Thanks to a $650,000 federal grant, researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics are developing new affordable telescopes they hope will improve high school science education nationwide.

Philip M. Sadler, director of educational projects at the center, said Friday that the National Science Foundation (NSF) this summer approved the grant to fund the Micro Observatory, a project conceived by researchers at the center.

Under the program, scientists are designing telescopes that can be mass-produced cheaply and that can view the stars during the daylight hours, when students are in school, said Owen J. Gingerich, principal investigator for the project.

"We think its possible to build inexpensive telescopes to discover comets and search for supernovas," Sadler said.

Andrew R. Molnar, director of Applications for Advanced Technology Programs, a division of NSF that awards $6.5 million in grant money every year, said yesterday that the Harvard-Smithsonian project was selected because it will encourage student involvement in scientific research.

"We're looking for programs that not only teach students about astronomy, but also get them to actively participate," Molnar said.

Preliminary designs for the inexpensive automated electronic telescope have already been drafted by a team of five Harvard-Smithsonian engineers, Sadler said. He expects the Center will have constructed several devices for use in schools before the two-year program ends in 1991.

Molnar said he was pleased with Harvard's willingness to pioneer new educational programs for high school science education in the United States.

In addition to the Micro Observatory, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center sponsors three other educational programs, including a summer seminar for high school astronomy teachers, a project for incorporating astronomy into high school science courses and a project using computer simulations to teach advanced physical concepts at both the secondary and college level.

The NSF grant accounts for more than half of the center's educational budget this year, which is about $1.2 million, Sadler said.

"We're trying to mobilize the resources at these two great institutions [Harvard and the Smithsonian Institute] to address this nation's scientific dilemma," Sadler said.

Molnar and Sadler said such programs were especially necessary because science education in the United States has lagged in recent years.

"Our very best students score about average when compared to the rest of the world in areas such as chemistry, physics, biology and math," Molnar said.

"A very small percentage of the population is `scientifically literate," Molnar continued. "Many people think that acid rain is caused by radioactivity, that DNA is a food additive.