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A Collaborative Astronomy Project between Multimedia and Physics Undergraduate Majors

Michael Castelaz (PARI), Lorraine Walsh, Mary Anna LaFratta (UNCA), David Moffett (Furman)

During the summer of 2004, faculty and undergraduate multimedia and physics interns from the University of North Carolina at Asheville and nearby Furman University joined together at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute to develop a new education and public outreach program of radio astronomy by utilizing the StarLab portable planetarium system. The program consists of three components: the StarLab cylinder for projection of the radio sky; display of a pulsar on the radio sky; and teaching and learning materials accessible through the Internet and CD-ROM. The multimedia and physics interns worked together to articulate and communicate aspects of their disciplines as they related to the development of the cylinder, the depiction of the pulsars and pulsar projector, and classroom activities for teachers and students. As a result, the cylinder depicts the radio sky and illustrates five distinct types of radio sources. The cylinder is augmented further through the use of an audio-visual pulsar projector, which emits pulses with sound for the audio-visually challenged. The activities present teachers with lesson plans related to radio astronomy topics.  We discuss the unique development by this team needed to accomplish the programs first year goals. We acknowledge support from the NSF Internship in Public Science Education program grant number 0324729.