Student Involvement in THEMIS Research and Real-Time Data Collection

Students of Ukiah School are participating in real-time data collection and data analysis as part of NASA's THEMIS mission. The students have used onsite and remote magnetometer data to conduct long range studies of the Earth's magnetic field decline, the progression of magnetic storms, and the effects of solar events on the magnetic field. The study is based on research done by the local science teacher for the University of California at Berkeley over the summer of 2007 in which THEMIS magnetometer data was used to calculate and compare magnetic B values and a calculate and evaluate 24 hour data in a K-index style plot for Ukiah, Or and Loysburg, PA over a span of four months. The middle and high school students have taken this data and their results and are continuing and expanding it by moving farther back in the archived data for evaluation and including outside data sources for additional comparison. One of the most significant aspects of this study and its results will be the involvement of the students and the level to which they are taking ownership of the process. In a school of only 50 students, grades kindergarten through 12th, an average of 15 students are working with the data, on the expanded research, or on other THEMIS related material each academic semester; over 50% of the high school population. Preliminary evaluations of academic attitudes toward science, math, and astronomy as well as academic performance in these areas show an increase across the board.