Archive Book Beat Live! Time to Get Ready for the Solar Eclipse Double-Header, August 17, 2022

NSTA’s two award-winning books, Solar Science: Exploring Sunspots, Seasons, Eclipses, and More, and When the Sun Goes Dark provide the perfect resources to help you and your students get ready for the next two solar eclipses coming to the U.S. during the 2023-2024 school year. Join Dennis Schatz, former NSTA president and co-author of these publications, as he shares effective learning experiences (and experience sequences) to make the most out of these ultimate teachable moments.

Book Beat Live! participants will learn and explore:

  • When and where the eclipses will occur. Get all the information you need regarding when and where the eclipses will happen and what they will look like from your location.
  • Learning experiences to understand what is happening. Solar Science provides hands-on activities that can be “stitched together” to provide a three-dimensional learning experience regarding the phases of the Moon (necessary information to understand eclipses), what causes eclipses (both solar and lunar eclipses), and why solar eclipses seem to be rare events (they are only rare for a given location on the Earth). In addition, Solar Science has effective ways to teach concepts typically found in elementary and middle school classrooms, such as the Sun’s motion in the sky, and its role in the solar system. For younger students, When the Sun Goes Dark provides simple, accessible ways to understand eclipses and makes a good class read-aloud.
  • Safe viewing techniques. Explore the many ways to view solar eclipses safely, and how you can make these events a wonderful school-wide (or even community-wide) experience.
  • What all administrators should know. Find out what educators should tell their administrators about the important science learning that eclipses can provide.

All individuals receive a certificate of participation and 100 NSTA activity points for attending the live seminar and completing the end-of-program survey. A certificate of participation is not awarded for watching the recorded version of the program.

We invite you to register for upcoming web seminars at NSTA.

View the Archive Video

To view the presentation slides from the web seminar and related resources, visit the resource collection. Continue discussing this topic in the community forums.

Below are comments from individuals who attended the seminar:

  • "It was great to hear Mr. Dennis Schatz describing solar eclipses that are coming up in 2023-2024. I bought his book When the Sun Goes Dark in 2017 before the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017."
  • "Knowledgeable presenter. I will be purchasing the book - Solar Science to access the activities and resources."
  • "The information is very useful and I loved the incorporation of the kids books."

A certificate of attendance was deposited into participants' account page for completing the evaluation form at the end of the program.

For more information contact: [email protected]

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