“We need to enjoy this and learn as much as we can because we want our children to understand that something like this won't happen for much longer,” Kim Enriquez said. he said.
CARBONDALE, Ill. — After the 2024 U.S. solar eclipse, some areas of southern Illinois won't see another solar eclipse for another 300 years, so SIU researchers hope to see some parts of southern Illinois in the dark at the moment of totality. We are working to ensure that no student is left behind.
At Wingate Elementary School in Mascoutah, Illinois, students in kindergarten through fifth grade are working on homework ahead of the Great American Eclipse.
“The older kids understand it a little bit more,” Wingate Principal Kim Enriquez said. “Some of our children weren't born the last time there was a solar eclipse.”
That's why Principal Kim Enriquez encourages faculty and staff to use the school's position, which is close to the path of totalization, as a teaching tool.
“Teachers are going to show videos that look at how it happens, why it happens and how often it happens,” Henriquez said. “They'll be out at different times in the afternoon to see what's going on.”
“This year it will be almost twice as long as 2017, so it will be fainter and more stars will be visible,” said SIU researcher Dr. Colin Brevik. “Planets will appear. You can see the sunset 360 degrees.”
Clouds are always a concern with solar eclipses, so Southern Illinois University Carbondale has partnered with NASA to stream the eclipse to classrooms around the world, regardless of distance from totality.
“We have 80 telescopes across the North American continent, so we'll be photographing the eclipse from the moment it reaches Mazatlan, Mexico, until it leaves Canada,” Dr. Brevik said.
The live feed includes interviews with NASA scientists. Scientists can add context to the different color dimensions captured by special lenses that allow them to study the Sun at the moment of totality.
“The research we are doing can only be done during a solar eclipse,” Dr. Breivik said. “There are parts of the sun's atmosphere that we don't normally see, so eclipses give us the opportunity to study those parts. As educators, eclipses give us the opportunity to study those parts. It gives us an opportunity. As educators, we also have an opportunity to work with communities and schools to get people interested in science.”
“I want kids to understand that something like this won't be happening for long,” Enriquez said. “We need to enjoy it and learn as much as we can at the time.”
For more information on SIU's live stream of the solar eclipse, click here.
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