Calculating the circumference of the Earth, by measuring two shadows.
Participation of 9 countries : India, Slovenia, Romania, Italy, France, Malta, Argentina, Panama, Canada.
Website : iya09.eratosthenes.free.fr
2200 years ago, Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth.
On spring equinox 2009, 11 schools over the world measured the angle of the sun at noon.
The results of the measurements and calculations were exchanged on the website: http://iya09.eratosthenes.free.fr/
The final communication occured on videoconference. You Tube playlist (Eratosthenes Spring Equinox 2009 Videoconference)
We run this measurement with our partner schools since 2005, on the website The Eratosthenes Library :
http://perbosc.eratosnoon.free.fr/
We decided to organize an event for the International Year of Astronomy.
The main problem was to choose a schedule for videoconference, because we had schools on 3 continents:
Forum (Choose the date -Scegli la data)
It was unique to use ICT tools of videoconference for making an historical experiment of 2200 years.
The results, photos and videos on the website : http://iya09.eratosthenes.free.fr/
It was an introduction to astronomy in science but also art, literature, geography, history and foreign language.
This transdisciplinary approach motivates all students
The most outstanding event of our project was the videoconference of may 5th 2009, when we exchanged the measurements of the spring equinox.
This project is also an eTwinning project :
twinblog : http://twinblog.etwinning.net/9849/
twinspace : http://my.twinspace.etwinning.net/iya09
The results are also published on the website of European Association for Astronomy in Education (2009) :
http://isheyevo.ens-lyon.fr/eaae/groupspace/eratosthene/
The evaluation of the results with teachers and students (France) comments on the forum : http://eratos.forum.free.fr/
A really simple scientific experiment for age 6 to 16.
Participants just needed a wooden stick and a rule for measuring a shadow. This was adapted for all the participants of all the countries.
The participants needed an internet connection. That is with this media that we could meet each other
Partner in Italy :