TCA #37 - A Cosmic Partnership - A University-Library Cooperative for Caregivers and Children 4-7 Years Old; +5 more [Oct. 11, 2022, Paid Post]

Reporter's Notebooks (CAP and DPS)--Astronomy at Libraries, Careful Color Graphics, Pluto in Crisis Video (+Advice on Making Your Own Videos); Sky Lessons--Orionids, and Making Questions from Craters

Cover Photo - Astronomy for Families

In This Issue:

• Cover Photo - Astronomy for Families

• Welcome to Issue 37!
  - Online Sky Events Calendar on The Galactic Times

• Perceptions of Outreach - Results of a Survey

• Astronomical Teachniques
  CAPping off CAP: Reporter’s Notes
  - Not All Color Graphics Are Equal
  - A Cosmic Partnership - A University-Library Cooperative for Caregivers and Children 4-7 Years Old (Cover Story)

• Connections to the Sky
  - Pluto In Crisis

• Sky Lessons -
  - What Kinds of Questions Can You Get from Making Craters from Meteors?

• The Galactic Times #33 Highlights
  

Welcome to The Classroom Astronomer Newsletter-Inbox Magazine #37 !

Finishing up our reporting of the Communicating Astronomy with the Public (CAP) conference in Sydney, I also add in a report on outreach as seen by the AAS Division for Planetary Scientists (DPS). This issue includes a look at a program in the UK where a university partnered with libraries in low-income neighborhoods to improve attitudes with both kids and caregivers about STEM, and two looks at making sure both your graphics and your instructional videos have images and storylines that don’t confuse the issues that you are trying to teach.

Our Sky Lesson this month is on the Orionid meteors but even more on questions that come up with craters that meteors that can make. We “bomb the Moon” and seek the different levels of questions you can have from your students, and try to raise up their levels with your particular questions.

Finally, since it is always good to know what’s going up in the sky, we have installed an online Calendar of (mostly) Sky Events on our sister publication The Galactic Time’s homepage, www.thegalactictimes.com . The material origin is mostly from the Sky Planning Calendar of TGT, some of which is often enlarged into TCA’s Sky Lessons column. We’ve managed to get most of our training bugs worked out and we’ll be adding artwork and graphics in the future but the calendar can be viewed online and imported into Google Calendars and others! Here is an illustration of the text version of the calendar, which you can reach at the above web address, then choosing the the leftmost menu choice, and from its drop down menu, choosing its last option.

- - -

School is now in session. A hot topic is atomic and stellar spectroscopy. Do you want an easier way to see gas tube spectra that doesn’t involve those plastic triangular spectroscopes, with the film that gets out of place, with scales that should be by sine-theta instead of theta, and you look at both the target without aiming in one direction yet squinting for the spectrum in another? Then you should purchase a set of The Classroom Astronomer’s Spectrum Viewers for Elements, Mixtures and Molecules! It has 15 common gas tube spectra, photographed through the same film, printed on both sides for reference, with a large viewing window.

For more information and purchase links, go to https://www.hermograph.com/spectrumviewers.

- - -

Key websites: Homepage for The Classroom Astronomer, with its index to all Inbox Magazine issues’ contents, by celestial object, educational subject area, grade level or venue, and with complete Tables of Contents:

https://www.classroomastronomer.com

. Not a Full Paid Subscriber? Become one by putting your email in the box below (and then you’ll have access to the Archive of all past issues!).

The ultimate home of our Universe — Hermograph Press — has its homepage at: www.hermograph.com and its Store, for educational materials and books, at: www.hermograph.com/store .

- - -

Thanks for subscribing!

Publisher -- Dr. Larry Krumenaker

---

Perceptions of Outreach - Results of a Survey

There was surprisingly(?) few educational sessions at the AAS Division for Planetary Sciences meeting last week. The only significant one of note to me was on attitudes about outreach among those planetary scientists who do outreach, a report of a survey by Sanlyn Buxner of the Planetary Science Institute (along with Chris Mead and Andrew Shaner).

This survey of 100 respondents to a survey of 254 scientists looked at scientists’ motivations to do outreach, their barriers and their challenges. Also, what kinds of training would they like to see in support of outreach in the future.

Primary Results

More than 50% want to do more outreach.
Almost 50% say they are not satisfied with the types of outreach they are given to do.
Two-thirds have had no professional development on doing outreach.

Motivations, in descending order—

A sense of duty (give back to the community).
Increase public knowledge and excitement.
Ensure people are informed about science issues.
Get people to appreciate the role of science in daily life.
Correct misinformation.
Ensure culture values science, and people use science to make better decisions.
Encourage girls and minorities and children to pursue science.