Sunny Day Andrew! I invite you to visit my web site The Sundial Primer at:
www.mysundial.ca/tsp/tsp.html I have a very simple equatorial sundial kit that would probably work well in the classroom. Please check it out. Thank you for the plug Simon. Happy Dialling! Carl Sabanski www.mysundial.ca "Get Hooked on Gnomonics!" -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Andrew Pettit Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 3:15 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] De Subject: Help Oscar! About five years ago my eldest grand-daughter was given a home-work project by her teacher at a school many miles away from me in the Thames Valley England. This was in the last week of the summer term. The project consisted of a taking sheet of paper with a circle and right-angled triangle printed on it and a few (random) instructions about cutting bits out, sticking the triangle to the circle and using it to tell the time. Nothing about the properties of the triangle or the directions in which things should point etc.! Certainly nothing about what magic enabled this device to tell the observer the time ~ leave alone the science involved! I was furious and contacted the school but, by then, they'd finished for the summer and I was fobbed off with all kinds of excuses. Well, I thought, put it down to experience. It won't happen again. W - R - O - N - G !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Next year her younger brother was set the same task. Now, there is a third child in the family that goes to the same school. His name is Oscar and guess what next year, when he is 8, he is likely to be set the same pointless exercise. It's enough to turn any kid away from science. I am passionate about my grand-children and pointless homework raises my blood pressure! I would be perfectly happy to go into the School to explain how a sundial works and to set up a meaningful project ~ though it would be better if there were a few of us. Are there any offers of help and any advice on material to use? This will help Oscar and lower my blood pressure but the material could also be made available via this mailing list to help other Oscars in other parts of the world. I look forward to hearing from you. Andrew ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Postman Pat: 3, Lucastes Road, HAYWARDS HEATH, West Sussex, RH16 1JJ, ENGLAND Tel. UK: +44 (0)1444 453111 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
