I Wonder How One Determines the Circumference of the Earth

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I Wonder How One Determines the Circumference of
the Earth?
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Noon Day Project

• Pictures such as these taken by the Apollo
  astronauts and of the Discovery this summer as it
  docks with the International Station on 7/28/05
  were printed on color transparencies and were on
  a screen as the students enter the classroom to
  create interest in the Noon Day Project.

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Why I Chose this Project?

• The Noon Day Project addresses the standards that
  include the nature of science, the scientific
  method, experimental design, and metric
  measurement covered at the first of the year.  

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• In addition, this project also provides the
  students an opportunity to integrate science,
  technology, social studies, and math at a time I
  am learning about my students and their
  interests.  

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Internet Registry

• Stevens Institute of Technology, Center for
  Innovation in Engineering and Science Education
  (CIESE) 
• URL  www.k12science.org/noonday/

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First Steps

• During the first steps of the project, we marked
  our location online on the Guest Map, greeted the
  participants, and wrote an introduction letter.
• Approximately 200 classes from across the United
  States and in countries such as Australia and the
  Czech Republic participated this fall.

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Noon Day Participants,
2005                                             
                                            
Include/view your location
on this map. 
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Our Letter of Introduction

• Greetings to all participants of the Noon Day
  Project from Page Middle School in Gloucester
  County, Virginia in the United States. We are
  located at 37.22N Latitude and 76.22W Longitude.
  Our school has approximately 610 students in
  grades 6 through 8.

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• Seventh Graders on the Bay Savers Team will be
  participating in the Noon Day Project for the
  first time this year. Our first unit of study in
  Ms. Rollins Life Science class focuses on
  Scientific Thinking and Tools such as the Metric
  System.

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Who What is this Internet Project About?

• At a point long before Columbuss voyage, the
  measurements made by the Greek librarian
  Eratosthenes were accurate to within 200 miles of
  measurements calculated using modern technology.

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How?

• How did Eratosthenes measure the circumference of
  the earth? Using the pictures and text of the
  picture book The Librarian Who Measured the
  Earth, by Kathryn Lasky, the students analyzed
  and searched for the answer to this essential
  question.

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Goal

• Our Internet Project goal was to recreate the
  remarkable measurement of the circumference of
  the earth calculated over 2000 years ago. 

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We Used a GPS to Determine Our Coordinates

• This project requires collaboration of students
  in places at different latitudes of the earth to
  make shadow measurements using simple metric
  tools at high noon local time. 

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Shadows

• Measurements of the shadows created by the sun
  were collected on Thursday, September 22, 2005
  (the Autumnal Equinox) and were used to
  calculate the circumference of the earth.

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And Angles

• We collaborated with Highline Choice Academy in
  Burien, Washington State after my 6th period
  students calculated the angle on our right
  triangle to be 38 from our shadow length of 77.3
  cm. determined by my 7th period students.

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• Page Middle School
•   Gloucester, VA
• 37.22 N -  76.22 W 
• Meter stick 
• 9/22/05 
• 100 cm. 
• 77.3 cm. 
• 38 degrees 

• Highline CHOICE Academy, Burien, WA
• 47.28 N -  122.21 W 
• Meter stick 
• 9/21/05 
• 100 cm. 
• 115 cm 
• 48 degrees 

Final circumference calculations
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and the Circumference is

• Our final calculation for the circumference of
  the earth came to 40,248 km. That is just 240
  km. shy of the true circumference and less than a
  1 error!

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Internet Safety Issues

• For those teachers and parents concerned about
  collaborating on the Internet, there is a link at
  the CIESE project site to the Children's Online
  Privacy Protection Act of 1998 and instructions
  "not to include first and last names, e-mail
  addresses, telephone numbers, or any information
  that might lead to the identification of the
  students." 

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• This is comforting in light of the restrictions
  our school division and others have on the
  exchange of information by students online. 

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Reflections

• The project was a positive and exciting way to
  address the standards and introduce my students
  to the power of collaboration using the Internet.
• In the project new literacies build upon but they
  do not replace traditional literacies.

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References

• Canter Associates. (Executive Producer).
  (1996). Helping students become self-directed
  learners. Los Angeles Author
• Costa, A. L., Kallick, B. (Eds.). (2000).
  Activating engaging habits of mind. Alexandria,
  VA Association for Supervision and Curriculum
  Development.
• Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer).
  (2003). Integrating technology in the curriculum,
  part one. Los Angeles Author.
• Leu, D. (2002, January 18). New literacies. Los
  Angeles Canter Associates.
• Leu, D. J., Leu, D. D., Coiro, J. (2004).
  Teaching with the Internet K12 New literacies
  for new times (4th ed.). Norwood, MA
  Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc.