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Solar Eclipse Workshop at HartRAO 2002/07/08

To prepare for the total solar eclipse that will trace a path over southern africa on 4 December 2002, a workshop was held at HartRAO about the eclipse for partner science education organisations. This workshop was partly funded by a grant of R25000 from the Foundation for Education, Science and Technology (FEST) on behalf of the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (DACST), now the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

The aim of the workshop was not only to supply information about the eclipse, but to provide our partners in the eclipse project with materials they could use to educate people in their area of the country. This entailed a considerable amount of work by the HartRAO Science Awareness team and support staff, particularly in the mechanical workshop.

A photographic report gives an idea of the preparation for the eclipse workshop, and some of what took place during the event.

The workshop was held from 9 - 11 July 2002. External participants were:

Samson Mongolele, Giyani Science Centre, Giyani, Limpopo Province
Alpheus Mamadi, Bostec, Burgerrecht Village, Limpopo Province
Dr Jacob Manale and Phillip Mutshena, University of Venda for Science and Technology, Thohoyandou, Limpopo Province
Jonathan Aitken and Lorato Trok, Moffat Mission Trust, Kuruman, Northern Cape
Keabetswe Oliphant and Jalo Holele, North West Dept Ed (NWDE), Mothibistad District, North West Province
Moses Ngubeni, Limpopo Tourism, Polokwane (Pietersburg), Limpopo Province (Tuesday only)
Colleen Hughes, FEST, Pretoria (Wednesday afternoon only)

HartRAO staff Conrad Mahlase, Glenda Coetzer, Japie Greef and Meisie Fourie also participated.

The University of the North Science Centre are also partners in the project but were unable to participate in the workshop. However they also received the materials described below.

The workshop was run by Kim de Boer, Pulane Moroeng, Logan Moodley and Dr. Mike Gaylard of HartRAO.

The first day of the workshop comprised:

Opening followed by a video on astronomy to provide basic background
Setting up a scale model of the solar system to demonstrate sizes and distances of the Sun and planets
The Sun and seasons, using an orrery (mechanical model of the Sun, Earth and Moon)
The Moon - origins, comparison with Earth, phases
Beyond the solar system - slide show
Making and using starfinders and star maps
Night sky viewing - identifying planets, stars and constellations

Day Two focused on the eclipse:

Solar eclipses - what is an eclipse? Why do eclipses occur? What is the difference between a partial and total eclipse? Why is a total eclipse only seen over a small area on Earth? Why do solar eclipses not occur each month? What is a lunar eclipse?
Experiencing a total solar eclipse - slide show
The solar eclipse of 2002 Dec 04 - When? Where? How to view it safely? How to demonstrate what happens?
Making and using resources - projection of the Sun's image with pinholes and with binoculars, using eclipse viewers, making and using simple telescopes, using the HartRAO orreries; OHP resources for simulating eclipses; 20cm Sun and 1 cent Moon.

The third day was devoted to:

General implementation strategies for raising awareness and understanding of the 2002 Dec 04 total Solar eclipse
Implementation strategies for each centre
Documenting activities - using the cameras - what makes a "good" publicity picture
Tour of the observatory - Control Room, Radio Telescope, Satellite Laser Ranger etc.
Braai by starlight

Materials received by each centre included:

Sectioned binoculars on a tripod for projecting Sun's image and for demonstrating how binoculars work
35mm camera with 6 rolls of ISO 400 film, for photographic documentation of the Eclipse 2002 activities carried out by the Centre
Book "Understanding Eclipses" by Cliff Turk, published by Struik
Book "Sasol First Field Guide to Skywatching in Southern Africa" by Cliff Turk, published by Struik
Set of 21 slides developed by HartRAO, with notes, on the eclipse
Three diskettes with free astronomy software
Eclipse 2002 workbook with notes and activities for explaining the eclipse
Orrery made by HartRAO to demonstrate day and night, seasons, phases of the Moon and eclipses
Set of laminated overhead projector resources, for eclipse simulations
Simple telescope kit (from Case Rijsdijk at SAAO)
Starfinder (planisphere) kit for identifying bright stars and constellations (from the Johannesburg Planetarium)
Master copies of the A4 leaflet on the eclipse, designed by HartRAO, which will be available from the FEST website.

The level of knowledge was evaluated by two short questionnaires given to participants at the start and at the end of the workshop. These covered general astronomical concepts (maximum mark = 118), and the eclipse (maximum mark = 99):

		Astronomy                  Eclipse
Name    Before  After  Change      Before  After   Change
A         13     46      +33          25     85      +60
B         13     72      +59          23     84      +61
C         17     45      +28          27     78      +51
D         26     56      +30          73     83      +10
E         34     46      +12          25     67      +42
F         59     80      +21          78     81       +3
G         65    105      +40          71     93      +22
H         68     71       +3          81     85       +4
I         78    104      +26          89     97       +8
J         85    108      +23          87     87        0

Some of the participants had essentially no prior exposure to astronomy, which is shown by the "before" scores of 10, 13 and 17. They all showed substantial improvements in understanding in their "after" results.

All participants showed a very satisfactory understanding of eclipses after the workshop. Those with almost no prior knowledge, with scores of 7, 14 and 25, showed particularly dramatic improvements.

The draft implementation plan shows the direction each centre will follow.