"Building on the Eclipse" Program Looks Beyond August 21st
Richard Fienberg Running Hare Observatory
This post is adapted from an Astronomers Without Borders press release:
As the United States prepares for the first total solar eclipse to race across the country from coast to coast in 99 years, on 21 August 2017, Astronomers Without Borders (AWB) is launching a major new nationwide initiative that will have a significant, long‐lasting impact on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This campaign, sponsored by Google, is open to everyone across the US, with a special emphasis on underserved communities who may not otherwise have the opportunity of leveraging the rare natural laboratory of a solar eclipse to learn about the importance of the Sun and its light.
AWB's unique Building on the Eclipse education program uses the high-profile celestial event as inspiration and the starting point for continuing STEM education lessons and activities to be conducted in the following academic year.
Lindsay Bartolone, education director at AWB, says, "The Astronomers Without Borders Building on the Eclipse education program offers educators from diverse settings resources and professional support to build on kids' excitement and continue learning about and being amazed by the Sun."
This innovative program is open to all formal and informal educational groups including schools, libraries, museums, nature centers, after-school groups, and scouts. Schools and youth groups in inner cities, on Native American reservations or military installations, at children's hospitals, and those in isolated rural communities with limited resources are encouraged to apply. The program also seeks professional and amateur astronomers to support participating groups in their astronomy and general science activities.
"The eclipse is an amazing natural phenomenon that serves as the inspiration for study of the sciences," says Mike Simmons, president and founder of AWB. "We hope that isolated and traditionally underserved communities in particular will take advantage of the program, bringing STEM into classrooms that might have limited resources."
The program offers an exciting educational resource package that uses eclipse viewing glasses and spectroscope kits in lesson plans developed by a team of professional science educators in cooperation with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and Science Technology Advanced Resource, Inc. An online support community and professional development sessions are also offered. The solar eclipse, and solar science in general, will form the platform for exploring a wide variety of investigations into renewable energy, climate, weather, and life on Earth.
Online registration for the program is now open at awbeclipse2017.org, and a limited number of spectroscope kits are available free to eligible groups registering early thanks to a generous donation from Rainbow Symphony.
As the final countdown begins to the "Great American Eclipse," now is the time for formal and informal educators across the country to take advantage of this special celestial moment as a jumping-off point to inspire children of all ages about the importance and wonders of STEM. Adds Simmons, "Let's keep the excitement going once the August 21st eclipse has come and gone and extend the educational opportunity!"