6.
Informal Education Institutions
Much
of the learning of astronomy in this country is done outside the
formal classroom, in institutions and through organizations that
sometimes interact with the schools (through class visits, for example)
and sometimes act independently. These include planetaria, science
museums, observatory visitor centers, NASA facilities, youth groups,
and many similar organizations. I can examine each category only
briefly here, and want to comment mainly on the organizational strengths
that they bring to the task of astronomy education.
A.
Planetaria
There
are approximately 1,100 planetaria in North America, visited by
millions of people each year.) About 30% of these serve school groups
only, while about 60% do both school and public shows. For many
youngsters, a planetarium visit is their first (and in some cases
only) introduction to astronomy. The quality of this introduction
can vary widely, depending on the skill and background of the presenter
and how the planetarium environment is used. Nevertheless, most
children have a fond recollection of their planetarium experience,
and for many children in cities, it may be the only time they really
experience a dark night sky.
Planetarium
educators are organized into a number of regional organizations,
and into the International Planetarium Society (although not everyone
belongs to these groups.) My main observation of the field is that
planetarium educators tend to be somewhat isolated from the astronomy
research and even college education community; this can occasionally
lead to some problems in keeping up with current science, but I
don't think these are a major cause for concern. More important
is a sense that planetarium educators get of being peripheral to
astronomy, despite the large numbers of people for whom they serve
as primary contact with the world of astronomy. I think it would
be very useful for the main astronomical societies to make more
of an effort to involve and get involved with the planetarium enterprise;
the AAS has recently taken some first steps in this direction.
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B.
Museums
Many
science museums have astronomy exhibits, where visitors can read
or participate in activities relating to astronomy or at least space
exploration. Many museums also sponsor youth and education programs
after school or on weekends. As in planetaria, there are many museum
visitors who are first exposed to modern astronomy through such
programs. Science museum educators also have an organization, called
the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC), with offices
in Washington. The same comments I made above for planetaria would
apply to astronomy staff at many science museums as well. And astronomers
and astronomy research institutions could interact profitably with
a local science museum from time to time. The museum could gain
access to recent results, images, and surplus equipment, while the
astronomy institutions could gain local exposure and be able to
demonstrate their commitment to public education to funding agencies.
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C.
Observatory Visitor Centers
A
number of the major observatories are expanding or introducing visitors
centers at their sites, many of which have an educational as well
as a tourist component. Some of these centers accommodate a large
number of visitors; for example, the National Optical Astronomy
Observatory center on Kitt Peak has some 100,000 visitors per year.
An especially good center has been built at the Lowell Observatory,
where you can experience a computer simulation of a night at the
observatory. A new center has been put in at Arecibo in Puerto Rico,
with bilingual educational programs. Of course, there are budget
problems that prevent much expansion in this area, but my feeling
is that more cooperation among observatories and more communication
among those of us working in astronomy education would have a salutary
effect on these efforts.
Another
aspect of the work of observatories is responding to requests for
information from the public. Some observatories have developed excellent
materials of their own, others use the materials developed by such
groups as the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, NASA, NOAO, and
Sky & Telescope magazine. It would be helpful to have a national
database of available resources for those whose responsibility is
responding to public inquiries.
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D.
NASA Centers and Divisions
NASA
has extensive efforts to help in science education, on many fronts,
but the agency is so large, and has so many centers and divisions
that the education situation is complicated. My impression is that
even NASA people don't know what all the different branches, missions,
and centers are doing, and there still much less coordination among
the many different programs than an outside observer might expect.
NASA's
Education Division produces a lot of educational materials, mostly
about space flight, but some about astronomy and space science.
But because of government regulations that prevent the government
from competing with private industry, NASA distributes these materials
according to rules that can only be described as quantum mechanical.
If you happen to be at the right place at the right time, you can
get it free; if not, you probably can't even learn the material
exists. No database exists of these materials (at least as far as
I can find) and no one seems to be responsible for keeping the best
ones in print or updated.
NASA
supports a wide-spread network of K-12 teacher resource centers
in a variety of locations around the country (the centers are of
varying size, quality, and effectiveness). The best of them are
at the NASA Centers themselves and can be important sources of information
and visuals for teachers about NASA programs for educators. There
is also a national network of Space Grant Colleges and Universities
whose educational programs also can vary all over the map in approach
and effectiveness.
In
part out of frustration with the Education Division, and in part
in response to Congressional pressure and its own interest in education,
the NASA's Office of Space Science (OSS) has in recent years already
undertaken an independent series of initiatives in education, which
include giving several million to the Space Telescope Science Institute
for public outreach and instituting a series of small grants for
educational projects called the IDEA grant program. These smaller
IDEA grants have been awarded to a number of astronomy and space
science institutions over the last few years, but there has been
little evaluation of the effectiveness of the grants or widespread
dissemination of the resulting materials.
Recently,
as we have pointed out, NASA has begun requiring that all new missions
have a built-in education component, and it will be interesting
to see whether and how the resulting infusion of funds will change
the way space science education is done in this country. The concern
that some of us have is that many NASA projects are simply striking
off on their own, and not coordinating, and often can spend their
resources creating materials for which the demand exists mostly
in the imagination of the scientists, not in the real classrooms
of this country. (How much demand is there really for information
on anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background at the 4th grade
level?)
But
now, a very welcome program which involves both coordination and
leveraging of OSS educational resources is being put in place under
the directorship of Dr. Jeff Rosendhal. Two reports, Partners in
Education: A Strategy for Integrating Education and Public Outreach
into NASA's Space Science Programs (Mar. 1995) and Implementing
the Office of Space Science Education/Public Outreach Strategy (Oct.
1996) have been issued and are well worth reading for their analysis
of the situation and novel proposals. OSS has just established a
network of educational forums and brokers/facilitators around the
country - institutions which will work to coordinate and leverage
the work and materials that individuals or groups produce in astronomy
and space science education to make sure they reach the widest audiences.
It will be very interesting to see how these NASA initiatives will
play out in the years to come. In the past, NASA has often played
the "Lone Ranger" in science education - proceeding as if no one
else existed in this field. The new era of cooperation and coordination
that seems on the horizon may mean that everyone - NASA and the
rest of us - will benefit from the sharing of resources and ideas.
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E.
Other Institutions
Other
astronomy education programs that take place outside the formal
school systems include the Challenger Centers with their space flight
simulators for kids; the Young Astronauts clubs around the country,
which occasionally do astronomy activities; scout and other youth
groups, which have inspired many youngsters through astronomy merit
badges and similar programs; and summer astronomy and space science
camps, such as the one Don McCarthy and his colleagues have been
running at the University of Arizona.
In
response to some of the crises in K-12 education that I discussed
above, a number of interesting grass-roots efforts are springing
up to supplement science in the schools with after-school and summer
activities, sometimes in connection with a local science center,
youth group, or community organization. At the present time, there
is unfortunately no central clearing house that would keep track
of and disseminate the results of such efforts or coordinate their
activities.
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