RADIOSYMPAN1,2->3: Familiarizing School and High School/Lycium pupils across Greece with Radio astronomy and Radio telescope Technology in the times of Covid-19
Article by Gizani, N. & Veldes, G. on behalf of the Scientific Team.
Motivated by the upcoming Hellenic Radio telescope THERMOpYlae, and driven by the need to familiarize pupils with Radio astronomy and the Technology which realizes astrophysical observations with radio telescopes, we have organized the free educational activity RADIOSYMPAN1,2->3.
One of the announcements of RADIOSYMPAN1,2→3 in the Social Media.
The activity is approved by the Ministry of Education and was scheduled for face-to-face participation of Schools, High-schools and Lyceums across Greece. The popularization of radio-science would be concluded with a visit of the pupils and their teachers, at no cost, to the THERMOpYlae site for an educative tour.
In the pandemic outbreak of Covid-19 we have turned the face-to-face activity to an online one, using the usual teleconference tools provided by the Schools. This was done to abide with the personal data security legislation.
The title RADIOSYMPAN1,2->3 of the educational activity is an acronym in Greek, which in English means RADIOUNIVERSE1,2->3. The acronym loosely translates to “Radio astronomy and radio telescope as means of urging, powering and inspiring pupils of school and high-school/Lyceum age (indices ‘1’ and ‘2’) to pursue (verb denoted by the symbol ‘arrow’) University studies (index ‘3’)”. The activity aims to form a scientific mindset from early years of school – studies, to inspire pupils to join higher education to study Physical Sciences in order to pursue a PhD in Astrophysics and related sciences, in Invisible Astronomy (e.g. Radio Astronomy), and/or to study Engineering (e.g. RF, Space, mechanical, Software). The Hellenic Radio Telescope is a concrete example for Greek and foreign professionals to work on in the future, to perform research and development.
They are so many associated sciences to it and also functionalities (e.g. Deep Space, SETI, Geodecy). Lectures are provided online and are adapted to the knowledge – background per class’s age attending. They are divided into two sessions of 4 hours in total per school and/or high-school/Lyceum class. The first lecture introduces electromagnetic waves and microwave engineering mentioning related sciences to the Hellenic Radio telescope (e.g. electrical and mechanical engineering, BIG data science, etc.). The second lecture focuses on Radio astronomy introducing general astronomy before-hand and discusses the wide-ranged benefits of Astrophysics
Example of THERMOpYlae handcraft. The door of the base Building opens revealing the interior receiver system.
and Radio astronomy, to science, to the scientist, to the enthusiastic individual, to the society where a radio telescope is based, to the country in general. The event ends with a virtual tour to the upcoming Hellenic Radio telescope site. Pupils are encouraged to ask questions and a cutout replica of the Hellenic Radio telescope is given to them as a souvenir of their participation to RADIOSYMPAN1,2->3.
An interactive online experiment with an omnidirectional antenna is offered to high-school/Lyceum students. The activity is opened Greece-wide to all interested Schools and High-schools/Lyceums (grades of Hellenic education, just before University). We have successfully completed the activity in 3 classes of the two participating schools in early summer 2020 with a lot of raised questions from the young attendees. We had great interest from about 13 High-schools and Lyceums and we are in the process of scheduling our educational activity. Five to ten pupils have approached us independently of their schools and we are arranging for lectures just for them. The enthusiasm we have received encourages us to continue the RADIOSYMPAN1,2->3 educational activity, aiming to inspire future scientists and engineers.