Sun-Earth Days

Overview
Program Element / Activity Title:
Sun-Earth Days
E/PO Project Name:
Sun-Earth Days 2015- New Worlds-New Discoveries/One Mission at a Time
Contact Information Shown to the Public:
Elaine [email protected] (overall information)
Louis [email protected] (science content/amateur astronomers)
Carolyn [email protected] (informal)
Troy [email protected] (social media)
Program Element / Activity Website:
Program Element / Activity Partners within NASA:
Outreach/NASA EDGE/Solar System Abassadors/Museum Alliance
Short Description for Projects Page:

Sun-Earth Days (SED) was developed in response to a need for a highly leveraged education framework to help the heliophysics missions tell their integrated and cross discipline stories to the general public, informal and formal education communities.Sun-Earth Days is an innovative, multi-mission, exemplary, and award-winning NASA Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) program that to date has touched over one billion people in 42 countries. Sun-Earth Day provides an established and now familiar venue for heliophysics missions to tell their stories of discovery through an integrated, cross-discipline, highly-leveraged, and proven program. From a small startup project in 2001 with an audience of 40,000, Sun-Earth Day has grown steadily in size, sophistication, and impact to include many networks of stakeholders such as education, science, and minority professional societies such as the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC), Challenger Centers, Girl Scouts of America (GSA), Aerospace Education Services Project (AESP), the Astronomical League, the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP), the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), and many more. New and cutting edge technologies have been employed including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, podcasting, YouTube, and remote instrumentation. State-of-the-art methods and strategies in E/PO have been included such as authentic research opportunities through real time access to NASA data, distance learning, themed storytelling, and hands-on student involvement. All of these activities are collected and promoted to specific audiences through the award winning Sun-Earth Days website.

Sun-Earth Days 2014 New Worlds-New Discoveries
Awards Received:
NASA Group Achievement Award- 2001,03,04,05,06 08,12
NASA/GSFC Achievement Reward-2001,03,12
Honeywell Quarterly Team Award 2011
Program Element / Activity Status
Please list products / materials that will result / have resulted from this program element / activity:
Name: Podcasts
URL: http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2013/multimedia/podcasts.php
Status: Completed
Name: Space Weather Media Viewer APP
URL: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nasa-space-weather-media-viewer/id398687618?mt=8
Status: Completed
Name: Featured Multi Media
URL: http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2013/multimedia/index.php
Status: Completed
Name: Multi-Media Videos
URL: http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2013/multimedia/transit_videos.php
Status: Completed
Name: Video Podcasts
URL: http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2013/multimedia/vodcasts.php
Status: Completed
Please share any additional updates or information about your program element / activity:
The very high participation levels on the day of the event show that people are interested in sustained, high quality program over a long period of time. Many institutions and organizations depend on NASA for accurate, high-quality, and unique resources. Teachers use the activities, show the animations, and attend teacher workshops or webinars. NASA presentations at educator conferences are well attended, and teachers tend to use the resources they learn about. Similarly, informal educators were quick to order bundles of packets to use with their audiences both before and after the event. Many of the resources include activities that are “tried and true” so the educators use them. While the experiences they offer are local, NASA content resources and people are always appreciated when they are available. For this event, and others in the past, the Sun-Earth Day team works with organizations from the broadcast location, providing NASA staff to support planning, pre-taping, pre-event activities, and day of activities. We have expanded and developed Sun-Earth Days programming through 2013 and have expanded our reach, impact, and our list of partners, programs, and methods annually, taking advantage of celestial events and mission milestones.
 

Building on the success of previous Sun-Earth Day celebrations, we engage people of all backgrounds and ages with the wonders of heliophysics science, discovery, and exploration in ways that are both tangible and meaningful to their lives.
Audience Metrics
Who is the primary audience of your program element / activity?:
Who is the secondary audience of your program element / activity?:
Evaluation
National Priorities and Coordination Approaches as Articulated in CoSTEM:
  • Increase and Sustain Youth and Public Engagement in STEM
What are the goals and objectives of your program element / activity?:
See pages 4-8 of Evaluation
What is the design of the evaluation process for your program element / activity?:
See pages 4-8 of Evaluaion
What are the main impacts of your effort to date and how do they correlate to the project’s goals and objectives:
See pages for III. Results of Evaluation 8-24
Have your evaluation findings / impacts been published? If so, where?:
N/A
Please upload program element / activity evaluation documents (logic models, tools, reports, publications, IRB documentation, or other documents) to share with the Public, the Community, and SMD: