IDEAS

Ideas for Student-Directed Night Vision Projects

Participants in the Night Vision program will design their own means of reporting the results to the community.  Below are project ideas for consideration, but the list is by no means all-inclusive.  

  1. Create a project for the annual Intel Science and Technology Fair.
  2. Design an activity that contributes toward a scouting badge requirement.
  3. Present your results to colleagues, friends, classmates.
  4. Create and contribute an outdoor lighting activity for inclusion at Paper Plate Education.
  5. Report your Night Vision results to the Great Lakes Planetarium Association, either at its Annual Conference or at a state meeting.
  6. Report to a Homeowners Association, Business Association, or Architects Association.
  7. Create a new web page for inclusion at www.nightwise.org. 
  8. Design supporting material for a future Night Vision program.
  9. Create an exhibit to be displayed around the community.  
  10. Measure and plot the sky glow at major sites that file for permits in your county.  Plot other regions to show existing light levels.  Compare before-and-after data, yet recognize the limits of the results.
  11. Address lighting issues that are in the news and the community's response; see gumwood.htm.  
  12. Seek a commission to measure and plot an area.  For example, approach a neighborhood association to sponsor a sky glow survey  near emerging  developments.  Potential supporters and sites in St. Joseph County, IN, include:
    • Brendon Hills Park Homeowners Association near Heritage Square/Toscana Park
    • German Township residents near Portage Prairie (formerly Waggoner Farm)
    • Boy Scouts of America near its proposed Boy Scouts Environmental Center at Fredrickson Park in South Bend
    • Mishawaka residents around the proposed St. Joseph Hospital
  13. Interview people of multiple interests about lighting issues.  Include time with architects, developers, retailers and other users and providers of outdoor lighting.
  14. Interview electricity providers and municipal officials about their plans for efficient street lighting in the future.
  15. Learn about something you've never heard of, such as "digital orthographic quadrangles (DOQ)." 
  16. Create a tutorial for mapping and analyzing data related to outdoor lighting using a Geographic Information Systems (GIS);
  17. Report to the St. Joseph County Council, which adopted a lighting ordinance, or to the Mishawaka City Council, which has minimal lighting requirements. 
  18. Create artwork that reflects your value of the night sky.
  19. Write an editorial for a local paper.

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Copyright ©2009 Chuck Bueter.  All rights reserved.