Students and teachers can find my three PSC tutorials by following the links below.
The Pulsar Search Collaboratory, or PSC, is an exciting project that engages middle school and high school students and teachers in real-world research by looking for new pulsars in data from the GBT 350 MHz Drift Scan survey. This is data that was set aside specifically for the PSC — professional astronomers have never looked at the data, and students really are finding new, never-before seen pulsars. In fact, PSC students have discovered five pulsar so far! But PSC students and teachers don't just look for pulsars, they get to experience many aspects of radio astronomy. Teachers get a crash course in astronomy and pulsar science during a summer stay at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, WV. They are then joined by their students, who are introduced to the PSC, complete hands-on research projects, and even get to the use the Green Bank Telescope for real astronomical observations. Teachers and students return home to build PSC teams at their home schools, and active students get to attend the Capstone event held at West Virginia University, during which they present their results in a research symposium and get tours of the science and engineering facilities.
The PSC was started in 2007 by Profs. Maura McLaughlin and Duncan Lorimer of West Virginia University, and Sue Ann Heatherly of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, as a way of increasing interest in astronomy, science, and engineering among students in rural West Virginia. Since then, it has expanded to several states and hundreds of students. We are currently planning a scale-up of the PSC on a national level. The PSC has had measurable impacts on its participants, particularly young women, who report greater confidence in their ability to succeed in science and mathematics (Rosen et al. 2010).
I joined the PSC early on as an instructor and mentor to teachers and students. I've written three tutorials (a searching guide, a data-processing guide, and activities guide) that serve as some of the primary references for PSC participants. I've also visited several schools to support PSC teams and recruit new members.