Engaging the Public with Solar Eclipses Through Mini-Grants

通过小额赠款让公众参与日食

• 批准号: 2318745
• 负责人: Kevin Marvel
• 金额: $ 37.47万
• 依托单位: American Astronomical Society
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-10-01 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318745&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Engaging; Public; Solar; Eclipses; Through

This project aims to serve the national interest by using upcoming solar eclipses to advance the public understanding of science. Two major solar eclipses are coming to North America: an annular solar eclipse on October 14, 2023, and a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. These events provide excellent opportunities for science education and outreach to students, teachers, and the general public. The investigators will operate a "mini-grants program" to support geographically broad efforts to engage people in the excitement of the eclipses and the science surrounding them. This effort will be based on a similar mini-grants program (supported by NSF Award DUE-1564535) that the investigators ran for the total solar eclipse in August 2017. The activities supported by those mini-grants reached approximately 29,000 members of the public.Using groundwork laid by the American Astronomical Society's (AAS) Solar Eclipse Task Force (SETF), the investigators will advertise the mini-grants program widely and invite short proposals from nonprofit organizations (primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, public libraries, community groups, etc.) to engage local communities in educational activities and citizen science associated with the eclipses. Proposals might include, for example, building Sun-Earth-Moon models to explain the geometry of the eclipse, constructing pinhole viewers or other safe observing equipment, hosting observing events, or providing professional development for teachers. A major priority will be projects that will reach a diverse array of individuals, especially individuals from groups historically underrepresented in STEM. The mini-grant proposals will be reviewed by a committee of experts (primarily from the SETF), and approximately 40 mini-grants (the majority under $5,000) will be awarded. The mini-grant recipients will be required to collect data on the participants in their projects and to participate in a systematic evaluation of the impact of the projects. An SETF member will be assigned to each mini-grant recipient to serve as a liaison, and the mini-grant recipients will participate in a forum following the eclipses to share the results of their projects.This award is co-funded by the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) in the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU), the Division of Astronomical Sciences (AST) in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), and the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS) in the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目旨在通过利用即将到来的日食来促进公众对科学的理解，从而为国家利益服务。两个主要的日食即将来到北美：2023年10月14日的日环食和2024年4月8日的日全食。这些活动为科学教育和向学生、教师和公众宣传提供了极好的机会。研究人员将实施一项“小额资助计划”，以支持地理上广泛的努力，让人们参与日食及其周围科学的兴奋。这项工作将基于一个类似的小额赠款计划（由NSF Award DUE-1564535支持），该计划是研究人员在2017年8月为日全食进行的。利用美国天文学会（AAS）日食工作组（SETF）的基础工作，调查人员将广泛宣传小额赠款计划，并邀请非营利组织（中小学、学院和大学、公共图书馆、社区团体等）提交简短的建议书。让当地社区参与与日食相关的教育活动和公民科学。建议可能包括，例如，建立太阳-地球-月球模型来解释日食的几何形状，建造针孔观察器或其他安全的观测设备，举办观测活动，或为教师提供专业发展。一个主要的优先事项将是项目，将达到各种各样的个人，特别是个人从群体的历史上代表性不足的干。小额赠款提案将由一个专家委员会（主要来自SETF）进行审查，并将颁发约40份小额赠款（大多数低于5，000美元）。小额赠款接受者将被要求收集关于其项目参与者的数据，并参与对项目影响的系统评价。SETF成员将被分配给每个小额赠款获得者作为联络人，小额赠款获得者将参加日食后的论坛，分享他们的项目成果。该奖项由STEM教育局（EDU）本科教育处（DUE），数学和物理科学局（MPS）天文科学处（AST），该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。