The heliophysics education consortium brings to NASA SMD a preeminent heliophysics research center coupled with national leaders in stem education and award winning products and programs. The…

This is a $56,000.00 grant awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) to the Astronomical League Inc. for the Heliophysics Education Consortium (HEC) project. The HEC brings together a team of over 80 individuals from 32 institutions to deliver cutting-edge technology and education programs in support of NASA's science goals, including enabling STEM education, improving scientific literacy, leveraging partnerships, and serving underrepresented communities. The project includes a variety of products, programs, and tools such as large-scale events, data-intensive tools, informal programs, citizen science, and out-of-school time activities, all accessible through the Heliophysics Education Portal. The grant does not have a set-aside designation and runs through March 18, 2024.

The heliophysics education consortium brings to NASA SMD a preeminent heliophysics research center coupled with national leaders in stem education and award winning products and programs. The award-winning HEC team has been highly successful at creating programs that cross disciplines and missions. This experienced team is comprised of active scientists, educators, and technologists, all of whom have a deep passion for education and public engagement. The HEC leverages the expertise and experience of 80+ individuals from 32 institutions that deliver cutting edge technology and education through powerful national networks providing access to nationwide audiences. The HEC provides collaborative partnerships within SMD and with external organizations. Each partner is committed to implementing collaborative programs, services, and activities. The HEC brings an exciting menu of products, programs, and tools to heliophysics education. This includes large-scale events (sun- earth days, international observe the moon night), data-intensive tools (space weather action center, helioviewer), informal programs (solarium, planetarium shows), citizen science (aurorasaurus, radio jove), out-of-school time (family science night), and crosscutting infrastructure (space math, stem innovation lab, oculus rift virtual reality, 3D printing). This is all made accessible, searchable, and easily usable through the heliophysics education portal, heliospotlight. The HEC develops and implements researched-based professional development models that embrace audience diversity and conduct internal evaluation and longitudinal studies into educational technology and pedagogical methods. Dissemination of researchbased best practices through professional associations such as nsta, iste, and aapt with webinars, seminars, conferences, and distributed curricular units; NASA education avenues and events; and university-based programs. The HEC addresses NASA s four science goals: (1) the HEC enables and advances science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (stem) education through formal education in k-12 and higher education by combining the best pedagogy with NASA-unique content and subject matter experts. The HEC s higher education partners, montana space grant consortium (msgc), university of alaska fairbanks (UAF), university of north texas (UNT), and middle tennessee state university (mtsu), serve as dissemination nodes and testing laboratories for new undergraduate curriculum modules. These plans are supported by leaders in science education research, including the nsta, iste, and UNT. (2) the HEC works to improve US scientific literacy through a variety of informal education tools, including aurorasaurus, radio jove, earth to sky training modules, space weather kiosks, and video walls. These projects are supported by the team s informal education partners, including NASA museum alliance, earth to sky, MSC, mosf, smithsonian astrophysical observatory, and gsfc s visitor center, all of which have regional/national reach and the experience to integrate and disseminate the programs to diverse audiences and lifelong learners across the nation. (3) the HEC team leverages its efforts through preeminent partnerships selected for their ability to drive new technology solutions and to quickly research, develop, and disseminate cutting edge products and programs. (4) the HEC works to fulfill NASA s goal to better serve groups historically underrepresented in stem fields through its partnership with the national society of hispanic physicists, UAF, msgc, and indigenous education institute (IEI). These partners enable US to increase the involvement of undergraduates in stem fields by bringing our programs to underserved communities and to focus our communications to make these programs more accessible and useful to these communities.