Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

What are some quick STEM activities that you can do with your students to teach them all about solar eclipses? In this quick episode, I’m gonna be sharing with you 3 ideas that you can get started with. The first way you can help students understand what a solar eclipse is, is to have them create a model. Sadly, we aren’t friends with Miss Frizzle, and we can’t go on a magic school bus with her to check out the solar system. So the next best thing is for students to create a model and understand what is happening with the moon, earth, and sun.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:09]:

With your model, make sure that the moon is able to move in between the sun and the Earth and can demonstrate those different types of solar eclipses. I’ve been really excited learning more about solar and lunar eclipses, So I actually created a model that you can use with your students that comes with all of the printables, the directions are written and printed for you to not stress about it. And it’s a really cool way for not only students to learn about how solar eclipses work, but within the same model, they actually can explore what a lunar eclipse is and what that actually looks like. So this activity is teaching them even more than what you would expect. The second way you can teach your students about solar eclipses is by adding an element of robotics. There was a really cool activity posted on Wonder Workshop’s social media and their blog where they had a sun, moon, and Earth and created a way for Dash the robot, their all-star robot, to demonstrate the process of what a solar eclipse is. This does take some engineering of where to place the sun and the earth in the appropriate spots, and also how to code dash the robot to show the solar eclipse. But this is a really cool activity, and it looked really low prep.

Naomi Meredith [00:02:41]:

The third way you can teach students about solar eclipses is if you are in a place where you can view the solar eclipse, make sure you have those safety glasses. Another way that you can view a solar eclipse is by making your own solar eclipse viewer. I collaborated with We Are Teachers and actually had the chance to engineer a way that you can look at a solar eclipse safely by using a shoebox. There is a full video and blog post all about this, and just like everything else I just mentioned, I will link that for you in the show notes. As a recap, here are the 3 STEM activities that you can use with your students to teach them more about solar eclipses. First, create a movable model to show them what is happening with an eclipse. Next, add an element of coding and robotics, such as Dash the Robot. And 3rd, create a different version of a solar eclipse viewer, maybe one with a shoebox.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:49]:

Are you gonna try these things with your students? Let me know. Send me a message or add a comment, and can’t wait for you to learn all about solar eclipses with your students.