1. Science education trough cosmic ray experiments in high schools Carpathian Summer School of Physics 2007 Sinaia, Romania, August 20th-31st, 2007 V. Popa, ISS Bucharest

2. The basic idea: involve high school students and teachers in a network of “simple-minded”, easy to build, maintain and use, Cosmic Ray Detectors. Make science education, but also research, by expanding the network at a large scale. The original idea was implemented from ’98 by the Alberta University, Edmonton, Canada (Jim Pinfold): ALTA (Alberta Large Time Coincidence Array).

3. DAQ Plastic scintillator PM LED GPS Local station Central (cluster) control ?

4. Properties an ALTA-like Detector LOCAL COINCIDENCE obtained using local system and hardwired electronics. Allows pointing of shower direction to  2->3 degrees. GPS TIME STAMP is obtained when a local coincidence occurs. Timing is good to ~15 ns MIP SENSITIVITY. Each detector should respond to a single MIP. ENERGY THRESHOLD for a local detector with a 10m triangle is 10 14 eV (from Corsika) OFFLINE “TRIGGER” timed stamped local coincidences, or events, are stored for various offline studies. 10m Average size Of a 10 14 ev shower

5. How to use that? Physics & Educational goals Physics: Time coincidences: mapping the sky in V(U)HECR (Extensive Air Showers with local coincidences and Giant AS with coincidences between sites) Single muon rates: seasonal variations, correlations with the atmospheric pressure, large electromagnetic storms early warning (Forbush effect) Education: “… to increase the number of students completing a scientific or technical study in 2010 by 15%” (Lisbon, 2000)

6. CR Physics could be fascinating for students… êThe Sun Solar Wind Low Energy < 10 GeV êSupernovae Capable of accelerating particles to ~10 15 eV êAGNs / GRBs … Possible sources for UHECRs ê Exotic UHECR Sources “Top Down”solutions (topological defects), SUSY, VHE Neutrinos, Monopoles, etc. Cosmic Strings

7. …giving them hands-on experience, they will learn not only CR physics, but also how to build and use a radiation detector, how to analyze data, how to use Internet for other than chat & games… and they will find out how science works, and get used to belong to a large community.

8. The ALTA idea spread first in North America…

9. NALTA – Sites in North America TECOSE CHICOS WALTA BC-ALTA ALTA CROP SALTA SCROD CosRayHS CANLACT CosRayHS CANLACT Mexico City, etc.) Detectors in place In planning In preparation

10. From ~ 2000 several European countries started to develop similar detector arrays. Some are already operational (involving high schools), other in an initial development stage… HiSPARC OCRE CZELTA DUKS ASDA SkyView HELYCON CCREA Roland Maze TRC RoALTA DEMOS RENATO SEASA CREATE

11. HiSPARC (FOM-NIKHEF)

12. SkyView (BUW)

13. Roland Maze (IPJ, Lodz)

14. HELYCON (Hellenic Open U.)

15. ALTA SEASA HiSPARK

16. Coordination at European level needed…

17. FOM-NIKHEF ULB CTU U Århus U Jiväskylä BUW HOU U Catania IPJLIP ISS MEPhI U Alcalá KTH U Sheffield European cosmic ray science education network “Discovering, understanding and enjoying Science trough Experimentation”

18. Some of the EuroCosmics Objectives: A computer network connecting clusters of detectors, GPS-antennae and local data servers to a central server and data base. Standards for safe, robust, cost-effective and easy-to-handle instruments which can be made and operated by high-school stdents. Standard data formats Web-based tools for data storage and access Digital archives for technical and educational materials Knowledge transfer, including the EuroCosmics web site and a Summer Academy for high-school teachers, and regional meetings for students.