Discovery-Based Student Learning with the Haystack 37-m Radio Telescope

利用 Haystack 37 米射电望远镜进行基于发现的学生学习

• 批准号: 1503793
• 负责人: Lynn Matthews
• 金额: $ 24.97万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-15 至 2019-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1503793&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Discovery; Based; Student; Learning; Haystack

This project will support the development of a national program of undergraduate STEM education through hands-on access to a world-class astronomical instrument. The program will expose students to a broad range of core science and engineering topics and techniques by means of direct participation in real-world research. The potency of curiosity-driven learning will be exploited to educate and motivate both future researchers and students destined for careers in industries that depend on core STEM competencies.This project funds a 2-year pilot study to implement student research projects at the 37-meter radio telescope of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Haystack Observatory. During this pilot, a cost-effective remote observing capability for the antenna will be developed and tested, opening up access to the telescope to a diverse body of students from institutes of higher learning. Participation in this program will expose students and instructors to current problems in astronomy and astrophysics and allow the establishment of linkages between basic physics, mathematics, and engineering concepts and their application to solving real-world problems. Tutorials, instructional materials, and data reduction tools will be developed and improved with feedback from students and participating instructors. The student research carried out under this program will produce scientific data capable of advancing diverse areas of astrophysics, including astrochemistry, star formation, and stellar evolution. Examples of specific project topics include hydrogen recombination line spectra and astronomical masers. This program will provide an avenue to carry out original research to a wide range of students, including those at two-year colleges and non-research universities who do not presently have access to such opportunities. It will also provide an innovative means for college and university instructors to incorporate discovery-based research into STEM curricula. Educators of underrepresented groups have been recruited to participate, starting with the development and testing stages. Development work carried out under this project will provide opportunities for STEM students in the Research Experience for Undergraduates program.

该项目将通过亲自接触世界一流的天文仪器来支持国家本科STEM教育计划的发展。该计划将通过直接参与现实世界的研究，使学生接触到广泛的核心科学和工程主题和技术。好奇心驱动学习的潜力将被利用来教育和激励未来的研究人员和学生，他们注定要在依赖STEM核心能力的行业中从事职业生涯。该项目资助了一项为期2年的试点研究，以在马萨诸塞州理工学院的Haystack天文台的37米射电望远镜上实施学生研究项目。在这一试点期间，将开发和测试天线的具有成本效益的远程观测能力，使来自高等院校的各种学生都能使用望远镜。参与该计划将使学生和教师了解天文学和天体物理学中的当前问题，并允许建立基础物理，数学和工程概念及其应用之间的联系，以解决现实世界的问题。将根据学生和参与教师的反馈开发和改进教程、教学材料和数据简化工具。根据该计划进行的学生研究将产生能够推进天体物理学各个领域的科学数据，包括天体化学，星星形成和恒星演化。具体项目主题的例子包括氢复合线光谱和天文脉泽。该计划将为广泛的学生提供开展原创研究的途径，包括那些目前没有机会获得此类机会的两年制学院和非研究型大学的学生。它还将为学院和大学教师提供一种创新手段，将基于发现的研究纳入STEM课程。从开发和测试阶段开始，已招募代表性不足群体的教育工作者参与。在该项目下进行的开发工作将为STEM学生提供本科生研究经验计划的机会。