The boundless expanse above beckons as the sky is for all! Under the canopy of the stars, young women who wanted to study the realm of the cosmos are about to initiate an evolutionary era in astronomy.
We met a group of girls aspiring to explore the sky at Government girls higher secondary school, Palacode, Dharmapuri. It was a great pleasure for us to hook these girls into the journey of innovative learning for the first time. We engaged the students in an active interaction about the fundamentals of stars, planets, and sun. The students were encouraged to look out for the planets at night sky and differentiate them from the stars. The basic optics behind the working of telescopes, its construction, types of telescopes and their corresponding uses were discussed. The interaction paved us a way to observe the curiosity and scientific thinking of the students.
The students were then made to observe the hot yellow noon sun through a solar filter glass that helped them understand the importance of using solar filters to protect their eyes. They rejoiced, admitting that they had seen an orange-coloured ball of fire.
Later, the students were made to observe the noon sun through a reflective telescope, which gave them an overwhelming experience of witnessing the magnified ball of fire. They were also made to observe the sun spots for the first time. The students were indeed excited and shared their experience of telescope observation for the very first time. We had a great time observing the sun and speaking of its incredibility with these enthusiastic students, and are excited to impart more innovations and scientific thinking among these students.
We intend to specially thank Mrs. Selvi, Social science teacher for taking the entire initiative of conducting the sun observation program in an enthusiastic manner, and we thank the Headmistress of the school for supporting us throughout the program.
Krithika Krishnan, scientific Assistant, OSF