Deirdre Kelleghan  skysketcher@gmail.com
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Action Sun at St Pauls Senior Girls School Dublin 12 - What's up for July 2012 from Jane Houston Jones

7/5/2012

 
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WOW !! this is huge in the hall
St Pauls Senior Girls National School in Greenhill’s Dublin 12 is just a few minutes’ walk from the house where I grew up.  It was fortuitous to have the opportunity to carry out my third Action Sun for a school in this area.

On June 25th 47 young girls from third class, took part in building the sun. This was a very positive group all eager to get going and get busy. Streamers of orange and red paper flew through the air in vast amounts. In a short time the photosphere began to grow in the schools courtyard.  

The activity of Action Sun supports the school curriculum in its art as it uses mixed media to create the sun. The program uses paint and paper to convey activity and explosive movement on the solar disc. Action Sun also supports primary school art as it enables children to use the characteristics of the materials to make structures and features on the solar disc. Making the sun in this way is both creative and explorative. Learning a little science through the arts facilitates the use of many kinds of intelligences.  The learning process in the making is as valuable as the finished suns. Textures and spatial   organisation also comes into the creation of this work. The girls at St Pauls School were very good at working as a group, helping each other out. They also made good decisions during the activity which showed they were an excellent team. This is kinesthetic learning, learning by doing. 

Action Sun compliments science in the primary school curriculum on several levels.   A short information talk in between making the suns features informs the children about our suns role in the solar system. We talk about the scale of the sun and the Earth. We talk about the energy of the sun and its function in relation to the other planets.  The mini talks make sure that the children understand that the sun is our main source of heat and light.  By building the sun the children learn by hands on investigation. The children literally explore the physical features of the sun with their hands in mini scale. A quick review of the evaluation sheets shows the quality of the learning. Several children not only drew sketches of the complex sun but also put in arrows to the different features and labelled them all correctly. The action of throwing the paper was very popular, signing their names was also a highlight and for some children carrying the sun into the hall was the stand out moment of the day.

When I look at the sun in my solar telescope I see a huge amount of detail and very often in the past I have shared that view with children. However it takes a long time to show this view to a large group as the sun presents as a small disc with tiny features. It is difficult for children to comprehend the enormous scale of our nearest star.  I put Action Sun together to bridge that gap and help more people achieve some understanding of this wonderful star in safety with a big fun element.

The features of the sun itself were totally new to this young group, but at the end of the programme words like photosphere, chromosphere, filaments, prominences and sunspots were all a little more familiar. We closed our eyes at the end of the build and held our faces up to the sun to feel its heat and remind ourselves that it takes eight minutes for its light to get to us here on Earth, a 93 million mile smile. Building the sun took about 90 minutes. The 7.9 X 4.9 meter tarpaulin was pre prepared at home using four litres of matte black masonry paint. During  the activity we used approx 3,500 individual pre cut  pieces of crepe paper ,15 litres of washable  PVA glue, 6 litres of yellow paint , 1 litre of red paint,  plus the energy of forty seven eight and nine year old third class girls. 

My thanks to Sarah Jayne Reid for setting up Action Sun at St Pauls and to Phil Curran for all her efforts prior to, during and post the build. Thanks to Ms Keating, Ms Daly and Principal Sr Maureen for their support during the activity.  NASA Sun Earth Day bookmarks, posters and other educational material were provided to the teachers.  The solar feature data for this Action Sun was an observation of the disc made from my PST earlier that morning.  The Solar Dynamics Observatory website was pointed out to the girls so they could continue to watch the sun safely.  
     




What's Up for July 2012 from Jane Houston Jones 

Action Sun – Lets bring the Sun to Earth   ©   by Deirdre Kelleghan - What's Up for June 2012 from Jane Houston Jones - The Transit of Venus 

6/6/2012

 
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As I approached the City of Kilkenny medieval towers and spires broke the dull May skyline. Pure yellow rapeseed fields painted sunshine on the landscape. Rich green wheat moved slowly in the cold breeze each side of the motorway.

At Kilkenny Castle on National Drawing Day my Action Sun participants were young families randomly stopping by and taking part for short periods.  Small children throwing crepe paper photosphere clumps with smiles on their tiny faces.  Just as well for the completion of the project that two boys Max Gronowski aged 12 and Daragh Lynch aged 12 got stuck into it from the start. They helped paint the acrylic / glue base, the root for two of the suns atmospheres.  As the solar build progressed my information spiel became simply a three and a half hour conversation with the boys. They asked questions, I answered; we discussed the photosphere as we threw our orange paint dipped paper targeting the empty spaces on this sixteen foot highly textured sun. They asked ‘where did the sun come from’? What will happen to the sun in the future?  How big is the sun? They could not wait to fill in the photosphere and move on to apply the chromosphere. We talked about solar telescopes, space telescopes, the dangers of looking at the sun, the Venus Transit, Apollo 11, becoming an astronaut, Mars, going to Mars, Mars Science Laboratory, photosynthesis, energy and light.  At that point Action sun had become a constructive dialogue with two very tenacious boys.  Some parents came to help for a while and we were joined for the last hour or so by Matthew Shortall aged 9 who helped to make our photosphere denser which on a solar disc of that diameter was a very big task. Daragh said it would be great if we had music to work by, ‘what kind of music?’ I asked,   Beethoven was the unexpected reply. 

We had dragged the sun through the clouds and reproduced it on the ground.  Groups of adults got answers to ‘what’s going on here? Is that the sun?  ‘Ha ha I have not seen that for weeks’.  ‘Does it really look like that?’  ‘What are the black things?’

Max helped place the sunspots using my drawing made directly from the Solar Dynamics Observatory website at 09:02 IST. We made the filaments, I added the prominences; local papers took photographs of the creation.  The sun never showed its face at Kilkenny Castle that day but as each hour went by the sun on Earth was growing brighter every minute as our build continued.

Venus, a black polystyrene ball on the end of a stick, demonstrated the transit   as seen from Ireland against the newly created sun.  The Earth had escaped from my car earlier and spent   the day in the middle of my driveway.

We actually ran out of time, our photosphere big as it became, was just not dense enough and the boys knew it.  Our red thinly spaced solar chromospheric   paper   fluttered in the wind. Sticky hands and paint splattered tee shirts told the story of almost four hours of creative work.

For their wonderful effort I gave the boys NASA Sun Earth Day packs. They helped me give out Venus Transit information to all who passed by. Max, Darragh and Matthew signed their names proudly to the giant canvas as they had done most of the work. The 7.9 X 4.9 meter Action Sun will hang at Dunsink Observatory during Solarfest on June 23rd. The photosphere will be complete by then.

Action Sun first light was with St Cronans Stargazers children’s school club on May 4th 2012. Sixteen boys and I constructed an eight foot solar disc based on my early morning observations. This eager group worked on the sun interspaced by pockets of solar information delivered in short bursts which punctuated the action.   Link to blog

Action Sun was funded by Dublin City of Science 2012  and The Butler Gallery Kilkenny Castle , Kilkenny City.
Action Sun was a NASA Sun Earth Day event also
Action Sun – is an indoor or outdoor activity which allows groups of children to participate in building a large solar disc or several solar discs. This Earth built sun mimics the photosphere and chromosphere of the sun, includes sunspots, filaments, and prominences present on the sun ideally in real time. The materials are simple, paper, glue and paint. It is kinaesthetic participatory learning for young children. The activity educates and supports science through art and the creative process.


Slide show of Action Sun at Kilkenny Castle


What's Up for June 2012 from Jane Houston Jones - The Transit of Venus of course :-)

Action Sun - Let's bring the sun to Earth - What's Up for May 2012 from Jane Houston Jones

5/10/2012

 
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Action Sun image by Bernard Kelleghan
On May 4th 2012 children from St Cronans Stargazers Astronomy Club in Bray took the sun from the sky and brought it down to Earth. We used a 10ft X 8ft plastic sheet, crepe paper, acrylic paint washable glue and plenty of energy. It was a very cloudy day but a brief look at the sun in the early am gave me a good view of the large sunspot in Active Region 1471. I took the rest of the data from the space telescope Nasa Solar Dynamics Observatory. ‘The sun now’ on its website shows the status of the sun in many light views in real time.

By building the sun the children were literally exploring the physical features of the sun with their hands in mini scale.

Exploring astronomy via art is a very varied learning for all participants. Even finding out a little about what we see in the sky during our entire lifetimes is enhancing for life. Understanding where we are helps us understand who we are.

Art expressing unique awe and wonder at the magnificence of our stars role, in every second of every day of our lives is unavoidably beautiful.

Astronomy and Art are for everyone, each person has something to express, each has their own life journey to make, to live, to experience.  The action of bringing the Sun to the ground, bringing it down to Earth is a deep experience that can only have a positive effect.  Action Sun   invites children to be creative, expressive, and informed.

During the activity I emphasised to the children the dangers of looking at the sun. Action Sun is a very safe way of exploring our star in a way that enhances a child’s knowledge and encourages curiosity and further learning.

During the making of our sun in Bray we had just finished the photosphere when spontaneously some of the children bowed down to the paper sun. This was a funny  happy moment, so totally unexpected, it came out of nowhere. When we  were carrying the finished sun into the school, the smallest child began singing ‘here comes the sun’

I was amazed that a 2012 child would know that song and even more surprised  that he sang away. The singing soon became a group effort as we struggled through the double doors into the hall.

Action Sun supports Art in the curriculum as it uses mixed media to create the sun. We used  paint and paper to convey action ,and explosive movement on the solar disc. Action Sun enables children to use the characteristics of the materials to make the structures and features on the solar disc. Making the sun in this way is both creative and explorative.

Making is the technological component of the Science Curriculum. Action Sun provides the child with an opportunity to make the sun, and thereby investigate its properties in their school yard.

Action Sun is a cooperative activity encouraging social skills and group learning. The goal is to bring the sun to Earth to examine it and observe it safely. We were not just  aiming for an understanding of the subject matter but were  making connections between head, hand and heart while cultivating the capacity to discover systems. Observation and wonder equals sustained learning.

Action Sun supports Geography in primary education as the Solar System is part of the lesson plans. The Sun is the central hub of our solar system and is therefore one of the most important objects in our daily lives.


When the Action Sun  piece was hung in the hall , the children said ' the suns up , the suns up' with smiling faces,  what a happy moment.
Action Sun  was created by Deirdre Kelleghan slide show below
On this occasion Action Sun was funded by Dublin City of Science 2012
Many thanks to Paedar O'Briain and Paula O'Donnall for their invaluable help on the day
Many thanks to my husband Bernard for taking the image above , a wonderful job.
Many thanks to principal Maeve Teirney for saying YES !
Many thanks to John for hanging the sun in the school hall, a big job. !
Many thanks to the Bray People for covering the event in the paper
This  was also a NASA Sun Earth Day Venus Transit registered event.

The childrens work also had the honour of being Astronomy Sketch of the Day

on May 5th2012

Next Action Sun was  on May 19th at Kilkenny Castle National Drawing Day 2012




Whats up for May 2012 from Jane Houston Jones

    Picture

    Author


    Deirdre Kelleghan is amateur astronomer,
    an artist and also  likes to write.

    "The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be lighted"
    Plutarch

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