Salk magnet school celebrates eclipse

Salk Middle School students in all science classes learned and celebrated the April 8 eclipse, even though it was obscured by cloudy skies. Students participated in different activities across grade levels and viewed livestreams of the eclipse.

“Not only is the eclipse an exciting astronomy event, it’s also something that students are genuinely curious about,” STEM curriculum coordinator Megan Heitkamp said. “Students wondered about so many different scientific topics that are taught across grade levels and content areas, from modeling to safety to survival to technology.”

In sixth grade, students watched several video clips and constructed a foldable to learn the logistics of the eclipse, including the relationship between the sun, the moon and the Earth.

In seventh grade, students used technology to view what the eclipse would look like (behind the clouds) in Minnesota and picked from four different inquiry assignments including, learning about safely viewing eclipses with glasses, different cultures’ storytelling about eclipses, learning about survival on the moon and collaborating with others on what supplies would be most helpful if they got “stuck” on the moon, and researching different scientific studies that were gathering data during the eclipse.

In eighth grade, students used Oreo cookies to model the phases of a solar eclipse. After understanding how the sun, moon, Earth have to be aligned through videos, readings and models, students learned that solar eclipses only occur on a new moon. Connections were made between the eclipse and an Oreo moon phase model. Both models helped demonstrate the positioning of objects in the solar system during both an eclipse and in the moon phases. Salk community members donated 35 packages of Oreos to make this fun hands-on modeling experience a reality for all students.

Salk Middle School’s STEM curriculum and themes highlight the intrinsic connection between learning about real world topics, using a hands-on approach to learning, and capitalizing on students’ interest areas.