Teaching Heliophysics from a Curriculum

For over a decade UCAR has invited advanced graduate students and postdocs who have a demonstrated interest in space physics to participant in a week-long Heliophysics Summer School. Participants are drawn from a diverse international applicant pool that encourages the development of a sense of community through collaboration and interaction. Over time the summer school curriculum and activities have evolved to include a core set of lectures, a limited number of lectures from experts in the field, the use of computer-based lab activities to encourage participant interaction, and professional development activities. Core lectures delivered by a few core lecturers encompasses basis elements of the heliopshere: the Sun, the solar wind, the planets, magnetsopheres, and ionospheres. Other core lectures focus on fundamental concepts in plasma physics including particle orbits, MHD and kinetic theory, and plasma processes such as waves and instabilities, reconnection, shocks, and turbulence. Each year the summer school focuses on a theme; some examples are eruptive processes, comparative magnetospheres, and heliophysics missions. While a few experts are brought in to speak on the chosen theme, every summer school includes the core lectures that comprise a "heliophysics minimum." At least half of the time in the summer school is spent on computer-based labs that complement the lectures and provide the students hands-on experience. These labs are where the primary teaching of the summer school gets done. One of the proud accomplishments of these summer schools is the completion of five volumes of pedagogical lectures published by Cambridge University Press. Other resources, posted on the summer school website, include video recordings of lectures from previous years, presentations pdf's organized by topics, and homework style questions. These resources can be valuable for developing curricula for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in colleges and Universities.