The Noon Day Project added so much to our math learning experience. We decided not to use meter sticks and instead use colored pencils with flat bottoms, of varying lengths, because we figured that it would be easier to see the shadow of a shorter, pointed object than a long blunt one, and drawing the pencil and its shadow would be straightforward because there would be no need to reduce the measurements to fit on paper. We also used the paper rulers that Hope Martin of Roemer Academy - Columbia shared with the group earlier on. We also decided to "partner" with the Equator.

The students were eager to give up their recess on their scheduled days in order to do the measurements. We had some cloudy days, and so we had to reschedule some groups. In the meantime, we researched Eratosthenes and his work, and included this information on our reports. We also drew posters showing the Earth, the Sun, the rays, the stick, and the central angle.

This project brought out the best talents of the students. It had a math component (timing, measuring, drawing, calculating), an art component (creating the poster), a writing component (researching, preparing the written report), and a technology component (graphing the country and grade level distribution of the participating classes).

We thank CIESE for spearheading this project. It makes math more real!