USING INTERNET-BASED ROBOTIC TELESCOPES TO ENGAGE NON-SCIENCE MAJORS IN ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATION PRELIMINARY DATA PRESENTATION—KATIE BERRYHILL

PURPOSE  Field-testing perceived value to students of conducting simple astronomical observations of their own using internet-based robotic telescopes

RESEARCH QUESTION To what extent do students prefer an astronomical image that they have taken themselves compared to an image of the same object taken by a professional telescope or spacecraft?

POTENTIAL FINDINGS? Students definitely prefer their own images Students definitely prefer the professional “pretty pictures” Or responses could be equivocal Potential for difference between online and on-ground student responses

CURRENT AND FUTURE PARTICIPANT POOLS 16 students in online class—Assignment officially due this Sunday Four participants have completed pre-activity survey One participant has completed post-activity survey Three more online classes (23 students each) will begin assignment at the end of December, January, and February, respectively On-ground class at UW in spring semester

PRE-ACTIVITY SURVEY Had you had any experience with telescopes for astronomical observation prior to this class? Please briefly describe your prior telescope experience. What does a telescope do? Have you ever done any astrophotography (capturing a photographic image of the night sky with or without a telescope)? Please briefly describe any astrophotography experience. Images from professional telescopes and spacecraft are available on the Internet and are often published in print media. How often, if at all, have you looked at these images? List 5-8 words that come to your mind when you think of these professional astronomical images. Is this your first astronomy class? Gender Age

(VERY) PRELIMINARY RESULTS—4 PARTICIPANTS Prior experience 1 – Museum/star party with explainer present 2 – Someone else’s telescope w/out explainer present 3 – Had/used own telescope as a kid 0 – Currently have/use own telescope 0 – None Question also had open-ended response I have used telescopes at friends houses and I used a very nice one in New Mexico at the Bosque del Apache star education party. Just mostly when I was a kid, I used to look up at the night sky. I used a cheap telescope as a child to observe the moon as well as a few stars. The telescope was quite inferior, the only things I could observe were the neighborhood street lights.

(VERY) PRELIMINARY RESULTS—4 PARTICIPANTS What does a telescope do? A telescope brings otherwise unobservable objects into focus. Depending on the strength of the telescope those objects may be several light years away or just a few months, i.e. Mars. It magnifies a distant object you are looking at. A telescope allows us to see objects very far away, allowing us to study these objects for research. It concentrates/ focuses the visible light of interstellar objects

Astrophotography experience? None Frequency of looking at professional/spacecraft images in print/online 3 – I enjoy looking at them, but I don’t seek them out 1 – Frequently, I seek them out First astronomy class? 4 – Yes Gender 2 – Male 2 – Female Age 1 – – (VERY) PRELIMINARY RESULTS—4 PARTICIPANTS

POST-ACTIVITY SURVEY Please describe your opinion of the activity. What did you like about it? What did you not like about it? Did you successfully make an image during the activity? List 5-8 words that come to your mind when you look at your image. At the end of the laboratory activity, you were asked to find an image of the object that you had previously photographed. This second image was taken by either a spacecraft or a professional telescope. List 5-8 words that come to your mind when you look at the image taken by a spacecraft or professional telescope. Compare your image to the spacecraft’s image. What do you think when you see these two images next to each other? If you were going to show a friend or family member a picture of this object, which of these images would you use? Do you think this activity might influence how often you seek out news about astronomy?

(VERY) PRELIMINARY RESULTS—1 PARTICIPANT Opinion of activity I really liked this activity. The only problem I had was that the Windows version on my computer does not support the FIT format. 5-8 words about own image I wish the crab Nebula was a little more detailed 5-8 words about professional image of same object absolutely breath-taking, amazing Compare the two images My image is a zoomed-out version of the professional image Which would you show to a friend/family member? Why? Professional image; Professional image is a clearer picture of the nebula Will activity influence frequency of seeking out astronomy news? Yes, I’ll look for astronomy news and images more often.

THOUGHTS… Need to know more about technology issue with Windows Software issues were one predicted limitation of study Did participant not feel strongly about image due to tech issue? Question wording issue? Why did participant answer with sentence instead of 5-8 discrete words Participation issue No incentive to complete surveys, students don’t often do “extra” work Is resolution of professional images enough to outweigh any “ownership” preference? Would it be better to provide professional images that aren’t Hubble quality instead of having students seek out their own?