Within this activity, pupils carried out field research in the vicinity of the school and looked for old house signs and historical sundials. They were familiarized with the principle of sundials, which they then produced themselves. Pupils presented their results to a parallel class.

           The activity was participated by 1.A (25 pupils). The aim of the activity was to inspect historic buildings with interesting ornaments on the facades in the vicinity of the school. Children themselves discovered various house signs and functional sundials. They tried to find out why a particular picture (sign) is located on the house, while examining sundials, on which the shadow of the rod moves during the day and shows the time. Children were accompanied by a mother of one pupil, a professional guide, on their tour around Prague.

The pupils completed the following activities:

  1. Motivational talk – “What all can we see on houses around us?”
  2. Motivational discussion – “How time was measured in the past?”
  3. Walk around Prague 1 – “Search for house signs”
  4. Visit to a planetarium – programme “About The Moon and the Sun”.
  5. Observation experiment in a dark room – move of the shadow on the Earth during its movement around the axis (aids: globe, skewers stuck into plasticine, flashlight) – presented by children from 1.C.
  6. Demonstration of existing sundials on photos.
  7. Observation of the moving shadow in the school yard in the morning.
  8. Inspection and testing of sundials made by children from 1.C (children’s shadow as an indicator of the time).
  9. Walk to Stromovka and search for sundials in the neighbourhood (we saw the sundial at the Planetarium and the Governor’s Summer Palace, the sundial in Kostelní street).
  10. Verification of the functionality of sundials – posing and reading data from sundials painted on houses. Children independently discovered that sundials show one hour less due to “summer time”.

 

Radka Krištůfková

Photogallery

Opinions of students:

The biggest problems during the task solution:

–

Did you work with digital technics?

I didn’t work.

Did I learn anything new?

I learnt historical Prague.

I understood how the sun clock works, what disadvantages they have.

I learnt how to deal with working papers.

What shall I do better next time?

I would give more attention during the lecture.