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Eratosthenes Project, How Big is Earth Starts on Feb. 15, 2015

Eratosthenes Project, How Big is Earth Starts on Feb. 15, 2015

de Bonnie Thurber -
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Image from Morocco Student Astronomy Club

Image is by Ezzarg Abdelaziz from Morocco Student Club participating in How Big is Earth

Please register, review and begin the "How Big is Earth" project in the iCollaboratory on or after Feb. 15. 

This project is funded by International Astronomical Union (IAU) Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) in partnership with the South African National Research Foundation.

Using only the sunlight striking the Earth and a wooden dowel, students can measure the circumference of the earth. Eratosthenes did it over 2,000 years ago. In Cosmos, Carl Sagan shared the process by which Eratosthenes measured the angle of the shadow cast at local noon when sunlight strikes a stick positioned perpendicular to the ground. By comparing his measurement to another made a distance away, Eratosthenes was able to calculate the circumference of the earth. This project meets standards for Math, Science, Reading and Geography. Students receive buttons for each activity.

The project officially begins March 1. If you start early your students will learn lots more. The dates you need to remember are Feb. 15, March 1, and March 20, 21, and 22. All angle measurements are due by March 23. Raw measurements should be taken on March 20, 21 or 22. If those days are cloudy or your students are on vacation, please use Activity 7a or 7b to collect the correct measurements and post them early. 

• How Big is Earth is for classroom students ages 10-15 years.

• The project is based in the iCollaboratory (a Moodle and Google Apps for Education private domain)

• The project is found at http://new.icollaboratory.net/course/view.php?id=101. 

• All participants need a username and password to log in.

• If you are a teacher and need  an iCollaboratory user name, please click create account on the login page.

• To create accounts for your students please view http://www.icollaboratory.org/create-accounts

For more information, please contact icollaboratory@gmail.com

Thank you,

Bonnie Thurber and the iCollaboratory Team


(Edited by iCollaboratory Team - original submission Wednesday, 11 February 2015, 11:34 AM)