An Experiment in Arousing Interest in the Stars 



Margaret W. Aherne 



In Gary, Indiana, the children have what is known as an Audi- 

 torium Period every day. In the larger schools eight classes with 

 their teachers assemble in the auditorium during the period. It 

 lasts one hour. During the hour the children have singing for 

 fifteen minutes under the direction of a special music teacher. The 

 rest of the time is taken up by the other teachers, each teacher 

 having charge of the auditorium period in turn. 



The aim of the period is to develop the child, so each teacher 

 endeavors to have the children in her classes entertain the other 

 classes present. 



During the month of February my individual classes studied 

 the stars. As the children in my four classes were in the first and 

 second grades the instruction about the stars must needs be very 

 elementary. Then the children were foreigners and the little 

 ones were trying to learn the language as well as to learn about the 

 stars. 



The first constellation we studied was the Big Dipper. In order 

 to show the children the meaning of the word dipper I borrowed a 

 dipper from the Domestic Science Department. Then we studied 

 the Little Dipper and the Pole Star. The second grade children 

 also studied the constellation Orion and Queen Cassiopeia's Chair. 

 After we had studied about the stars I asked the children of the 

 oldest class if they would like to "act out" the constellations in the 

 auditorium for the benefit of the children who were not having 

 nature-study at that time. They enthusiastically answered, 

 "Yes." 



Before we went to the auditoriun I selected seven children to act 

 as stars for the Big Dipper, seven for the Little Dipper, twelve for 

 Orion, and five for Queen Cassiopeia's Chair. Each child had a 

 large gold star. The stars were made of cardboard over which gold 

 paper was pasted. While the children were acting out these 

 constellations the stage was brightly lighted and the rest of the 

 auditorium was in darkness. 



In the auditorium the children arranged themselves in the form 

 of the Little Dipper, the Big Dipper and Queen Cassiopeia's 

 Chair in the positions in the sky in which these constellations are 

 in February. The three children representing the handle of the 



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