WISE - Education & Outreach: E/PO Plan

WISE: Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer

		WISE Home Education & Outreach Classroom Lessons


		E/PO Plan AAS E/PO Kick-off Teacher Workshops

Former WISE E/PO Lead Dr. Nahide Craig, mixing up the ingredients for a comet with 6 graders.

Goals & Summary

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission will conduct a survey of the entire sky in the infrared, studying the closest stars to the Sun, the most luminous galaxies in the Universe, and more than 100,000 asteroids that will captivate a wide range of audiences in the formal and informal science education communities. WISE outreach presents unique opportunities for the development of educational products containing background information, videos, images, simulations, image processing software adapted to WISE data for students, and a set of activities about the dynamic, multi-wavelength Universe. WISE resources will provide students with authentic opportunities to engage in scientific inquiry, and will respond to the National Science Education content Standards (NSES).

Our main goals for such a program are to:

Enhance the quality of science, mathematics, and technology education at the pre-college level
Share the excitement of WISE space science discoveries with the public
Help create our 21st-century scientific and technical force

We plan to meet these goals using five main projects:

Teacher professional development programs
Curriculum support, teacher’s guide, and print resources
Science center exhibits, visualizations, and public talks by scientists
Amateur astronomer involvement
E/PO websites—WISE, SIRTF, SOFIA, NOAO, UCB, and other partners

In order to ensure that our goals are being met by our activities, all activities will be assessed and evaluated by Cornerstone Evaluation Associates. And our products will be disseminated through a wide range of national networks.

The WISE E/PO plan benefits from our previous successful E/PO models on RHESSI, STEREO/IMPACT, CHIPS and THEMIS. This plan embodies proven E/PO practices of diversification and efficient strategies in reaching underserved populations, in direct confluence with the guidelines of NASA OSS "Partners in Education and Implementation Strategy."