4 The Initial Pool of the Go Lab Online Labs
4.14 The Discovery Space Portal (DSpace) (EA)
Students learn how to use the Stoney Hurst disks in order to find the proper latitude and longitude in the Sun and further analyse their images in order to find the rotation period for the images they have chosen.
Students have the opportunity to discuss their ideas and share their findings with the rest of the class.
Technical Information Web client (link to client app(s) N/A
APIs (server) N/A
Alternative clients N/A
Compatibility Any web browser.
Registration needed
Teachers may seek a set of logins for their class, but individual registrations are preferred. This requires an email address.
Does the lab require to book time/schedule beforehand?
The images are available to anyone. You only have to register if you want to submit your results.
Conditions of use
Free
Not an online tool. So there are no restrictions on the number of users, or access rights.
Do you grant Go Lab the right to make these conditions of use public? Yes
Additional software/hardware needed? Depending on the task you might need access to a spread sheet and image analysis tool.
Does the lab store experimental data
(measurements performed by users, images collected, etc.)?
Yes. The original images and the measured proprieties of the images provided by the users.
Does the lab track user interactions? Only of the registered users.
4.14 The Discovery Space Portal (DSpace) (EA)
General Information
Lab name The Discovery Space Portal (DSpace)
Lab category Remote lab
Lab Owner Sofoklis Sotiriou (sotiriou@ea.gr)
Lab URL http://www.discoveryspace.net/
User Interface Language(s) English
Primary aims of the lab
Demonstrate how science works Increase students’ interest in astronomy Improve inquiry skills, critical thinking skills Promote the use of ICT during the teaching
process
Current number of lab users 1,100 registered users
Demographic information of users (if available) Europe (mainly from Greece, UK, Spain) Average time of use (per experiment/session) 45 minutes
Brief description of the lab
The portal offers access to 6 robotic telescopes seamlessly into one virtual observatory and provides the services required to operate this facility, including a scheduling service, tools for data manipulation and access to related
educational materials. The portal gives students the opportunity to use remotely controlled telescopes in a real time. In this way it enables students to increase their knowledge on astronomy, astrophysics, mathematics and other science subjects and improve their computer literacy while strengthening their critical thinking skills. Students are able to graphically view all quantities under study and the data correlations. The service has 1,100 registered users (teachers and students).
Pedagogical Information
Lower Secondary Education (12 15 years old) Upper Secondary Education (15 18 years old) Higher Education Bachelor
Higher Education Master
Engaging in scientific reasoning
DSpace gives students the opportunity to use remotely controlled telescopes and use them in real time. Students are able to manipulate and process the data received from the telescopes through appropriate tools and software that are provided. The educational activities available allow students to learn how scientific work is done, and work following the same procedure with scientists;
from observing and making hypotheses to analysing data, drawing conclusions and communicating findings.
Overall the use of the lab contributes in raising
Pedagogical Information
awareness of astronomy related themes and in increasing students’ interest in science and mathematics.
Inquiry Cycle Phase Observing
Use of guidance tools and scaffolds Image processing tools are offered.
Teacher ICT competency level
Teachers need to have basic ICT skills involving using a computer, being able to browse in the internet and manipulate documents in formats like word, excel and PowerPoint.
Level of difficulty Medium (Teacher Guidance is needed at some stages of the process)
Level of interaction High
Context of use School connected on the web
Supporting students with learning difficulties
and special needs No specific provisions
User manual http://www.discoveryspace.net/index.asp?Cat_ID=
570 Additional supportive materials (e.g., usage
scenarios)
http://www.discoveryspace.net/index.asp?Cat_id=5 81
More scenarios are available at http://www.discoverthecosmos.eu
Description of a use case
Measuring the height of the Lunar Craters + Educational Phase
Stimulation: 1x45 min
Presentation of selected photos and/or videos of the Moon's surface
Short discussion on the Moon's surface and crater formation mechanisms
Draw up a list on a blackboard with the proposed methods of measuring of the height of the lunar craters
Experimental Activities:
First phase (1x45 min)
The users of the D Space service must:
select a Robotic Telescope among the Network of Robotic Telescopes
check the meteorological status for the site where the selected Robotic Telescope is located
fill in the celestial coordinates of the Moon and the proper time of observation or
(better) just select the moon and submit their request(s)
Second phase (1x45 min)
The users of the D Space service must:
take the Moon's image from the Database Library
study and understand the analysis method
Pedagogical Information
followed in the theory
estimate the height of the lunar craters using the proposed software for the analysis of the image(s)
Observation Discussion:
Discussion of the theoretical issues arising from the observational (experimental) activities This is facilitated with the assistance of the website's theory tutorial and links
Theory and observation (experiment) comparison
Comparison with the Eratosthenes experiment, observe similarities and differences
Consolidation:
Questions, exercises and tasks aiming at consolidation of the acquired knowledge Exercises:
Estimate the height of a tree measuring the shadow of the tree
Technical Information Web client (link to client app(s) N/A
APIs (server) N/A
Alternative clients N/A
Compatibility
Windows, MacOS, Linux, Flash
Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome
Registration needed Basic Information is required (valid email address, Name, Role (Teacher/student)
Does the lab require to book time/schedule beforehand?
Only for Skinakas Observatory. In this case uses need to present a project to the DSPACE team and get their approval to operate the telescope.
Conditions of use
Free
Access through booking
Do you grant Go Lab the right to make these conditions of use public? Yes
Is the lab already referenced in an educational repository? (If yes, which?) Are there usage restrictions because of this? Can this
repository be harvested? How? DSPACE is part of the Discover the COSMOS repository
(portal.discoverthecosmos.eu). There are no usage restrictions. Discover the COSMOS portal provides guidelines on the Harvesting process.
Additional software/hardware needed? For the analysis of the images LTImage and Salsaj
Technical Information
analysis tools are recommended.
Does the lab store experimental data
(measurements performed by users, images collected, etc.)?
Images are stored in both jpeg and FITS formats.
Only FITS images can be used for further analysis.
Does the lab track user interactions? No