Scientific Research and Astronomy Education: the … · Scientific Research and Astronomy...

Scientific Research and Astronomy Education:the OAVdA Experience

Andrea Bernagozzi on behalf of the staffof the “Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS”

www.oavda.it

Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2010Cape Town (South Africa), 19 March 2010

OAVdA stands for Astronomical Observatoryof the Autonomous Region of the Aosta Valley,

managed by the “Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS”with funding from local administrations

Credit Paolo Calcidese-OAVdA

A quick look at the OAVdA

• northwestern italian Alps

• 1675 m above sea levelin the Saint-Barthélemy Valley

• opened in 2003

• since 2005-2006 activelyinvolved in international research projects

• scientific team in 2010:5 physicists, EU-ESF grantpermanently residingin the Observatory

Scientific research projects: formal agreement of cooperationwith the italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF)

four topics:

• Solar Corona

• Asteroids

• TransitingExtrasolarPlanets

• ActiveGalacticNuclei

810 mm f/7.8Bowen-Vaughan reflector

four topics:

• Solar Corona

• Asteroids



250 mm f/8Maksutov

400 mm f/8Ritchey-Chrétien

reflector

the meteo-seeing corner250 mm f/20 Maksutov


four topics:

• Solar Corona

• Asteroids


• ActiveGalacticNuclei telescope mount “Jolanda” with EKPol,

a Liquid Crystal Variable Retarder (LCVR)based polarimeter [14 March 2006, Italy]


four topics:

• Solar Corona

• Asteroids



telescope mount “Jolanda” with EKPol,a Liquid Crystal Variable Retarder (LCVR)based polarimeter [29 March 2006, Libya]


the Heliophysics Laboratory250 mm mirror, achromatic 120 mm f/16.5 lens

Public Outreach & Education: fundamental activities at the OAVdA

• scientific research and PO&E are‘the mission’declared in the Statute passed by the Regional legislative bodies

• need for the admission fee(min € 2,50-max € 10,00in 2010)

the Teaching Platformseven 250 mm f/10 Cassegrain reflectors

Public Outreach & Education: fundamental activities at the OAVdA

• scientific research and PO&E are‘the mission’declared in the Statute passed by the Regional legislative bodies

• need for the admission fee(min € 2,50-max € 10,00in 2010)

Credit Patrizia Besenval+Piero Rosset

Why should someone come and visit our Observatory?

Public Outreach & Education: OAVdA theoretical frameworkthe natural link between PO&E and scientific research

the concept:knowledge we meet in life now (at school, at work etc) is the resultof scientific researches made by scientists 10, 100, 1000 years ago...so knowledge that we will meet in life tomorrow is the resultof scientific researches that scientists are making todayincluding scientific research made at the OAVdA

“egg of Columbus”

Public Outreach & Education: OAVdA theoretical frameworkthe natural link between PO&E and scientific research

the method:physicists at the OAVdA are necessarily involved (30% of their time)in PO&E activities about their own research topic, «know 10 to say 1»

the goal:to open and establish a channel between society and OAVdA& to show connections between science and everyday lifeby communicating live the context of scientific research(people, method, results, meaning)

The appeal of scientific research:some ‘experimental’ results

with schools and public at large

why should someone come and visit our Observatory?+

the natural link between PO&E and scientific research=

a case study about people’s attitude towards science(only raw data)

The appeal of scientific research: some ‘experimental’ results Astronomy Education with the schools

very snowy winterand rainy spring

in cooperation withthe Regional Board

of Educationof the Aosta Valley

The appeal of scientific research: some ‘experimental’ resultsthree experiences with students&teachers in the Aosta Valley

schools asked us for, triggered by IYA2009

Experience I: introducing the world of scientific research

Experience II: facing a real problem of scientific research

Experience III: working in a real scientific research project

in the multi-year education activity Saint-Roch Étoiles (2008-2013) hundreds of pupils from 5 to 12 years old of the “Istituzione Scolastica Saint-Roch” in Aosta are

introduced to the world of scientific research through ‘meet the scientist’ sessionshttp://www.scuole.vda.it/stroch/progetto_etoiles/frame2.htm

Experience I

1122

xx

r 411

2

2

148 / with

in the education activity Oltre Galileo… La Vallée guarda lontano (2008-2009)18 years old students of the “Istituzione Scolastica Binel-Viglino” in Pont-Saint-

Martin and in Saint-Vincent faced a real problem of scientific research:the calculation of the heliocentric distance of an asteroid at the opposition

from an original data set collected during the research activity at the OAVdA

Experience II

In the education activity Tutti pazzi per Marte (2007-2008) both teachers

and 18 years old students of the “Istituzione Scolastica Binel-Viglino” in Pont-

Saint-Martin and in Saint-Vincent worked together with the physicist at the OAVdA in a real research project: the measure of the distance of planet Mars

from Earth with the parallax method during Mars’ approach for 2008 opposition

Experience III

Experience III

The education activity Tutti pazzi per Marte was made in cooperation with the

University of Milan, Italy, and the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA).

Being a real research project, the method developed with students and teachers during the initiative brought to two papers published on italian and international

peer-reviewed journals:

D. Cenadelli, M. Zeni, A. Bernagozzi, P. Calcidese, L. Ferreira, C. Hoang, C. Rijsdijk, “An international parallax campaign to measure distance to the Moon and Mars”,

European Journal of Physics Vol.30, n. 1, January 2009, pp. 35-46 http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009EJPh...30...35C

D. Cenadelli, M. Zeni, A. Bernagozzi, P. Calcidese, L. Ferreira, C. Hoang, C. Rijsdijk,“La parallasse e la misura della distanza di Marte”, Giornale di Fisica, Vol. L, n. 2,April-June 2009, pp. 117-125http://www.sif.it/SIF/it/portal/riviste/gdf

(the result was 0.9825 AU when the real value was 0.9384 AU: such a good value is

partly due to chance because of the chosen approximations)

Experience III

The appeal of scientific research: some ‘experimental’ results Public outreach with the public

very snowy winterand rainy spring

very good weatherall along the summer

The appeal of scientific research: some ‘experimental’ resultsQ&A with 200 visitors

YES = 63% NO = 37%

Ref: q&a collected in the period 22 December 2007-8 march 2008 and published inC. Bottazzi, Analisi economica del distretto culturale: modello sistemico per lo sviluppo territoriale sostenibile. Il caso: Osservatorio Astronomico della Regione Autonoma Valle d’Aosta, Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS, laurea triennale (Bachelor’s degree), Università della Valle d’Aosta, a.a. 2006-2007

did you know that the OAVdA is a research centre?

YES = 82% NO = 18%


if yes, was it important in choosing to come and visit the OAVdA?


if no, did you appreciate this aspect of the OAVdA during your visit?

YES = 100% NO = 0%



do you feel your astronomy knowledge was improved after the visit?

YES = 96% NO = 4%



will you go on improving your astronomy knowledge after the visit?


YES = 89% NO = 11%


cost-benefit analysis (travel, meals, change in habits, cold&dark…)

BENEFIT>COST = 99.5% COST>BENEFIT = 0.5%



The OAVdA experience as a contribution for building on IYA2009conclusions: ‘strong indications’ that scientific research

can work to inspire and engage students, teachers and publicto climb the mountain and beyond…

The next big thing: a planetarium at 1633 m above sea level!“virtual visit of the cosmos” based on science made at the OAVdA

849 students and 3362 people in 6 months

The appeal of scientific research: 15246 attendees in 2009visiting the OAVdA and the Planetarium

(very old-style media campaign)

the staff of the “Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS” in 2010: from left to right Patrizia Dondeynaz, Albino Carbognani,Paolo Calcidese, Erika Bancod, Enzo Bertolini (director), Andrea Bernagozzi, Liliana Laval, Paolo Pellissier, Mario Damasso, Paolo Recaldini, Giorgio Toso; up in the frame: Matteo Soldi

staff in 2009 = 101524.6 attendees/staff member

staff in 2010 = 12

We thank for supporting the “Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS” through different channels

Mont Emilius Community

Regional Governmentof the Aosta Valley

Town Administrationof Nus

European UnionEuropean Social Fund

Scientific Research and Astronomy Education:the OAVdA Experience

Andrea Bernagozzi on behalf of the staffof the “Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS”

[email protected]

tot tot sienssiens!!hambahamba kahlekahle!!

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