Have you ever dreamed of becoming a scientist, but found yourself on another life path? Are there young people in your life who are curious about STEAM? Do you want to make a contribution towards bettering the world, but you’re not quite sure where to begin? If so, citizen science might be the best tool for you to expand your knowledge base while engaging in relevant modern research.

Citizen science is a practice in which members of the public voluntarily participate in the scientific process to address real world questions and concerns.

There are many definitions of citizen science, and even more types of projects, but all of them share commonalities. According the citizen science website SciStarter, four common features of citizen science are:

• anyone is eligible to participate
• participants use the same protocol so data can be combined and be high quality
• data can help real scientists come to real conclusions
• a wide community of scientists and volunteers work together and share data to which the public, as well as scientists, have access

There are a few more similarities between citizen science projects. Often, these projects utilize crowdsourcing, and embrace the potential for public education and citizen agency.

Crowdsourcing

Citizen science relies on non-professional scientists (citizens) to contribute to the project or research. This is sometimes known as “crowdsourcing.” SciStarter points out that public involvement typically features data collection, analysis, or reporting. Participants may record notes about local wildlife, use test kits to monitor water quality, or measure light pollution with their smartphone. Lead scientists and subject matter experts often design the project and provide insight into findings, but the role of the citizen scientist is invaluable. Widespread volunteerism allows scientists to collect a broad scope of data that they otherwise would not have the funding or people-power to compile.

Public Education

Critics of citizen science have questioned whether this use of unpaid citizen labor is exploitative, but the ultimate goal of most citizen science projects is to involve the public in research that is both fun and educational. Citizen science provides participants with a chance to learn about the scientific process, and implement it, in both formal and informal education environments. A 2018 study from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine on “Learning Through Citizen Science” found that: “With careful planning, intentional design, and learning supports, citizen science can:

• amplify participants’ identities as individuals who contribute to science and support their self-efficacy in science
• provide an opportunity for participants to learn about data, data analysis, and interpretation of data, and
• provide a venue for participants to learn about the nature of science and scientific reasoning.”

These learning opportunities are not only valuable for participants. A focus on public education can help ensure that citizen science projects come away with unbiased and accurate data. The “Learning Through Citizen Science” study also found that “helping participants develop and practice the skills associated with data collection improved the quality of data collected, which is good both for science and the communities who base subsequent action on that data.”

Citizen Agency

This brings us to another facet of citizen science: that citizen science projects can and should instill a sense of agency in citizen participants. Projects may be local or global in nature, but most will focus on topics that citizens care about, whether it’s a worldwide issue like climate change or a regional concern like air quality in their neighborhood. Participating in the science surrounding these matters is a way for citizens to take action. This is particularly effective if the data can influence policy making that directly affects the citizen and their environment.
No large-scale study has been conducted to prove the importance of citizen agency, but many studies have agreed that this is one potential benefit. A 2020 study of a citizen science program on malaria control suggested: “A [citizen science project] has potential not only as a means of collecting a large amount of citizen science data, but also equally important, as a means of engaging citizens in decision-making and solving environmental and public health problems.”

Where and How to Find Citizen Science Projects

If you’re interested in participating in a citizen science project, there are plenty of resources to help you get started. You can use a search tool like SciStarter or CitizenScience.gov to find a project happening online or near you. Both of these search tools allow you to filter projects to find one that suits your interests.

The Eclipse Soundscapes Citizen Science Project

The Eclipse Soundscapes Citizen Science Project will call on citizen scientists to collect audio recordings of soundscapes before, during, and after total solar eclipses. These recordings may help us better understand how astronomical events affect life here on Earth. Citizen scientists will be called to participate in 2023. To stay up to date with project details, join our mailing list.

Informal learning has experienced somewhat of a renaissance in the United States since the emergence of the COVID-19 virus. Libraries, aquariums, museums, and other institutions have pivoted to virtual programming as a resource for children and adults to augment their education. Still, for most of the general public, informal learning is little more than a buzzword. So what is informal learning exactly? One key is location. Informal learning is any learning that takes place outside of traditional environments like classrooms. 

We are constantly engaged with informal learning 

Have you ever heard the phrase “you learn something new every day?” That’s true for most of us, even if we don’t set out to study a new topic or attend a lecture series. Maybe you Googled how to change the oil in your car, or your friend gave you some tips to improve your basketball game — that’s informal learning! 

Informal learning can be the same, or similar, to non-formal learning

There is some debate about the differences between non-formal learning and informal learning. In some circles, the division is quite strict. These groups hold that non-formal learning takes place outside of schools, has some organizational framework, and is often instructor-led. Informal learning, on the other hand, is involuntary — participants do not make a conscious decision to learn and there is no organizational structure offered to them. 

Not everyone is as stringent about this distinction. Often, the terms are used interchangeably. 

Educational researcher Stephen Richard Billett put it this way: “workplaces and educational institutions merely represent different instances of social practices in which learning occurs through participation.” Even though our social and cultural structures may be invisible to us, they do follow formalized procedures.

It’s important not to get too hung up on the distinctions. The category of learning is far less important than ensuring that the learning is effective. 

Informal learning in STEM is sometimes known as informal science education

In the science community, informal learning is often referred to as “informal science education.” According to The Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE), “When we talk about the field of informal science, or STEM, education, we are referring to experiences and settings that are being designed, implemented and assessed by a community of dedicated, trained practitioners.” 

To be clear, informal science education may or may not be led by an instructor or subject matter expert (SME). It’s not uncommon for a professional to help guide or curate the content. For instance, an instructor may facilitate an after-school program, or a SME may host a citizen science event. However, in an informal learning scenario like a self-guided museum visit, direct SME interaction is not an integral part of the experience. Likewise, a SME may be interviewed for a public television documentary, but they do not necessarily guide or assess any learning that may take place when someone watches the program. 

The setting and degree of instructor involvement may vary, but studies suggest that informal science education could play a crucial role in the future of science. 

Informal learning has many benefits 

So why is informal learning so important? It provides more venues and modalities for education, which is always a good thing if you ask us! For children, it’s an opportunity to reinforce or add to school learning. For adults, informal learning is a chance for continuing education. 

Evidence shows that informal science education helps learners to identify “as someone who knows about, uses, and sometimes contributes to science.” We call this positive science identity, and it’s important for long-term engagement with STEM. Positive science identity is enhanced when learners “encounter and make use of the ideas, images, communities, resources, and pathways that can lead to progressively greater involvement in the practices of science.” 

Because informal education is much broader in terms of content and desired outcomes, it is not as rigidly defined or implemented as formal education. This can allow for greater flexibility. Participants are able to guide their own learning and discover knowledge as they go. This is particularly important for adult learners, who prefer to have greater control and self-direction.

Younger learners may also enjoy this style of experiential learning, especially when it caters to their interests. While an extracurricular science club or nature outing won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, these events can bolster the skills and science identity of already enthusiastic learners. They may also provide learners who have negative associations with school with a more positive environment in which to learn. 

Many informal science programs are easy-access and available on-the-go through public resources like libraries and museums. Often, these informal learning opportunities are free, provided attendees have a reliable internet connection. 

Informal learning can and should be accessible

There is one pitfall to informal science education, and that is a lack of research on best practices for the inclusion of people with disabilities. According to a 2010 study by the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education, the non-uniform standards of informal science “can pose [a] significant barrier to inclusion.” 

The study suggests that “the lack of systemic and accepted professional standards for approaching the inclusion of all individuals—especially those with disabilities—presents the greatest challenge for making inclusion a routine and commonplace practice in the field of informal science education.”

ARISA Lab is committed to shifting the paradigm towards more inclusion in informal science education. Through innovative and inclusive citizen science projects like Eclipse Soundscapes, we are developing best practices to ensure that all learners can contribute to science as equals. For more information on how to make informal learning accessible, follow ARISA Lab on social media.

In July, NASA bolstered its commitment to diversity in science by adding “inclusion” to its list of core values. (The pre-existing values are teamwork, safety, excellence, and integrity). In the announcement, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said: “Incorporating inclusion as a NASA core value is an important step to ensuring this principle remains a long-term focus for our agency and becomes ingrained in the NASA family DNA.”

NASA has spent the last decade reforming its image to be a model for equal opportunity, diversity, and inclusion, both in the federal government and in the nation as a whole. Some recent endeavors that align with these goals include translating key NASA documents into a variety of languages, and renaming cosmic objects (like nebulae) whose nicknames hold racist and ableist connotations. “Science is for everyone, and every facet of our work needs to reflect that value,” Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, told NASA’s news service.

The Science Mission Directorate is prepared to put its money where its mouth is when it comes to grant funding. One of NASA’s competitive, highly sought-after grants comes from the Science Mission Directorate’s Science Activation Program, also known as SciAct. SciAct grants connect NASA science experts with communities to “do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond.” SciAct is especially interested in projects that broaden participation of under-represented and under-served learners in order to maximize engagement and advancement of STEAM knowledge.

…Which leads us to our big announcement!

Announcing the Eclipse Soundscapes Citizen Science Project

The Eclipse Soundscapes: Citizen Science Project (ES:CSP), an enterprise of ARISA LAB, is honored to be chosen as one of 27 recipients of a five year SciAct Grant, set to begin in 2021. ES:CSP will be supported by NASA under award No. 80NSSC21M0008.

Eclipse Soundscapes originally launched to make the “Great American Eclipse” of 2017 accessible to everyone, with a special focus on users who are blind or low vision. Its cornerstone project was a mobile application, available for iOS and Android devices. The app includes real-time illustrative audio descriptions of eclipses, as well as an interactive “rumble map” that allows users to conceptualize an eclipse through touch and sound. The 2017 project was funded by the NASA Space Science Education Consortium.

“The Eclipse Soundscapes Project began three years ago with the intention of making the 2017 total solar eclipse exciting and engaging for everyone, including people who are blind or low vision,” said Dr. Henry Winter, who co-founded ARISA Lab alongside MaryKay Severino. “We are excited to work with NASA and our partners to build the necessary tools to allow everyone to perform real and meaningful scientific research as equal participants.”

Eclipse Soundscapes’ new project will introduce accessible opportunities for citizen scientists to participate in eclipse research. With the help of citizen scientists, NASA subject matter experts (SMEs) will collect audio recordings from eclipses and analyze acoustic data to determine how disruptions in light and circadian rhythms may affect ecosystems. The data will include soundscapes recorded by the National Park Service and Brigham Young University during the 2017 total solar eclipse, as well as recordings to be taken during the 2023 annular eclipse and 2024 total solar eclipse.

These recordings will be central to ARISA’s informal learning initiative, which is focused on fostering self-efficacy in under-represented learners. Under the guidance of NASA SMEs, citizen scientists will participate in 20-week workshops surrounding each eclipse. They will undergo training, collect and analyze eclipse acoustic data, and earn virtual badges upon completing the program. All workshops, materials, and learning interfaces will be designed to the highest degree of accessibility, with a focus on physical, social, and cognitive inclusion.

Partnerships

The mission to make science accessible to everyone will be supported through a number of partnerships.

Bioacoustic Advisory Board

An advisory board of bio-acoustic scientists will help guide ARISA in the analysis and interpretation of the soundscape data. The board consists of Dr. Megan McKenna of Stanford University’s Goldbogen Lab, Dr. Bryan C. Pijanowski of Purdue University’s Center for Global Soundscapes, Dr. Laurel Symes of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, and Sound and Light Ecology Team Research Associate Dr. Jacob Job.

“This project provides a wonderful, accessible opportunity for people to engage across scales, from lunar movements down to the smallest sounds of earth,” Dr. Laurel Symes said.

Dr. Jacob Job addressed the importance of the project to conservation. “ES:CSP makes the natural world accessible to more people, which is essential to recruiting more advocates for the conservation of the natural world, and our future,” he said.

Accessibility Consultants and Evaluators

The National Federation of the Blind, The GBH National Center for Accessible Media, and BLV Consultant Lindsay Yazzolino will provide external evaluations and accessibility consulting to maximize the reach of the project.

“As a totally blind researcher and lifelong STEM enthusiast, I’m a huge fan of citizen science,” Lindsay Yazzolino said. “However, I’ve discovered that many existing citizen science projects rely on visual methods for data collection and analysis, and therefore exclude so many blind individuals who would otherwise love to participate. I’m thrilled to work with the rest of the Eclipse Soundscapes team to create opportunities for blind citizen scientists to engage in exciting, impactful, and completely accessible hands-on science projects while contributing valuable scientific knowledge in the process.”

Mark A. Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “By participating in this project, we are helping to develop innovative nonvisual tools for blind people to explore a dramatically visual experience through sound and to create opportunities for blind citizen scientists to learn and contribute to the body of knowledge we gather about our universe.”

Inclusive Web Interfaces

Regine Gilbert and her students in the Integrated Digital Media Program at New York University Tandon School of Engineering will design, implement, and test ES:CSP web interfaces.

“It’s important that students get hands-on experience,” Regine Gilbert said. “My students will have the opportunity to use their design skills to create an accessible and inclusive
interface as part of the ES:CSP.”

Subject Matter Experts and Educational Materials

The NASA Space Science Education Consortium (NSSEC) will assist with networking and promotion of NASA SME-led events, and its STEAM Innovation Lab will produce tactile and accessible education and presentation materials.

“When we worked with the ARISA Lab team on the development of Eclipse Soundscapes for the 2017 eclipse, we knew the work couldn’t stop there” C. Alex Young, NSSEC Principal Investigator said. “By incorporating accessible citizen science and NASA SMEs into the project, this new phase of the program brings their work to the next level of inclusivity and impact.”

The Eclipse Soundscapes Citizen Science Project is excited to join NASA in their ongoing mission to make science and space accessible for all. Stay tuned for more exciting developments in 2021.

Disclaimer: Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The Eclipse Soundscapes Project is far from over, but before we move on to other exciting initiatives, we want to share some of the successes of our flagship effort surrounding the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse.

Thanks to our partnership with the National Center for Accessible Media at WGBH Studios, we were able to bring the awe and wonder of the eclipse to an estimated 58,358 people, many of whom are blind or visually impaired. The iOS Eclipse Soundscapes App, which was released on 8/10/2017, was downloaded by 56,500 users with an average rating of 4.89 out of 5. The app remains popular after the eclipse with nearly 64,000 users at the time of this writing and more downloading the app daily. The Android Eclipse Soundscapes App, released on 8/18/2017, was downloaded by 1,858 users with an average rating of 4.11/5. We are pleased to say the Eclipse Soundscapes Application received all A and AA ratings for accessibility in an official review conducted by the National Center for Accessible Media.

Eclipse Soundscapes also partnered with the National Park Service’s Natural Sounds Unit to record the changing bio-acoustical chorus in 16 national parks during the eclipse. Those recordings, along with recordings from PRI’s Science Friday, Brigham Young University – Idaho, and citizen scientists will be collected on our website shortly, and we look forward to using them in accessible exhibits online and in partnership with Smithsonian museums.

A major milestone of the project was the development of the rumble map for the Eclipse Soundscapes App. The rumble map uses FM-synthesis techniques to produce specially designed tones that shake or “rumble” mobile devices as users explore images of eclipses and variations of light and dark with their fingers instead of their eyes. We plan to expand this technology to make other astronomical observations accessible to people who are blind and visually impaired.

The support and recognition this project received was overwhelming. Eclipse Soundscapes was featured in 28 stories from regional, national, and international media outlets, 6 of which cater specifically to people who are blind and visually impaired. We were invited to speak at 6 educational events along the path of totality. We distributed a whopping 12,000 eclipse glasses to schools, community centers, retirement centers, and libraries across the country, and over 200,000 people tuned in to watch our Facebook Live event the day of the eclipse.

Still, our greatest sense of accomplishment came in the form of positive feedback from our users. Here is what our fans had to say:

“Thank you so much for the app. I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to have been able to share in this experience. Being visually challenged, this app was beyond my imagination. Again thank you for your diligent work.”

“Dear wonderful people, thank you so much for the fabulous Eclipse Soundscape/map. The caring, intelligence and creativity that went into this innovation are immensely impressive, and the sheer joy and excitement it gave me are beyond words. Thank you, thank you for making this possible.”  

“Amazing and informative. I’ve always been curious about astronomy and meteorology. I experienced the audio descriptions during totality and very much appreciated them. I’m looking forward to future explorations! I think my favorite rumble-map feature is the diamond ring. Thanks so much for this project!”

“Awesome app! Much more interesting information given than I expected and it’s all very nicely arranged — kudos to the Devs for doing such a great job on this.”

“Plenty of features for sighted people too. Such an educational app! Get it for Monday 8/21/17 as well as future eclipses.”

So thank you to all of our fans, users, and citizen scientists. We can’t wait to hear your recordings as soon as we roll out our submissions page!

We woke up to thunder the day of the eclipse, and loaded our equipment in the interludes when skull pounding downpours leavened to sheets of drizzle. Our significant others and friends and family along for the journey watched weather radars on their phones, and tried to mop up our damp spirits with optimistic reports, though all forecasts contained clouds. Still, we geared up and drove an hour and a half south toward totality.

Our destination was the Lower Hamburg Conservation area, a sliver of wildlife refuge tucked between the Missouri River and a vast cornfield owned by the Beans, a family of former popcorn farmers. From the levee that formed the border between the public and private lands, it was nothing but corn and sky as far as the eye could see, punctuated by a weatherbeaten barn and silo that had been left dilapidated by flooding in 2009.

We´d stumbled on the property by luck, driving through the heartland for hours with the Eclipse Soundscapes app open to assess the eclipse percentage and duration in various cornfields. We also had to test our cell service, to ensure we could deliver a Facebook Live broadcast we’d promised our headquarters at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. On the levee between John Bean´s cornfield and the Lower Hamburg Recreation Area, signal was strong, the eclipse percentage was 100%, and we would experience over a minute of totality. Or rather, we would if the clouds ever cleared.

The clouds had little interest in the eclipse. They were unwilling to reroute their commute, and as high as we set our hopes, they couldn’t reach the cloud cover enough to break it. We donned eclipse glasses and looked into the spot where the sun should have been. The dark abyss only stared back.

It wasn’t the first time the project met a hurdle. In the few short months since Eclipse Soundscapes´conception, we’d jumped hurdles, pivoted to avoid barriers, re-pivoted away from corners, and often, stood obstinately in the way until walls moved for us. When Apple denied our app from the App Store, just three weeks before the eclipse, we hung our heads only long enough to put our noses to the grindstone. We crafted appeals, coded new features, and re-submitted three times before the reviewers relented. With the immovable deadline of celestial trajectories always looming, we spent late nights and weekends alone working, yet we always worked together.

So Monday in that cornfield, we refused to take on the dark mood of the sky. Instead, we opened up the Eclipse Soundscapes app to use it exactly as it was intended: an experience for people who cannot see the eclipse. We would hear the audio narration while the eclipse unfurled behind a private curtain of cloud, and we would listen and feel the world change around us. If we had learned anything from the people with visually impairments who we had worked with throughout the course of this project, it was that the universe does favors for no one, and you work with the tools you’ve got, and the positivity of your experience in this world directly correlates to your attitude.

Then, several minutes before the eclipse, the clouds began to part. Or rather, they seemed to retreat towards the horizon, the center of the sky becoming lighter and lighter even as ground grew dark in the shadow of the moon. “This is the full eclipse, when the moon´s black disk completely covers the sun…” began NCAM´s Brian Gould, the voice of the Eclipse Soundscapes app. And there in the sky, we saw it all.

For several moments, the moon was indistinguishable as a sphere. From behind protective lenses, it was only the tongue of a vast dark swath, lapping away the last orange wisps of the sun. A swarm of swallows flitted by and into the trees lining the river. A dark layer of twilight followed them, and for a fraction of a second, the sun went out entirely.

Then, it re-emerged as a spectral ring. John Bean´s cornfields went dark except for a violet sunset bleeding in reverse from every horizon. The wind ceased rustling the dry stalks. The ring in the sky glowed for an abbreviated minute before a hot pink string of Baily´s Beads pushed out from the righthand curvature. And just as the light hit our eyes, a diamond emerged from the top of the sun, it´s gleam refracting in the clouds and raining down in a brilliant shimmer.

As the shadows lifted from the Earth, a flock of pelicans rose from the riverbanks in arrow formation and coasted in a wide circle before disappearing from sight. From the far side of the river, an owl whistled a few confused notes. People began stringing words together in arrangements more closely resembling sentences.

In about 63 seconds, we had witnessed all the phenomena we had spent months educating others about. But we’d also come to understand the incomparable awe which keeps otherwise sane people travelling the world in search of the next eclipse.

Even after a champagne celebration, our Principal Investigator Dr. Winter woke up at 4 am like a kid on Christmas, and checked the downloads of the Eclipse Soundscapes app. At 57,477 downloads, we had smashed our target. And as we basked in the afterglow of totality, the emails rolled in.

“I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to have been able to share in this experience,” one user wrote. “Being visually challenged, this app was beyond my imagination.”

“Like everyone else there, I was counting down to totality, and when it happened, everyone, myself included, was blown away,” wrote another.

“The caring, intelligence, and creativity that went into this innovation are immensely impressive, and the sheer joy and excitement it gave me are beyond words,” read another email. “Thank you, thank you for making this possible.”

These emails fill us with more joy than our fans will ever know, and all we can say is no, thank you.

When we asked people to listen to the soundscapes of the eclipse with our app and with their own ears and audio equipment, we were encouraging a form of mindfulness. There is a meditative quality that comes with active listening and experiencing the world through sound. The ego quiets, the senses heighten, the present moment shines through, and all that is left…

is gratitude.

Now that you’ve read all about the Soundscapes Project, you may be asking yourself: how does this apply to me? And that’s great! We love people who ask questions! The thing is, you don’t have to an astrophysicist, a diehard eclipse chaser, or a person with a visual disability to enjoy Eclipse Soundscapes. In fact, we think the more people our project reaches, the stronger it is. Here are three reasons you might want to pay attention to what we’re doing:

YOU CARE ABOUT INCLUSIVITY

One of the main objectives of the Eclipse Soundscapes Project is to bring this exciting astronomical event to the blind and visually impaired community. We want everyone to get as excited about astrophysics as we do, but the tools to make science accessible have not always existed. That’s why we’ve created an app with illustrative audio descriptions, which will be delivered in real time as the eclipse progresses, and an interactive “rumble map” which will allow users to explore the physical qualities of an eclipse through touch and sound. These tools are not only valuable to individuals who are blind and visually impaired, but to people of all different learning and communication styles. By providing these oft-excluded groups with the right tools to learn about astrophysics, we aim to strengthen science by reaching a larger, more diverse population.

YOU CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT

There is no better time than now to get people interested in preserving our fascinating planet, and the more we know about our ecosystems, the better we can protect them. Eclipse Soundscapes is working with partners such as the National Park Service to collect high quality audio recordings in wildlife areas across the country. With these recordings, we hope to learn more about how and why animal behaviors change with the variations in light and temperature caused by a solar eclipse. After the eclipse, Eclipse Soundscapes will host these recordings alongside the recordings of citizen scientists to provide an open source database of sounds for researchers and educators to study.

YOU CARE ABOUT TECHNOLOGY

Are you an audio engineer? An app developer? A self-proclaimed video game nerd? When we set out to create our app, there were a lot of hurdles. But instead of setting the bar lower, our team innovated to create an app with some pretty exciting advancements in accessibility technology. We’re especially proud of our Rumble Map, which uses a technology called “FM Synthesis” to mimic a haptic response in a smartphone. The Rumble Map reads a grayscale value under the user’s finger, scales it from 0-1, and then adjusts the volume of a low frequency tone to produce vibrations in a phone’s speakers with a strength relative to the brightness of that section. The tool, created in collaboration between our audio engineer Miles Gordon and iOS developer Arlindo Goncalves, is based on the haptic response usually experienced in gaming and virtual reality platforms. Accessibility reviewers who tested the app say they’ve “never seen anything like it.” It’s a technology worthy of a patent, but that would go against our belief that science is for everybody. In fact, our entire project will be free and open source so other tech geeks can improve upon our innovations.

Of course, there are many other reasons to care about Eclipse Soundscapes. What’s yours? Tweet us at @EclipseSoundUDL to tell us why YOU are excited.

On Saturday, August 19, NASA scientists took a break from reaching into the depths of  space and instead reached out to the citizens of suburban Nebraska to promote eclipse knowledge and safety at the Arrows to Aerospace Parade.

This year’s annual parade in Bellevue, Nebraska, just south of Omaha, was organized by the Bellevue-Offutt Kiwanis to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Nebraska’s statehood. However, when Bellevue Public Schools teacher Santha Walters learned the parade would coincide with the week of the August 21 “Great American Eclipse,” she enlisted NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center scientist Dr. Jack Ireland and Smithsonian Astrophysics Observatory scientist Dr. Henry “Trae” Winter to participate in the event.

“I realized the eclipse would be in the middle of the afternoon on a school day,” Ms. Walters said. “I thought, if we’re going to have all these kids, we’re going to use this as a learning opportunity.”

Ms. Walters pitched the idea to her superintendent as a weeklong string of activities to include the entire community. “Every child with resources is going to travel to totality on Monday,” she said. “Not everybody can take the day off work to experience the eclipse with their child. So I wanted to create something for those kids, to bring the eclipse to them and make them feel as if they are part of this community. This is something people are going to remember for the rest of their lives.”

Dr. Ireland and Dr. Winter spent the week in Bellevue, speaking to the general public on eclipse mechanics and safety and to seventh and eighth grade students about the importance of a STEAM education. “You could just see in their faces they thought ‘this is really cool, we have a real-life scientist here,’” Ms. Walters said.

Saturday’s parade was the final event of “Eclipse Event Bellevue 2017” before the grand finale of the eclipse, and thousands of Nebraskans and visitors poured out onto Lincoln Road to watch. While organizations of all stripes participated in the march, an underlying space and aeronautics theme had clearly established itself, from Star Wars costumes to eclipse t-shirts.

“We’re all so excited to have the eclipse right in our own backyard,” said Bellevue Mayor Rita Sanders, who plans to watch the eclipse from a leadership center in Aurora, Nebraska.

The parade culminated in Washington Park, where Dr. Ireland and Dr. Winter disembarked from their NASA-themed silver convertible to join their team at an eclipse information booth. The team came equipped with informational flyers, NASA stickers, demonstrations of the popular Eclipse Soundscapes app, and of course, free eclipse glasses.

The NASA approved eclipse glasses were a hot commodity. Popular vendors such as Amazon had run out of reputable viewing glasses in the weeks before the eclipse, and many booth visitors reported being unable to find them for a reasonable price. Luckily, the group from NASA and the Smithsonian had come prepared with over 5,000 pair, which they gave away to an eager line of parade-goers stretching back nearly a block.

Though the booth’s guests were excited to score free glasses, many were equally thrilled to meet two real-life astrophysicists. “I was amazed at how many people were at the parade and how many waited in line to talk to Jack and me about the eclipse,” Dr. Winter said. “We got really well thought out and specific questions and I loved talking to everyone who came by our booth.”

“It’s cool because they are obviously really smart and know a lot,” said one Bellevue High School student, who walked alongside the Dr. Ireland and Dr. Winter in the parade. “But they are also regular people, and easy to talk to.”

Another enthusiastic visitor was a nine year old girl from Bellevue, who hopes to become an astronaut on Mars one day. She is excited to experience her first total solar eclipse.

“I’ve only only seen one before, and it was amazing,” Dr. Ireland told her. “It’s the most spectacular thing I’ve seen in the skies by far.”

Armed with her eclipse glasses and a beaming smile, she titled her head towards the sky and prepared to be amazed.

The concepts of light and shadow are crucial to how most of us understand a solar eclipse. But what if you had never seen the light of the sun before? What if an accident or a genetic condition impeded your ability to perceive the shadows of nightfall? For 1.3 million Americans who are blind, and many more who are visually impaired, experiencing the wonder of a total solar eclipse may seem like a pipedream. The Eclipse Soundscapes Project wants to change that.

The Eclipse Soundscapes Project, sponsored by NASA’s Heliophysics Education Consortium, will allow both sighted and non-sighted users to experience the “Great American Eclipse” of August 21, 2017 through sound — by recording changes in natural and urban soundscapes during the eclipse, and through illustrative audio descriptions (provided by WGBH’s National Center for Accessible Media, or NCAM) so that people who are blind and visually impaired can enjoy a narration of the eclipse in real time. The Eclipse Soundscapes app also includes an interactive “rumble map,” so users can explore the physical properties of an eclipse through vibrational feedback in their smartphones.

“The archetypal image of an astronomer is somebody with their eye to a telescope looking out to the stars — that automatically leaves out the segment of the population who are blind and visually impaired,” said Dr. Henry “Trae” Winter, the project’s founder and principal investigator. “But science works for everyone, no matter who you are. Giving people who have been traditionally excluded from the astronomy and astrophysics enterprise a tool to explore science on their own terms is giving them an experience which means a lot to me.”

Audio is an ideal way for blind and visually impaired users to experience an eclipse, not only because there is some anecdotal evidence of soundscapes changing during a total eclipse, but because blind and visually impaired individuals naturally develop instincts to navigate the world with auditory information.

“The audio takes a visual concept and brings it into one of the ways that we experience the world without sight,” said Dr. Wanda Diaz Merced, a blind astrophysicist consulting on the project. “Audio is the fastest and most straightforward way to provide an experience that we hope will awe people.”

Exploring the eclipse with the Eclipse Soundscape app may even give visually impaired individuals a leg up on their sighted peers when it comes to eclipse knowledge. NCAM developed the audio descriptions of the eclipse with methods usually designated for educational materials such as textbooks. The details of the description are “dictated by the context of the image, not necessarily its complexity or visual interest,” said Bryan Gould, director of Accessible Learning and Assessment Technologies at NCAM. “Since the Eclipse Soundscapes project has specific educational goals for each phase of the eclipse, this image description includes scientific and technical terms and their definitions.”

With this additional information, those listening may contribute something new to a discussion of the eclipse with their sighted peers. The “rumble map” also allows for a detailed up-close exploration of the sun and moon, where a user may find elements that a person viewing the eclipse wouldn’t notice.

The goal is to have a multitude of tools, so visually impaired individuals can interact with the eclipse independently and on their own terms. “Disabled people are as different from one another as abled people are,” Dr. Diaz-Merced said. “Actually, we are more different from one another. I need to be able to bring my own strategies to anything I do. Not coping strategies, but my own strategies.”

While Eclipse Soundscapes is primarily focused on the blind and visually impaired community, the audio and tactile tools used in the project could benefit anyone who learns or communicates through non-visual measures. After the August 21 eclipse, the Eclipse Soundscapes team plans to expand the prototype into an interactive and immersive multi-sensory museum exhibit. The multi-sensory information adds to the experience for visual people, Dr. Winter said, “but allows for different ways to engage people who are visually impaired, or deaf, or neuroatypical.” However you collect information about the world around you, the hope is that you thoroughly enjoy the experience of learning something new.