Education/Public Outreach Events

At this year’s LPSC, there will be a variety of events and opportunities that will be of interest to the E/PO community and scientists who are involved in — or are interested in — education and outreach.

E/PO Thematic Oral Session —

"Rising to the Challenge: Improving the Public Understanding of Science in the Next Decade"

Our world is more connected than ever before by traditional and social media, and the public has ever-increasing choices for news and entertainment; the combination creates both challenge and opportunity as audience attention can swell and ebb rapidly and niche audiences abound. How do scientists and science educators successfully rise to the challenge of capturing the attention of the public and engaging them in science? This oral session will explore innovative efforts that are emerging for engaging the public in science with the result of increasing science awareness, literacy, and understanding.

Join us on Tuesday, March 19, from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m. in Waterway Ballroom 1 for presentations and interactive discussions!  Presentations include:

Planetary Science: The Need and Responsibility to Engage the Public and the Challenge of Effectiveness

    Dr. Mark V. Sykes, Planetary Science Institute

 

What Does the Public Need to Know? The Nature of Science and Functioning Public Scientific Literacy

    Dr. Martin Storksdieck, Board on Science Education, National Academy of Sciences

 

Engaging the Public in Planetary Science Through Emerging Technology and New Media

    Samantha Becker, New Media Consortium

 

OSIRIS-REx Target Asteroids! Involving the Public in Asteroid Research and Scientists with the Public

    Anna Spitz, Carl Hergenrother, Dolores Hill, and Dante Lauretta

 

Ground-Based Observations of Lunar Meteoroid Phenomena in Support of the LADEE Mission

    Brian Cudnik and Brian Day

 

The Dawn Mission’s Use of Google + Hangout for Professional Development and Product Assessment

    Joseph Wise, Britney Schmidt, Whitney Cobb, Judy Counley, Nicole Hess, Jennifer Scully, Pamela Gay, Scott             Lewis, and Nicole Gugliccu

 

Follow Your Curiosity:  A New Era of Public Participation in Discovery

    Michelle Viotti and Ken Edgett

 

Engaging the World in Dialog About Space:  Humans in Space Youth Art Competition

    Jancy McPhee

 

The CosmoQuest Virtual Research Facility for the Public

    Pamela Gay, Nicole Gugliccu, Georgia Bracey, Cory Lehan, and Scott Lewis

Posters on Tuesday evening will showcase additional opportunities for involvement. For additional information, please contact the session convener:  Dr. Stephanie Shipp (shipp@lpi.usra.edu)

The fourth annual Planetary Science Undergraduate Teaching Workshop will be held in conjunction with LPSC at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center on Sunday, March 17, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

This year, we are teaming with the Center for Lunar Science and Exploration to bring together scientists and educators to talk about the latest in lunar science, lunar science education products, and tools that can be used in the undergraduate classroom.

We invite you to attend the workshop! If you have a lunar-related activity that you would like to share, let us know. If you have a specific area of interest, scientific or educational, let us know and we’ll try to get it included.

Please RVSP to Emily CoBabe-Ammann at ecobabe@spaceeducation.org.

Due to the popularity of last year’s conference, the NASA YSS Undergraduate Planetary Science Research Conference is again being hosted in conjunction with LPSC on Sunday, March 17, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The NASA YSS Undergraduate Planetary Science Research Conference will include:

• Panels on “How to Choose the Grad School Right for You,” “Alternative Careers in Science,” and “Women in Planetary Science”
• Poster sessions where students will present their posters to other students and to the scientific community
• “Meeting Mentors,” which will pair students with a scientist for a portion of the LPSC meeting, so students can learn how to engage at a scientific conference
• Opportunities to meet other undergraduate researchers, graduate students, and scientists

Undergraduate students currently conducting research in planetary sciences, astrobiology, and lunar sciences are eligible.

To apply, submit the indication of interest form, which serves as the registration form for the NASA YSS Undergraduate Conference. Applications are due by close of business February 15, 2013. NASA YSS Undergraduate Conference student participants, and all participants receiving travel support, are expected to submit an abstract for the NASA YSS Undergraduate Conference by February 15, 2013, and present a poster at the conference.

Go to the abstract submission form to submit your NASA YSS Undergraduate Conference abstract.

Note: These forms are part of the USRA Meeting Portal, which requires users to set up a personal profile to access the form (setting up a profile is quick and easy, requiring only about two or three minutes).

Some travel support will be available to students who qualify. Priority will be given to students of diverse backgrounds. To receive support, students must attend the entire YSS Undergraduate Research Conference and present a poster. Students are encouraged to attend LPSC and any travel support can be applied to registration for and participation in LPSC.

For additional information, contact Dr. Emily CoBabe-Ammann at ecobabe@spaceeducation.org.

Educators and scientists attending LPSC are invited to register to attend a workshop on evaluation of E/PO programs. This free workshop is appropriate for all E/PO professionals and scientists who host education events (such as teacher workshops, intern experiences, and public outreach programs) and faculty teaching K–12 and undergraduate classes. The workshop is designed as a starting point for learning about program evaluation, a critical component of all E/PO projects. During this workshop, you will interact with professional evaluators to create a basic evaluation plan for your project or program. You will also hear about what an external evaluator does if you have need of one. This is a participatory workshop! All attendees should bring an E/PO project or program plan — current or in the planning stages — for which they will create an evaluation plan.

The workshop will be held on Sunday, March 17, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in conjunction with LPSC at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. Participants need to complete the registration form by 5:00 p.m. Pacific time, March 11, 2013.

 For additional information, please contact Dr. Sanlyn Buxner (buxner@psi.edu).