The Pulsar Search Collaboratory

The Pulsar Search Collaboratory PSC NSF #0737641 is a joint project between the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and West Virginia University designed to interest high school students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics related career paths by helping them to conduct authentic scientific research. The 3 year PSC program, which began in the summer of 2008, teaches students to analyze astronomical radio data acquired with the 100 m Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope for the purpose of discovering new pulsars. We present the results of the first complete year of the PSC, which includes two astronomical discoveries

Skynet Junior Scholars: Bringing Astronomy to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Youth

Skynet Junior Scholars (SJS), funded by the National Science Foundation, aims to engage middle school youth from diverse audiences in investigating the universe with research quality robotic telescopes. SJS project development goals include: 1) Online access to optical and radio telescopes, data analysis tools, and professional astronomers, 2) An age-appropriate web-based interface for controlling remote telescopes, 3) Inquiry-based standards-aligned instructional modules. From an accessibility perspective, the goal of the Skynet Junior Scholars project is to facilitate independent access to the project by all youth including those with blindness or low vision and those who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) students have long been an underserved population within STEM fields, including astronomy. Two main barriers include: (1) insufficient corpus of American Sign Language (ASL) for astronomy terminology, and (2) DHH education professionals who lack astronomy background. A suite of vocabulary, accessible hands-on activities, and interaction with trained professionals, are critical for enhancing the background experiences of DHH youth, as they may come to an astronomy lesson lacking the basic "incidental learning" that is often taken for granted with hearing peers (for example, from astronomy in the media).A collaboration between the Skynet Junior Scholars (SJS) project and the Wisconsin School for the Deaf is bringing astronomy to the DHH community in an accessible way for the first time. We follow a group of seven DHH youth over one semester as they interact with the SJS tools and curriculum to understand how they assimilate astronomy experiences and benefit from access to telescopes both directly (on school campus and at Yerkes Observatory) and through Skynet's robotic telescope network (optical and radio telescopes, inquiry-based modules, data analysis tools, and professional astronomers). We report on our first findings of resources and best practices for engaging DHH youth in astronomy in the future

The Pulsar Search Collaboratory: Discovery and Timing of Five New Pulsars

We present the discovery and timing solutions of five new pulsars by students involved in the Pulsar Search Collaboratory, a NSF-funded joint program between the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and West Virginia University designed to excite and engage high-school students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and related fields. We encourage students to pursue STEM fields by apprenticing them within a professional scientific community doing cutting edge research, specifically by teaching them to search for pulsars. The students are analyzing 300 hr of drift-scan survey data taken with the Green Bank Telescope at 350 MHz. These data cover 2876 deg2 of the sky.Over the course of five years, more than 700 students have inspected diagnostic plots through a web-based graphical interface designed for this project. The five pulsars discovered in the data have spin periods ranging from 3.1 ms to 4.8 s. Among the new discoveries are PSR J1926−1314, a long period, nulling pulsar; PSR J1821+0155, an isolated, partially recycled 33 ms pulsar; and PSR J1400−1438, a millisecond pulsar in a 9.5 day orbit whose companion is likely a white dwarf star

Skynet Junior Scholars - From Idea to Enactment Tales from the Trenches III: Implementing SJS in Out-of-School Time Settings

The creators of Skynet Junior Scholars were ambitious to say the least when they set out to:- Develop online tools that enable middle school and high school aged youth to use robotic optical and radio telescopes to do astronomy- Create an inquiry-based curriculum that promotes critical thinking and scientific habits of mind- Proactively incorporate Principles of Universal Design in all SJS development tasks to ensure access by blind/low vision and deaf/hard of hearing youth- Prepare 180 adult youth leaders from diverse backgrounds including 4-H leaders, museum educators, amateur astronomers and teachers to facilitate SJS activities in a variety of settings.So, after three years of development, how is SJS actually working? In this paper we describe what it takes for a successful implementation of Skynet Junior Scholars, from the viewpoint of adult leaders in the trenches who work with youth at schools but in free-choice learning environments. What are the lessons learned in recruiting and engaging youth in observational astronomy projects when academic incentives like grades are no longer part of the equation? Stories and ideas will be presented from classroom teachers, informal educators and amateur astronomers who work with youth in this environment.Skynet Junior Scholars is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers 1223687, 1223235 and 1223345