Students in Tara Mammoser’s class work on creating a corona effect during a lesson on the solar eclipse.

The clouds might have gotten in the way, but for the second time in the history of the Jamestown Public Schools — the first time since 1925 — students across the community had the chance to view a solar eclipse in the path of totality on April 8, 2024.

At Jefferson Middle School, prior to the Spring Recess, fifth grade students in the classes of Jen Conti, Gina Hess, Tara Mammoser, and Heidi Smith had the chance to learn about the various aspects of the eclipse.

“Students took away knowledge and excitement of what the solar eclipse means in their own lifetime,” Hess said. “They gained the knowledge of how an eclipse is created, as well as, collaboration with peers to reenact the eclipse with their own hands. This was to help build excitement for what they would experience on April 8th during their own personal time.”

With Conti and Hess, students learned about the eclipse through a video and had the chance to “eclipse their friend” to learn about how the moon and sun interact during the event.

“So many of them had questions of what the eclipse actually was prior to beginning this activity,” Hess said. “In addition, they were engaged with their peers when they re-enacted an ‘eclipse your partner’ activity, as well as some friendly competition with a game of Kahoot.”

Mammoser had students learn about the solar corona that appears when the moon eclipses the sun and had them draw their own corona using chalk on black paper. Smith, meanwhile, had students complete an exercise focusing on the importance of using the solar filter glasses that were provided to each student prior to the eclipse.

“I wanted students to understand how the pupils in our eyes perceive light and darkness, and how that is affected during a solar eclipse — which is why we have to wear special glasses,” said Smith. “We did an experiment where students were able to find a partner and watch their partner’s pupils go from big (dilated) to small when we had the lights off and turned them back on.”

“The Great American Eclipse of 2024 offered a real-life learning experience for our students, and we highly encouraged staff to focus on it in the classroom since they wouldn’t be in school on the day of the eclipse,” said Denise Pusateri, Coordinator of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. “It was awesome to see the creativity our staff showed in relaying this historic event to our students!”

Both Hess and Smith enjoyed having the chance to learn with their students.

“I enjoyed experiencing new knowledge with the students,” Hess said. “This was an activity that I not only prepared with my previous knowledge, but enjoyed learning new things through their questioning and collaboration with their partners. It provided me time in my lifetime learner role that every educator loves to experience. The hands-on piece helped the students get so much out of this once-in-lifetime experience! I am hoping the experiences from our classrooms carried students to the April 8th solar eclipse, as well as, throughout their lifetimes.”

Smith agreed.

“I actually loved learning a lot about the science behind the eclipse,” she said. “As a math teacher, I don’t always get a ton of opportunities to bring in other content areas into my instruction, so using this awesome historical event was a great way for me to bring in some science and learn about the solar eclipse right alongside my students.”