Education and Public Outreach at the Soudan Underground Lab

通过这笔奖励，将为苏丹矿地下实验室的公共推广计划提供部分支持，该实验室是该国唯一的地下高能粒子物理和天体物理设施。该实验室设在明尼苏达州立公园内，每年约有4000名游客在2341英尺的地下探险，参观该设施、MINOS和CDMS-II实验，并了解中微子和暗物质。拟议的工作是让两名高中理科教师和两名本科生实习生整个夏天在实验室工作，以及一名外展协调员，他将全年做出贡献。他们的主要职责是帮助提供每天两次的“物理之旅”，并向公园的游客解释实验室和科学。然后，他们利用这些经验和他们的科学教育技能来改进实验室的外展计划，并制定教案和教材，供在学年访问实验室进行实地考察的许多学校团体使用。他们还参与了实验室中的实验研究项目，包括MINOS和CDMS。这些资金还将支持一年一度的开放参观活动。自1989年以来的大部分时间里，该实验室都是开放的，在春季的一天里免费向整个社区开放。参与的科学家们在实验室里设置了特别的展台，并带着数百名参观者参观了实验室。这使该实验室在社区中获得了高度积极的形象，并分享了科学知识。编制的海报和教育材料可在网站上查阅，并在全年使用。

With this award funds are provided for partial support of the public outreach program at the Soudan Mine Underground Laboratory, the country's only operational underground high energy particle physics and astrophysics facility. The Lab is hosted in a Minnesota State Park, where each year about 4,000 of the Park's visitors venture 2,341 feet underground to see the facility, the MINOS and CDMS-II experiments, and to learn about neutrinos and Dark Matter. The proposed work is for two high school science teachers and two undergraduate interns to work in the lab over the summer, and an outreach coordinator who will contribute year round. Their primary duty is to help give the twice-daily "physics tours" and explain the lab and the science to visitors of the park. They then use this experience and their science education skills to improve the lab's outreach program and develop lesson plans and educational materials for use by the many school groups which visit the lab on field trips during the school year. They also participate in research projects with the experiments in the lab including MINOS and CDMS. The funds will also support the annual Open House. Most years since 1989, the lab has been open, free to the community at large for a day in the spring. Special displays are set up and hundreds of visitors are shown around the lab by the participating scientists. This gives the lab a high, positive profile in the community as well as share the science. The posters and educational materials developed are available on the website and used throughout the year.