Education Research

A Peek at How We See the Universe with Glue, at Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, Tuesday, June 28, 2022:
reu_vis_2022.pdf

A presentation for students of the REU program at Harvard about the state of partnerships between astronomical, physical, and computational approaches to gleaning insight from combinations of scientific and information visualization in Astrophysics. In particular, I discuss how the “glue” linked-view visualization environment (glueviz.org), developed originally to facilitate high-dimensional data exploration in Astronomy and Medicine, can be extended to many other fields of data-driven inquiry. Other topics include current open-source, plug & play, approach to software facilitates the combination of powerful programs and projects such as glue, WorldWide Telescope, ESASky, and the Zooniverse Citizen Science platform.

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A shot of space with a cloud formation

An Interview with Alyssa Goodman: NASA releases the first high-resolution color images from the largest space telescope ever built (NPR/WBUR)

July 12, 2022

New images from the James Webb Space Telescope show the most distant reaches of the universe in the most stunning detail ever captured.  Here and Now's Robin Young talks with Harvard University astronomy professor Alyssa Goodman about what the images show and what they will help astronomers learn about the universe....

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Chilloquium, at (Online only), Tuesday, May 4, 2021:
chilloquium.pdf
A discussion with Harvard's Society of Physics Students (unscripted). The small number of slides that were used to guide the discussion are posted here to make the links  embedded in them available. 
H. Houghton, P. Udomprasert, S. Sunbury, E. Wright, A. Goodman, E. Johnson, and A. Bishop. 2019. “Cultivating Curiosity with Life in the Universe and WorldWide Telescope.” Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 524, 273.Abstract
When students encounter complex topics like the search for extraterrestrial life, questions abound - thoughtful, unpredictable, and often profound. Despite this thriving curiosity, the first step to be able to explore complex questions is developing the capacity to verbalize a meaningful question. The WorldWide Telescope Ambassadors team designed an out-of-school curriculum called Life in the Universe, which engages middle school-aged students in the science and scientific process of the search for distant life. Students practice generating meaningful questions, which will guide them through the science content, as groups of students build to culminating capstone projects. Results from surveys administered to participating students indicate gains in curiosity in science, as well as in seeing oneself as successful in science.
Pecan Pie Logo for "PRISEd Conversation 2020" with photo of Dr. Goodman

Blog Feature: Dr. Alyssa Goodman talks with the The Harvard College Program in Science and Engineering (PRISE)

September 23, 2020

Dr. Alyssa Goodman talks with Felicia Ho, PRISE, Harvard College '23 about Jacques Cousteau, data visualization, climate change, prediction science, and the wide arc of influences that have shaped her multifaceted career as the Robert Wheeler Wilson Professor of Applied Astronomy at Harvard. 

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P. Udomprasert, H. Houghton, S. Sunbury, J. Plummer, E. Wright, A. Goodman, E. Johnson, H. Zhang, A. Vaishampayan, and K. Cho. 11/2019. “Visualizing Seasons and Moon Phases with WorldWide Telescope.” Advancing Astronomy for All: ASP 2018 ASP Conference Series, 524, Pp. 125. Publisher's VersionAbstract

WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a powerful visualization program that allows users to connect Earth-based and space-based views of the Sun- Earth-Moon system. By blending hands-on physical activities with WWT's virtual models, students can visualize spatially complex concepts like seasons, Moon phases, and eclipses. In this workshop, we will demonstrate how WWT and the physical models are used together in our WWT ThinkSpace curriculum, developed with funding from the National Science Foundation. We will also present student learning outcomes based on written assessments and student interviews.

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