Dan,
For your question about sundials to discuss with school students, I
would have to adjust my selection depending on the age of the students,
but as a general starting point I would probably consider:
1. A merket, the Ancient Egyptian instrument - because although not
everyone accepts them as sundials, they are contenders for being the
oldest type of dial there is.
2. A shepherd's dial - because they are a really practical and reliable
form of early portable dial. I also find that people seem to understand
them quite easily.
3. A scaphe marked with seasonal declination lines - because they are
another ancient form of dial and also provide a way to introduce the
idea of the celestial sphere, and the celestial sphere projected onto a
dial's surface, as well as demonstrating the path of the sun through the
year.
4. A Foster-Lambert - because they are amenable to correction for
Equation of Time and for time zone, and so provide a bridge to the age
of clocks.
5. A horizontal - because I don't think I could manage to discuss
sundials with school students without reference to such a well-known
type: probably the type are most likely to encounter.
If I didn't have to stop at 5 examples, and if the students seemed
particularly interested, I would perhaps show a few extras in order to
further demonstrate the variety that exists:
6. A CD-based diffraction dial - for the fun factor.
7. A refraction dial - for the fun factor.
8. An armillary sphere - yet again to show another form, but also for
the reasons given for (3).
Cheers,
Steve
On 2019-03-20 9:39 a.m., Dan-George Uza wrote:
If you were to make a presentation addressed mainly to schoolchildren
or early college about some important historic sundials, which ones
would you choose and why?
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