Name: Measuring the sky

Date: October 6, 2008

Venue: �Tudor Vianu� National High School of Computer Science Bucharest

Target group: Students from "Tudor Vianu" National High School of Computer Science

Committee: Raileanu Roberta, Ferariu Ioana, Iordache Radu

Coordinating teacher: Ioana Stoica

Attendance: the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th grade and former students (about 125 people & 2 teachers)


Description:

Students were encouraged to put themselves in the shoes of the early scientists who tried to find answers to the mysteries of the Universe. On the 6th of October, our usual classroom was transported in ancient and medieval times. Using several documentaries, pictures and PowerPoint presentations, students were explained the way Eratosthenes measured the circumference of our planet, they saw how big the library in Alexandria was and learned interesting facts about great astronomers such as Copernicus, Aristarchus or Tycho Brahe.

    The four presentations explained:
  • how we can calculate the movement of a planet (presented by the 11th grade students: Adelina Vidovici, Andrei Mihnea, Anastase Cristina);
  • how the ancient astronomers became famous by their findings (presented by Raileanu Roberta, 9I);
  • how the telescopes and different optic instruments evolved (presented by Ferariu Ioana, 10D);
  • how Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth (presented by Raileanu Roberta, 9I)

    Towards the end of the presentation, we had some interesting questions based on astronomy facts. The students with the best answers received awards.

               You can view Roberta's presentation here, Radu's presentation here and the quiz here.




    For more photos view gallery