Eclipse 101: What, Where, How?
Posted on August 14th, 2017 by Mary Lord
On August 21, 2017, all of North America will be treated to a solar eclipse, including a 90-mile swath of totality stretching from Oregon’s coast to Charleston, S.C. NASA has assembled a helpful guide for where, when, and how to experience the eclipse, including tips for safe viewing.
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Tags: Astronomy, eclipse viewing, Geography, History, Internet Resources, maps, NASA, Outreach, Resources for Teachers, solar eclipse, totality, Web Resources
Middle school students learn about the Earth’s geometrical relation to the sun by calculating where the sun will be in the sky for any date or time given a particular location on Earth, such as their school. The three-activity module was developed by lighting engineer Tony Esposito, Ph.D., during his graduate studies at Pennsylvania State University and made available to eGFI Teachers.
eGFI caught up with lighting engineer Tony Esposito, who developed this month’s “solar geometry” lesson while earning a Ph.D. in architectural engineering at Pennsylvania State University, to learn more about his background and what sparked his interest in engineering and education. Check out his story – and tips for teachers!
Stitched circuits and musical instruments made from marshmallows are among the latest offerings in the 2017 Maker Camp, a virtual DIY summer camp sponsored by Make magazine. Many activities could work well as classroom projects, too!
Working in groups of three, middle school students learn about types of forces, the relationship between form and function, and the structure of the hand by working as biomedical engineers to design, build, and test their own hand “gripper” prototypes that can grasp and lift a 200 ml cup of sand.
High school students working in groups of three to four learn about the primary causes and impacts of coastal erosion, and use elevation data to construct profiles of a beach over time or to compare several beaches, make inferences about the erosion process, and discuss how humans should respond.
Along with free activity guides for its signature JVInvenTeams innovation contest for students in grades 7 to 10,,the Lemelson-MIT Program is presenting three-day summer workshops this summer designed to help teachers encourage middle and high school students to think and act like inventors while developing solutions to real world problems. 
Students in grades 3 to 8 study coastal erosion and the apply the engineering design process to devise structures and policies to protect shorelines, taking public concerns into account.
Students in grades 6-7 build light meters and investigate the nature, sources, and levels of light in their classroom. learning about the adverse effects of artificial light on humans, animals, and plants as well as the engineering concepts of sensors and lumen and lux (lx) illuminance units. They also learn how to better use light and save energy as well as some of the technologies designed by engineers to reduce light pollution and energy waste.
