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Radio Jove, SID Monitors and K16 Science Education missions in Ethiopia Abebe Kebede,

Department of Physics, NC A&T State University 1601 East Market Street Greensboro NC 27411

email: Abkebede@gmail.com Website: http://sirius-b.ncat.edu A viable astronomy and space science education at K16 level requires reasonable amount of infrastructure for observation and trained teachers, access to information, library books and access to literature and content. In this communication I will provide highlights of activities related to these requirements, and the implications and the role of Radio Jove and SID monitors to shape the dissemination astronomy and space science across the K16 communities. Infrastructure development

Astronomy and space science are vital subject areas to inspire future educators and space explorers. Major space agencies such as NASA and ESA are leading the effort to inspire future scientists, space explorers and educators using astronomy, space science and technologies. For example, programs such as radio-jove, space mathematics, Clouds, EarthCam, GLOBE and Asteroid Search engage K12 students and teachers in space studies. The distribution and the penetration of any of the programs are limited in Ethiopia within the K16 communities. This creates a large number of citizens unaware of their environment. Until about 2007, the phrase

“astronomy and space science” was known only to a handful of university professors and their students. In November 2007 Ethiopia hosted the first workshop on the International Heliophysical Year-Africa. During this workshop, thanks to Mrs. Deborah Scherrer, several SID monitors were donated to schools mostly located in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Since that time several space science clubs were formed in schools. Some of the club members participated in activities related to the African Student Astrophysical Training and Observation (ASTARO). In particular they used remote telescopes located in Australia and New Mexico. Thanks to Dr. Patrick Miller, Director of International Asteroid Search Campaign (IASC), at Hardin

Simmons University, many students from Ethiopia participated in Asteroid search activities in 2009. In December 2010, thanks to the efforts of Mr. Lord William, and SARA we installed four Radio Jove units in four schools in Asela. In December 2011, we plan to install two additional Radio Jove units and seven SID monitors in several schools in Asela and Gondar. . Our plan, in the next five years, is to install more SID and Radio Jove units in several high schools in

Current (blue) and Future (Yellow) Radio Jove and SID Stations

Kibrom Ebuy-Mekele University took this picture of M31 using Tzec Maun

Observatory in Australia

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Ethiopia. We found it useful to anchor the activities at local colleges and universities (yellow markers), and slowly introduce them to the local high schools. Teacher Workshops. Library books and educational resources

The new education paradigm requires the use of technology for improved instruction and continuous teacher development at all levels. There are two aspects of teacher development; the effective use of information technology for instruction, and conducting computer based demonstration and experiments. The first case involves the application and proper use of the Internet, specialized software programs to simulate physical phenomena, societal mathematical and statistical models, to extract, process and disseminate information. The second case will engage students, capture their imagination, and enhance their interest in

science, mathematics and technology. With this in mind we conducted two workshops in Asela, including a lecture on Radio Jove and SID monitors. We also organized the 1st school of Astronomy and Space Science at the University of Gondar. About 2000 teachers and students participated in these activities. The addition of the SID monitors will greatly enhance our abilities to provide practical research oriented workshops in the future. In 2009 and 2010 we formed the Asela-Arsi School Development Organization (AASDO), and conducted two major AASDO Missions to provide education support to schools in Asela. The

City of Asela has a population of 70,000 with 4 high schools, two colleges and handful of elementary schools. Our observations include poorly maintained classrooms, lack of teachers enhancement programs, lack of books, laboratory equipment, computers, Internet access and other resources. In order to address the shortage of books and computers, we collaborated with Books for Africa, and shipped over 24,000 books books, 10 computers and several soccer balls. During the two missions we conducted teacher workshop and assisted in the assembly of four radio jove kits

Future Education Mission and the needs Preparation for ASSDO Mission in 2011 is underway. It targets a total of 15 high schools, elementary schools, one major university, two teacher colleges, a technical school and a medical college. These institutions are located in Asela and Gondar cities and they are more or less representatives of Ethiopian schools, in size, student population and quality of instruction. University of Gondar (UoG) and the Ethiopian Scientific and Academic Network (ESAN) will facilitate the component of the mission in Gondar. We begin in Asela with the installation of the

Radio Jove-Finished product

Teachers and students are

putting it together the Radio Jove kit

A student proudly shows his work to

fellow students –Asela, Ethiopia 12/16/2010

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seven new SID monitors, followed by workshop in technology tools for teaching and learning. The mission in Gondar is hosted by UOG and it includes a weeklong School of Astronomy, Space Science and Technology in Education. This part of the mission also includes the

installation of two SID monitors and two Radio Jove kits. In both towns a large number of teachers and students will benefit. The major hindrances for the success of students and teachers in Ethiopia are lack of access to computers, information and inadequate libraries, as well as resources for physical and metal development of the youth. In order to address these critical issues, we collaborate with Books for Africa to collect books, demonstration equipment, used computers, solar powered calculators and balls. This is a great opportunity for SARA community to contribute in kind and financially to these efforts. More importantly the quality of the workshops, particularly in space science can

be greatly improved with the involvement of SARA community. We envision a great opportunity for SARA community to participate in K12 science outreach. The 2011 mission is packaged to include volunteer from SARA and other scientific organizations who may be interested to give lectures and demonstrations to teachers and to students in Ethiopia. We lack simple

demonstration equipment to show and tell mechanics, electromagnetic phenomenon and state of matter. For the 2011 mission we desperately need equipment that we will use to demonstrate physical principles of mechanics and electromagnetism. Our wish list includes several Van De-Graff generators, demo equipment for optics, magnetism and mechanics; we also need portable telescopes, solar powered calculators, and used computers (less than 5 years old). One of our signature demonstration will include the phenomenon of electricity, magnetism and Electromagnetic

Spectrum: This demonstration describes the origin of color, and how color forms as light from a source pass through a devise such as prism. This demo can be configured to fit all classes including high schools. The topics include identifying colors in the rainbow, the source of electricity and magnetism, atomic spectrum, atomic structure, discrete and continuous spectrum energy, the sun, the solar system and beyond. References

(1) Books for Africa (http://www.booksforafrica.org) (2) 2nd School of Astronomy, Space Science and Technology in Education (http://sirius-

b.ncat.edu/ESDO/) (3) AASDO Mission 2011 (http://sirius-b.ncat.edu//ESDO/) (4) AASDO Mission 2010- Reception (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_tlvBR2jp0) (5) Google Maps

Asela-Gondar travel route

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About the author

Dr. Abebe Kebede is Associate Professor Physics at North Carolina A&T State University (NCAT). Kebede’s research and education endeavors included fundamental studies of materials and space science. Kebede is very active in international education. He recently organized the International Heliophysical Year-Africa (IHY-Africa) and the Scintillation Network Decision Aid (SCINDA) workshops in Ethiopia and Cape Verde. He is the coordinator of several networks including the African Scientific Network, The Ethiopian Scientific and Academic Network, The Ethiopian Physical Society, the African Physical Society, with a membership of over 6000 students and professionals from Africa and the African Diaspora. Abeke is currently on 2000-mile run/walk/bike campaign to bring awareness of the book famine in Ethiopia. Currently AASDO missions include a 5K run on site. For further information on AASDO Mission 2011, book and educational resources and financial donations, please contact by emaik: abkebede@gmail.com Tel: 336-285-2113 and Website: http://sirius-b.ncat.edu

The end of 5K run, AASDO Mission 2011, Asela, Ethiopia