In this workshop, participants are introduced to solar observation and solar-flare forecasting preparing them to contribute to the Sunspotter citizen science project. The citizen science project itself, Sunspotter.org, was developed by the Irish partners independently from FLARECAST. It fits extremely well with FLARECAST topics.
We offered the workshop for 10-13 years olds. For a description of an implementation please see the blog post Sunspotter @ FHNW. Should the citizen science project not be active, try the demo version sunspotter.org/demo.
WORKSHOP
Th workshop was developed for participants who did not (yet) enjoy any physics lessons at school. It can be adapted according to target groups. However, more slides and concepts that need explanations may result in less activity by participants.
The slides may be used as a guide through the workshop. They can be combined with the hands-on activities listed in the notes-section of the corresponding slide (download presentation for viewing the notes). Resources for the activities can be downloaded below.
Detailed information about sunspots and their classification can be found on the website Sunspotter.org.
MATERIALS FOR HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES
MAGNETS
Glue a strong neodymium magnet to each side of two wooden blocks that can easily be held by children’s hands for feeling attracting and rejecting magnetic forces. We use several pairs of these.
MAGNETS-IRON FILINGS FRAME
Make a magnets-iron filings frame
Workshop participants like to make a frame to take home.
MATCH MAGNETOGRAMS AND UV-IMAGES (AIA 171)
Print images, spread them out on a table, have participants match each an uv-image to a magnetogram. Images:SDO
MAGNETOGRAMS: EXPLOSIVE OR NOT?
Print images, pile them, put one at a time on the table, have participants judge if the magnetic configuration is explosive or not. Images: SDO/SOHO
FLARECAST outreach on SlideShare
