Sharing the Universe

Astronomical Society Of The Pacific, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Abstract

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) and the Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI) will conduct a research and implementation project to explore the educational potential of club-affiliated amateur astronomers to engage the public in informal astronomy experiences. Some 20% of amateur astronomers already share their passion through public outreach. The goal of this project is to harness and amplify this existing outreach enthusiasm in order to encourage a greater number of interested amateurs to do more frequent and more effective educational outreach with a larger number and diversity of public audiences. Deliverables include: (1) Phase 1 research with 10 clubs to examine in-depth the characteristics of successful outreach-oriented amateur astronomy clubs; (2) strategies for transferring this effective outreach culture to other clubs through tools, partnerships, and a community of practice; (3) a Phase 2 research study with a core group of 20 clubs to determine the degree to which these interventions promote an outreach culture; and (4) implementation of tested outreach strategies within 200 clubs across the U.S. and an analysis of implications for hobbyists in other disciplines as facilitators for science learning in everyday settings. The project builds on the ASP?s NSF planning grant ( DRL 0002694) which surveyed the outreach practices of amateur astronomers. Partners in addition to ILI include a Planning Consortium of amateur astronomy outreach leaders, and key stakeholders in the astronomy and science education community: the Astronomical League (AL), National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), and the New Jersey Astronomy Center for Education (NJACE). Professional astronomers, informal educators, diversity specialists, sociologists, and hobbyist and citizen science experts serve as advisors. Approximately 4,400 amateur astronomers in 200 clubs will provide informal astronomy experiences to more than one million Americans as a result of the four-year grant. Intended outcomes are to: (1) increase the educational impact of public engagements by amateur astronomers; (2) increase the frequency of public engagements per amateur and per club; and (3) broaden the variety of events and diversity of public outreach venues in order to reach non-traditional audiences such as women, Hispanics, African-Americans, and inner city youth. Five years post- award , the project expects to improve the outreach activities of 9,000 interested amateur astronomers in 450 clubs (nearly doubling current efforts), thereby improving their interaction with a public audience of nearly five million. Evaluation by Inverness Research Associates will study the degree to which the interventions developed and tested as part of this project impacted amateurs? ability and commitment to conduct more and better outreach. It is anticipated that this project will provide deep insights into the culture and educational potential of amateur astronomers as volunteer free-choice educators. The research will also study for the first time in a controlled environment the degree to which ?outreach amateur astronomers? (those amateur astronomers who consistently participate in public outreach) contribute to increased public attentiveness to astronomy. Outcomes will be disseminated to professional societies, the broader informal science education field, and other club-based organizations (such as birding clubs) that would like to expand their capacity to educate the public.