Astronomy in the Ice: Bringing Neutrino Astronomy to the Secondary Schools

Astronomy in the Ice introduces the science of the AMANDA (Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array) and IceCube projects into the secondary school curriculum. This 8-day course for secondary school teachers is designed to provide teachers enabling background in neutrino science and the classroom resources needed to understand the design, operation and science potential of AMANDA, IceCube and similar projects. The course is structured so that a new topic is presented in the morning, with an afternoon activity to illustrate the material and homework in the evening to reinforce the day’s learning. Five activities are refined into useable classroom modules by the teachers in collaboration with the course instructors. The connection between the teachers and the scientist instructors is reinforced, and direct connections between the scientists and high school students are established through classroom visits during the school year. Astronomy in the Ice is a summer course for secondary teachers in the Master’s of Science Education program at University of Wisconsin-River Falls. The course is taught by scientists in the AMANDA/IceCube collaboration (http://icecube.wisc.edu). Our broad goals are: