Engaging the Public with Solar Eclipses Through Mini-Grants

通过小额赠款让公众参与日食

• 批准号: 2318745
• 负责人: Kevin Marvel
• 金额: $ 37.47万
• 依托单位: American Astronomical Society
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-10-01 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318745&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Engaging; Public; Solar; Eclipses; Through

This project aims to serve the national interest by using upcoming solar eclipses to advance the public understanding of science. Two major solar eclipses are coming to North America: an annular solar eclipse on October 14, 2023, and a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. These events provide excellent opportunities for science education and outreach to students, teachers, and the general public. The investigators will operate a "mini-grants program" to support geographically broad efforts to engage people in the excitement of the eclipses and the science surrounding them. This effort will be based on a similar mini-grants program (supported by NSF Award DUE-1564535) that the investigators ran for the total solar eclipse in August 2017. The activities supported by those mini-grants reached approximately 29,000 members of the public.Using groundwork laid by the American Astronomical Society's (AAS) Solar Eclipse Task Force (SETF), the investigators will advertise the mini-grants program widely and invite short proposals from nonprofit organizations (primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, public libraries, community groups, etc.) to engage local communities in educational activities and citizen science associated with the eclipses. Proposals might include, for example, building Sun-Earth-Moon models to explain the geometry of the eclipse, constructing pinhole viewers or other safe observing equipment, hosting observing events, or providing professional development for teachers. A major priority will be projects that will reach a diverse array of individuals, especially individuals from groups historically underrepresented in STEM. The mini-grant proposals will be reviewed by a committee of experts (primarily from the SETF), and approximately 40 mini-grants (the majority under $5,000) will be awarded. The mini-grant recipients will be required to collect data on the participants in their projects and to participate in a systematic evaluation of the impact of the projects. An SETF member will be assigned to each mini-grant recipient to serve as a liaison, and the mini-grant recipients will participate in a forum following the eclipses to share the results of their projects.This award is co-funded by the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) in the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU), the Division of Astronomical Sciences (AST) in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), and the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS) in the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目旨在通过利用即将到来的日食来增进公众对科学的理解，从而服务于国家利益。北美将迎来两次重大日食：2023年10月14日的日环食和2024年4月8日的日全食。这些事件为学生、教师和公众提供了极好的科学教育和宣传机会。研究人员将实施一项“小额赠款计划”，以支持广泛的地理范围内的努力，让人们参与到日食及其相关科学的兴奋之中。这项工作将基于调查人员为 2017 年 8 月日全食运行的类似小额赠款计划（由 NSF 奖 DUE-1564535 支持）。这些小额赠款支持的活动惠及了大约 29,000 名公众。利用美国天文学会 (AAS) 日食工作组 (SETF) 奠定的基础，研究人员将广泛宣传小额赠款计划并邀请非营利组织（中小学、学院和大学、公共图书馆、社区团体等）提出的简短提案，旨在让当地社区参与与日食相关的教育活动和公民科学。例如，建议可能包括建立日-地-月模型来解释日食的几何形状、建造针孔观察器或其他安全观测设备、举办观测活动或为教师提供专业发展。一个主要优先事项是项目能够惠及各种各样的个人，特别是来自历史上在 STEM 中代表性不足的群体的个人。小额赠款提案将由专家委员会（主要来自 SETF）进行审查，并将授予大约 40 笔小额赠款（大多数低于 5,000 美元）。小额赠款接受者将被要求收集其项目参与者的数据，并参与对项目影响的系统评估。 SETF 成员将被指派给每个小额赠款接受者作为联络人，小额赠款接受者将参加日食之后的论坛，分享他们的项目成果。该奖项由该部门共同资助STEM 教育局 (EDU) 的本科教育 (DUE)、数学和物理科学局 (MPS) 的天文科学部 (AST) 以及大气和地球空间科学部(AGS) 隶属地球科学理事会 (GEO)。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。