400 Years of the Telescope: Technology Shapes Society

Southern Oregon Public Television, Medford OR

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract: 400 Years of the Telescope is an interactive, multimedia projects that will provide an integrated set of informal science learning experiences that will enable the public to participate in real and virtual telescope experiences, understand the far reaching advances that the telescope has made possible, and discover how technology, science, and society are interconnected. Partners include PBS (Southern Oregon Public Television - SOPTV), Interstellar Studios, Leading astronomers and science writers, and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP)and two of the United States' premier planetariums: Carnegie Science Center (Buhl Planetarium) and 'Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai'i. Deliverables include a two-hour, high-definition documentary, airing twice on PBS in 2009, as a kick-off to the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009), a full-dome and traditional 30 minute planetarium program available in 12 foreign languages, with free national and international distribution to 750 planetariums; a Website, and Community Events providing personalized telescopic experiences via events on site at science centers nationwide. The evaluator is the Institute for Learning Innovation.