SEI's Solar In the Schools Program and Sun Shadows Project Measure Up

By Laurie Guevara-Stone, Solar Energy International's International Program Manager 

Solar Energy International's Solar In the Schools program encourages K-12 classes to get outside and measure the shadow of a stick in the name of international solar science. Join forces with pupils and teachers all over the world as part of the Sun Shadows Project to measure the shadow of a 1m long stick at your local solar noon. You don’t need much to participate, just some sun and a stick.

Participants worldwide will enter their measurements into an online database. These measurements can be used in geography lessons about the movements of the earth in our solar system, in trigonometry classes and even in classes discussing how time used to be measured long ago. Of course, it is also a fun educational activity for people of any age.

The Sun Shadows Project is a joint educational project of the Museo Nazionale dell'Antartide and the International Polar Foundation; both organizations send teachers to Antarctica to make polar research more accessible to students.

Read more about the project and download student worksheets here.