The Goldstone-Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT) Science Education Partnership

The Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope Project (GAVRT) offers a unique opportunity for students in grades K through 12 to not only learn about science through radio astronomy, but to actually do it. GAVRT is a science education partnership involving NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Lewis Center for Educational Research (LCER). Following a preparation period using curriculum especially written for the Project, teachers connect to the Operations Control Center at LCER where trained operators assist the students to conduct remotely controlled radio astronomy observations using a 34-m diameter antenna located at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex. Students use computers to record extremely faint radio waves collected by the radio telescope and analyze real data. Scientists at JPL and other research institutions ultimately validate and incorporate the data into their research. Through this process students have the opportunity to become part of a science/education team, participating with scientists in ongoing missions and special observing campaigns. Their measurements are often included in papers appearing in major scientific journals. They learn that they can make valuable contributions to the world of science. This presentation will detail the types of data and the "campaigns" in which the students are conducting observations of the radiation belts of Jupiter, the deep atmosphere of Uranus and Saturn, and the time variations in the radio emission from distant Quasars. It will describe how the student-produced data are valued by the scientists and how the involvement of the scientists impacts the attitudes and abilities of students in the classroom. The JPL contribution to this paper was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.