2021/07/22 by Madeleine O'Keefe, Ellen Bechtol, O'Keefe, Madeleine +7
Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Physics Education (physics.ed-ph) #Radio, Podcasts, and Digital Media #astro-ph.HE #physics.ed-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2107.12176
Presented at the 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2021). See arXiv:2107.06966 for all IceCube contributions
arxiv created 2021/07/22 · openalex publication_date 2021/07/22 · arxiv updated 2021/07/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole has tremendous emotional appeal -- the extreme Antarctic environment coupled with the aura of a pioneering experiment that explores the universe in a new way. However, as with most cutting-edge experiments, it is still challenging to translate the exotic, demanding science into accessible language. We present three examples of recent successful education, outreach, and communication activities that demonstrate how we leverage efforts and sustain connections to produce engaging results. First we describe our participation in the PolarTREC program, which pairs researchers with educators to provide deployments in the Antarctic, and how we have sustained relationships with these educators to produce high-quality experiences to reach target audiences even during a pandemic. We then focus on three activities from the past year: a summer enrichment program for high school students that was also modified for a 10-week IceCube after school program, a virtual visit to the South Pole for the ScienceWriters 2020 conference, and a series of short videos in English and Spanish suitable for all ages that explain traveling, living, and working at the South Pole.