) (2014)

GrayStar: A Web application for pedagogical stellar atmosphere and spectral line modelling and visualisation II: Methods [SSA]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.1893


GrayStar is a stellar atmospheric and spectral line modelling, post-processing, and visualisation code, suitable for classroom demonstrations and laboratory-style assignments, that has been developed in Java and deployed in JavaScript and HTML. The only software needed to compute models and post-processed observables, and to visualise the resulting atmospheric structure and observables, is a common Web browser. Therefore, the code will run on any common PC or related X86 (-64) computer of the type that typically serves classroom data projectors, is found in undergraduate computer laboratories, or that students themselves own, including those with highly portable form-factors such as net-books and tablets. The user requires no experience with compiling source code, reading data files, or using plotting packages. More advanced students can view the JavaScript source code using the developer tools provided by common Web browsers. The code is based on the approximate gray atmospheric solution and runs quickly enough on current common PCs to provide near-instantaneous results, allowing for real time exploration of parameter space. I describe the computational strategy and methodology as necessitated by Java and JavaScript. In an accompanying paper, I describe the user interface and its inputs and outputs and suggest specific pedagogical applications and projects. I have made the application itself, and the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Java source files available to the community. The Web application and source files may be found at www.ap.smu.ca/~ishort/GrayStar.

Read this paper on arXiv…

C. Short
Mon, 8 Sep 14
43/69

Comments: 23 pages, 2 figures. Necessarily includes some overlap with astro-ph submission GrayStar: A Web application for pedagogical stellar atmosphere and spectral line modelling and visualisation

Essays on Eclipses, Transits and Occultations as Teaching Tools in the Introductory Astronomy College Course [CL]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1408.0836


We occasionally include projects in our learner-centered introductory astronomy college course to enable non-science major students explore some astronomical concepts in more detail than otherwise. Such projects also highlight ongoing or upcoming astronomical events. We hope that students will feel more interested in astronomy through projects tied to astronomical events. In Spring 2012, we offered short essays focused on eclipses, transits and occultations to promote the rare transit of Venus that occurred on June 5th, 2012. We asked students to write two short essays from three that were offered. The essays contained descriptive and conceptual parts. They were meant to serve as teaching tools. 62% of 106 essays from 55 students earned A, B or C grades. 21% of 47 feedback survey respondents felt the essays increased their interest in astronomy. 49% of respondents felt that the essays were not educationally beneficial and should not be offered again. The most common written response to our survey indicated that students need more guidance and better preparation in writing successful essays. Since students found the conceptual parts of the essays difficult, in the future we will provide relevant activities prior to essay deadlines to help students create successful essays.

Read this paper on arXiv…

N. Dcruz
Wed, 6 Aug 14
27/41

Comments: 28 pages, including 2 figures

A Review of High School Level Astronomy Student Research Projects over the last two decades [CL]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1407.6586


Since the early 1990s with the arrival of a variety of new technologies, the capacity for authentic astronomical research at the high school level has skyrocketed. This potential, however, has not realized the bright-eyed hopes and dreams of the early pioneers who expected to revolutionise science education through the use of telescopes and other astronomical instrumentation in the classroom. In this paper, a general history and analysis of these attempts is presented. We define what we classify as an Astronomy Research in the Classroom (ARiC) project and note the major dimensions on which these projects differ before describing the 22 major student research projects active since the early 1990s. This is followed by a discussion of the major issues identified that affected the success of these projects and provide suggestions for similar attempts in the future.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Fitzgerald, R. Hollow, L. Rebull, et. al.
Fri, 25 Jul 14
6/57

Comments: Accepted for Publication in PASA. 26 pages

Self-force driven motion in curved spacetimeS [CL]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1405.4155


We adopt the Dirac-Detweiler-Whiting radiative and regular effective field in curved spacetime. Thereby, we derive straightforwardly the first order perturbative correction to the geodesic of the background in a covariant form, for the extreme mass ratio two-body problem. The correction contains the self-force contribution and a background metric dependent term.

Read this paper on arXiv…

A. Spallicci, P. Ritter and S. Aoudia
Mon, 19 May 14
1/45

Comments: To appear in Int. J. Geom. Meth. Mod. Phys

Fourteen Years of Education and Public Outreach for the Swift Gamma-ray Burst Explorer Mission [IMA]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1405.2104


The Sonoma State University (SSU) Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) group leads the Swift Education and Public Outreach program. For Swift, we have previously implemented broad efforts that have contributed to NASA’s Science Mission Directorate E/PO portfolio across many outcome areas. Our current focus is on highly-leveraged and demonstrably successful activities, including the wide-reaching Astrophysics Educator Ambassador program, and our popular websites: Epo’s Chronicles and the Gamma-ray Burst (GRB) Skymap. We also make major contributions working collaboratively through the Astrophysics Science Education and Public Outreach Forum (SEPOF) on activities such as the on-line educator professional development course NASA’s Multiwavelength Universe. Past activities have included the development of many successful education units including the GEMS Invisible Universe guide, the Gamma-ray Burst Educator’s guide, and the Newton’s Laws Poster set; informal activities including support for the International Year of Astronomy, the development of a toolkit about supernovae for the amateur astronomers in the Night Sky Network, and the Swift paper instrument and glider models.

Read this paper on arXiv…

L. Cominsky, K. McLin and A. Simonnet
Mon, 12 May 14
20/40

Comments: 7th Huntsville Gamma-Ray Burst Symposium, GRB 2013: paper 42 in eConf Proceedings C1304143

A Workshop that Works [CL]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1404.6995


The main goal of a scientific workshop is to bring together experts in a specific field or related fields to collaborate, to discuss, and to creatively make progress in a particular area. The organizational aspects of such a meeting play a critical role in achieving these goals. We here present suggestions from scientists to scientists that hopefully help in organizing a successful scientific workshop that maximizes collaboration and creativity.

Read this paper on arXiv…

N. Yunes and J. Key
Tue, 29 Apr 14
17/69

The University of Washington Mobile Planetarium Do-it-Yourself Guide [IMA]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1404.3302


The UW Mobile Planetarium Project is a student driven effort to bring astronomy to high schools and the Seattle community. We designed and built an optics solution to project WorldWide Telescope in an inflatable planetarium from a laptop and off-the-shelf HD projector. In our first six months of operation, undergraduates at the UW gave planetarium shows to over 1500 people and 150 high school students created and presented their own astronomy projects in our dome, at their school. This document aims to share the technical aspects behind the project in order for others to replicate or adapt our model to their needs. This UW Mobile Planetarium was made possible thanks to a Hubble Space Telescope Education/Public Outreach Grant.

Read this paper on arXiv…

P. Rosenfield, J. Gaily, O. Fraser, et. al.
Tue, 15 Apr 14
54/73

Examining Perceptions of Astronomy Images Across Mobile Platforms [CL]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1403.5802


Modern society has led many people to become consumers of data unlike previous generations. How this shift in the way information is communicated and received – including in areas of science – and affects perception and comprehension is still an open question. This study examined one aspect of this digital age: perceptions of astronomical images and their labels, on mobile platforms. Participants were n = 2183 respondents to an online survey, and two focus groups (n = 12 astrophysicists; n = 11 lay public). Online participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 12 images, and compared two label formats. Focus groups compared mobile devices and label formats. Results indicated that the size and quality of the images on the mobile devices affected label comprehension and engagement. The question label format was significantly preferred to the fun fact. Results are discussed in terms of effective science communication using technology.

Read this paper on arXiv…

L. Smith, K. Arcand, J. Smith, et. al.
Tue, 25 Mar 14
51/79

A field study of data analysis exercises in a bachelor physics course using the internet platform VISPA [CL]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.2836


Bachelor physics lectures on particle physics and astrophysics were complemented by exercises related to data analysis and data interpretation at the RWTH Aachen University recently. The students performed these exercises using the internet platform VISPA, which provides a development environment for physics data analyses. We describe the platform and its application within the physics course, and present the results of a student survey. The students acceptance of the learning project was positive. The level of acceptance was related to their individual preference for learning with a computer. Furthermore, students with good programming skills favor working individually, while students who attribute themselves having low programming abilities favor working in teams. The students appreciated approaching actual research through the data analysis tasks.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Erdmann, R. Fischer, C. Glaser, et. al.
Thu, 13 Feb 14
8/44

A Thousand Problems in Cosmology: Interaction in the Dark Sector [CL]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1312.6556


This is one chapter of the collection of problems in cosmology, in which we assemble the problems that concern one of the most distinctive features of modern cosmology—the interaction in the Dark Sector. The evolution of any broadly applied model is accompanied by multiple generalizations that aim to resolve conceptual difficulties and to explain the ever-growing pool of observational data. In the case of Standard Cosmological Model one of the most promising directions of generalization is replacement of the cosmological constant with a more complicated, dynamic, form of dark energy and incorporation of interaction between the dark components—dark energy (DE) and dark matter (DM). Typically, DE models are based on scalar fields minimally coupled to gravity, and do not implement explicit coupling of the field to the background DM. However, there is no fundamental reason for this assumption in the absence of an underlying symmetry which would suppress the coupling. Given that we do not know the true nature of either DE or DM, we cannot exclude the possibility that there is some kind of coupling between them. Whereas interactions between DE and normal matter particles are heavily constrained by observations (e.g. in the solar system and gravitational experiments on Earth), this is not the case for DM particles. In other words, it is possible for the dark components to interact with each other while not being coupled to standard model particles. Therefore, the possibility of DE-DM interaction should be investigated with utmost gravity.
This version contains only formulations of 117 problems. The full collection, with solutions included, is available in the form of a wiki-based resource at universeinproblems.com. The cosmological community is welcome to contribute to its development.

Read this paper on arXiv…

Tue, 24 Dec 13
7/48

Imaging the Moon II: Webcam CCD observations & analysis (a two week lab for non-majors) [CL]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1312.1788


Presented is a successful two week lab involving real sky observations of the Moon in which students make telescopic observations and analyze their own images. Originally developed around the 35 mm film camera as a common household object adapted for astronomical work, the lab transitioned to use the webcam as film photography evolved into an obscure specialty technology and increasing numbers of students had little familiarity with it. The printed circuit board with the CCD is harvested from a retail webcam and affixed to a tube to mount on a telescope in place of an eyepiece. Image frames are compiled to form a lunar mosaic and crater sizes are measured. Students also work through the logistical steps of telescope time assignment and scheduling, keeping to schedule and working with uncertainties of weather, in ways paralleling research observations. Because there is no need for a campus observatory, this lab can be replicated at a wide variety of institutions.

Read this paper on arXiv…

Mon, 9 Dec 13
21/49

Evaluation of a College Freshman Diversity Research Program [IMA]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1311.5486


Since 2005, the Pre-Major in Astronomy Program (Pre-MAP) at the University of Washington (UW) Department of Astronomy has made a concentrated effort to recruit and retain underrepresented undergraduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This paper evaluates Pre-MAP in the context of the larger UW student population using data compiled by the University’s student database. We evaluate the Pre-MAP program in terms of our goals of recruiting a more diverse population than the University and in terms of a higher fraction of students successfully completing degrees. We find that Pre-MAP serves a higher percentage of underrepresented minorities and equal percentages of women compared to entering freshmen classes at UW. Additionally, Pre-MAP has a higher percentage of degree completion with higher average GPA’s and similar time to completion when compared to UW as a whole and other STEM majors, particularly with students that place into lower-level math courses (such as basic algebra or pre-calculus).

Read this paper on arXiv…

Fri, 22 Nov 13
44/66

The occultation of Arcturus in the Vatican [IMA]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1310.6557


The dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica plays the role of the Moon during a stellar occultation and Arcturus is the target star. This occultation-like phenomenon is useful for introducing to occultation astronomy a class of student up to university level. It can be organized very easily at the convenience of the audience. Techical and didactical aspects are discussed; the video is available at this http URL and has been realized with an ordinary camcorder.

Read this paper on arXiv…

Date added: Fri, 25 Oct 13

A Thousand Problems in Cosmology: Horizons [CL]

Posted on by

http://arxiv.org/abs/1310.6329


This is one chapter of the collection of problems in cosmology, in which we assemble the problems that concern one of the most distinctive features of general relativity and cosmology—the horizons.
The first part gives an elementary introduction into the concept in the cosmological context, then we move to more formal exposition of the subject and consider first simple, and then composite models, such as $\Lambda$CDM. The fourth section elevates the rigor one more step and explores the causal structure of different simple cosmological models in terms of conformal diagrams. The section on black holes relates the general scheme of constructing conformal diagrams for stationary black hole spacetimes. The consequent parts focus on more specific topics, such as the various problems regarding the Hubble sphere, inflation and holography.
This version contains only formulations of 97 problems. The full collection, with solutions included, is available in the form of a wiki-based resource at this http URL The cosmological community is welcome to contribute to its development.

Read this paper on arXiv…

Date added: Thu, 24 Oct 13