Eclipse education: Western Pa. schools make plans for day of astronomical event

When the moon passes in front of the sun in the afternoon of April 8, students with the astronomy club at Penn-Trafford High School will be waiting on the football field to see it.

Most Penn-Trafford students are being dismissed two hours and 15 minutes early on the day of the eclipse so they can safely view the event at home. But members of the astronomy club plan to host an eclipse viewing party on the football field from 2 to 4:30 p.m., teacher Ryan Tucek said, and the public is invited.

“We’ll have telescopes (with) filters on them, we’ll have glasses that people can use to safely view,” Tucek said. “For some kids who are here, we’ll be doing some activities like making pinhole cameras, kind of a craft to see the sun through the hole instead of staring at it directly.”

Because of potential safety concerns with viewing the eclipse, many Western Pennsylvania school districts are giving students the day off or engaging remote learning April 8.

For the schools that remain, some are holding classes in person, some are hosting events or field trips, and many are incorporating the astronomic event into everyday science lessons.

Science of the skies

Penn-Trafford’s astronomy club promotes education about space and the physical universe for its members and students from other schools and districts, Tucek explained. With about 15-20 students on the club roster, Tucek and group co-leader Charles Gates ask students for topic suggestions to learn about at biweekly meetings.

The club has done presentations for middle and elementary school students using the high school planetarium. Meetings have been bumped up to once a week since the end of February so the group can review eclipse plans.

“We’ve brought up things from telescopes to planets to things in the universe,” Tucek said. “We say, ‘Alright, does anyone know anything about that already?’ And sometimes people share their expertise on different topics.”

According to Principal Karin Coiner at Penn-Trafford’s Sunrise Estates Elementary School, students and school officials at the elementary building are each receiving eclipse glasses earlier in the day April 8. The glasses were acquired through a crowdfunding campaign through the Donors Choose platform, and students will be able to take them home.

“I sent out a message to my school families and they filled the request within about 15 minutes, which was stunning,” Coiner said.

In the weeks leading up to the eclipse, Coiner said, some students’ families have already requested permission to take a trip to Erie on the day of the event to experience the totality. While Erie is in the path of a 100% solar eclipse, Western Pennsylvania be able to see about a 95% eclipse.

Purchasing eclipse glasses for students, she said, was one way to make sure all students had the chance to view some of the event, no matter whether they had the chance to travel to Erie or not.

Viewing the eclipse without glasses can result in eye injuries, so the school plans to show students “eclipse safety” videos created by the astronomy club. The videos highlight best practices to look at the phenomenon without getting hurt.

School’s out for the sun

Among the many schools closing or going remote April 8 are schools within the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. They will have a flexible education day on the day of the eclipse. Superintendent of Schools Michelle Peduto said students will be given assignments to work on at home for the day.

“The timing of the eclipse will cross into dismissals, and we are being cautious to protect the safety of our students and staff,” she said.

“Although eclipses are awe-inspiring, looking directly at the sun without proper eye protection can cause serious eye damage,” a letter sent to Diocese schools said. “Given the challenges of ensuring that all students and staff have access to and use appropriate eclipse-viewing glasses and the challenges with transportation issues at dismissal, we believe closing the school is the most responsible decision.”

Penn Hills and Hempfield Area school districts also are planning flexible instruction days April 8 because of the eclipse.

Plum Borough schools will be canceled April 8 in an extension of spring break. Pine-Richland School District also is canceling school that day to allow families the opportunity to view the eclipse safely from their homes, communications director Erin Hasinger said.

The decision, Hasinger explained, was made on the advice of experts at the Space Weather Prediction Center. Science teachers at the district will teach about the eclipse before and after the event, she said.

“The potential is significant for students to be tempted to view the eclipse without proper safety precautions while exiting the school building or while getting off the school bus,” she said. “We have enough time and flexibility in the school calendar to close for the day and not require a makeup day.”

Teaching the eclipse

A pinhole viewer box is a cost-effective project that allows a user to safely view an eclipse. At Highlands School District in Tarentum, high school teacher Matt Sespico plans to show his students how to make the boxes. Highlands students will be off from school on the 8th, as the district has scheduled a clerical day.

On the day of the eclipse, Sespico won’t be at Highlands either — he’ll be in Indiana to see the eclipse himself. But he plans to show his students the view he hopes to see using the classroom planetarium.

“I have some really good software that I’m capable of simulating that completely,” he said. “So I’m going to show them basically the view that I’m going to have exactly where I am, and compare that with the Pittsburgh area.”

Sespico has seen one total solar eclipse and two partial solar eclipses.

“It’s just a really special thing — it gives me goosebumps,” he said. “There are some astronomers that predict that the phenomenon of a perfect solar eclipse could be unique in the entire galaxy.”

At the Jeannette City School District, athletic schedules will be adjusted around the peak of the eclipse, Superintendent Matthew Jones said.

Elementary school students in the district will participate in eclipse themed lessons, use glasses supplied by the Jeannette Public Library and watch safety videos on how to view the eclipse without injury.

At Greater Latrobe Senior High School, teachers and students with the capstone environmental science class are throwing an eclipse viewing picnic.

The event, scheduled for Rotary Park near the high school, will feature pizza and field games from the gym program, along with eclipse viewing glasses.

Students from both capstone classes, along with student council members, teachers and staff will be invited, according to teacher Pat Roberts. The picnic is part of a capstone project organized by student Ben Stratton.

Roberts expects the students will be excited for the eclipse.

“With a lot of things that I’ve done with them, they’re excited after the fact, because they don’t have a preconceived conception of what it’s going to be,” he said. “I think they’re going to have that same kind of reaction, when at first, they’re not sure, but then (after) they think ‘yeah, that was pretty cool to experience.’”

At Franklin Regional Senior High School, science teacher Jennifer Copeland is taking students to Erie to see the eclipse. She and a group of about 16 high schoolers will head up Monday morning and return to the school in the evening.

“I’m taking a group of students to Gannon University. I’ve been working with Gannon for about a year, planning out this event to give students the opportunity to experience the wonders of a total solar eclipse,” she explained.

Students will tour the university and observe the eclipse with telescopes and eclipse glasses on the university’s football field, she said.

Copeland looks forward to sharing her enthusiasm for earth and space science with her students through the outing.

“I personally have never experienced a total solar eclipse before. It’s a pretty rare event that happens,” she said. “I was excited to have that opportunity and to give that opportunity to my students, especially students who are really excited about the opportunity to possibility to witness a total solar eclipse, and all the neat things that come with it.”