At talkSTEM, like many other STEM educational organizations, we are excited for the phenomenal learning opportunity that we all get to participate in on Monday, April 8. Our planet is so dominated by water that, during most total solar eclipses, the path of totality barely touches land. This one will surge through parts of six Mexican states, 15 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces. About 44 million people will be in the path of totality on April 8 (from space.com).There are wonderful resources out there that we hope that schools, community-based organizations, families, and children will tap into such as this informative collection and an outline of what to expect from NASA. Here is a nice overview from the Exploratorium. More locally, many of our partners have put together some excellent resources such as in this collection from Region 12 Education Service Center in Texas. Learning that is anchored in real world phenomena that students can experience, discuss, and share about present exciting opportunities for all educators. This solar eclipse, the last one of its kinds to be experienced in the contiguous US till 2044, is no exception.
At talkSTEM, we have thought hard about what we can bring to the table to assist all the wonderful students and on-the ground educators in the days and weeks following the eclipse. Our goal is to scaffold the learning that students can do, to support the voices of all students so they can share all that they observed and questioned during the eclipse. We want to highlight to students that the visual and other data that they collect during the eclipse is valid and to emphasize to each of them how they are STEM investigators – no jargon needed!
So, here’s what we are offering. Use our free video template to share your photos and/or videos. Follow the video template to include your noticings, your questions, your single question that you want to think more about, and then your response to the question. In other words, make a shareable walkSTEM video (or two or three) about your experience of the eclipse. Have your students do the same and share. They can view the skies (following safety protocols), the shadows on the ground, the behavior of pets or any other aspect of the phenomenon. Using the photos / videos to create short, personalized STEAMclipse 2-24 videos is a way to keep gathering and analyzing data well past April 8. Use the template, share it, and if you would like, tag us @talkingSTEM on Instagram so we can repost your STEAMclipse record. All you need to do is to set up a free canva account in order to access the video template. For more information on how to use the canva video template, click the second button below. Please make sure to follow safety guidelines when viewing the eclipse as described here. Further, here is a short article with tips on smartphone photography of an eclipse. For those with more of a photography bent and other cameras they want to use, here is another set of tips we came across.
For information of our other walkSTEM video templates, click the button below. There are many other phenomena that your students can video journal about in this way – through their observations, their questions that are grounded in their own observations, and so on.
Dr. Koshi Dhingra has dedicated her career to STEM education and is passionate about having every child live up to their potential. Seeing a lack of girls and other underrepresented youth in STEM programs, she founded talkSTEM in 2015 to address the imbalance. She has a doctorate in science education from Teachers College, Columbia University, has years of experience teaching in graduate and undergraduate programs, and has held leadership roles in universities. She advises and collaborates with a broad range of educational institutions globally. Dr. Dhingra began her career teaching science in middle and high school in New York. She lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, three children, and two dogs.
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