National High School Space Weather Network

University Of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY HEMISPHERE: Developing a National High School Magnetometer Array. We propose to offer schools across the country the opportunity to measure and experiment with Earth's natural environment, to contribute data to the nation's space weather program, and to have effective teaching tools to educate young scientists about the space environment. We have developed a relatively inexpensive, robust, sensitive magnetometer in kit form that can be purchased and distributed to schools, assembled by students, then set up and used to take research-quality data. Teachers will be trained in their operation and how to use them in classroom activities that demonstrate "space-weather." The data will be transmitted through a Web-based database, so that students can compare their local readings with those of students at other sites around the continent and can be used by university and other researchers to study geomagnetic Ultra-Low Frequency (ULF) waves. Low- to mid- latitude magnetic pulsations provide important information about the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction and the dynamic coupling of the magnetosphere and ionosphere. The magnetic variations observable at low to mid latitudes include: Pc 3-4 pulsations (periods of 10-45 s), which are thought to have their source in the upstream bow shock and or magnetosheath; and Pi 2 bursts (damped pulsations with 40-150-s periods) which are associated with substorm expansion onsets. This proposal seeks funding to train Master High School science teachers in the use of induction coil magnetometers, provide the basic space science content needed for the understanding of magnetic pulsation data in space physics research, and develop mentoring relationships between space physicists and local high school science teachers and their students. These relationships will allow the magnetometer data to be fully utilized both scientifically as well as educationally. Specifically we plan to develop the documentation for the magnetometer, training material for testing the instrument, and educational material for using the instrument in the classroom. This material will be the basis for a one-week teacher workshop at UCLA bringing together six geographically diverse science teachers that have already gone through a space weather workshop at NOAA Space Environment Center in order to train them as Master Teachers in the use and implementation of the magnetometer. This project directly impacts pre-college education by providing High Schools with real-life space physics instrumentation and ULF data for analysis.