What is the Noon Observation Project?

The Noon Observation Project was developed by Al Rogers and by Jim Levin and Michael Waugh at at the University of Illinois, College of Education in an effort to encourage students and teachers to use electronic networks to enhance learning. Since its conception in 1986, teachers and students from all over the world have benefited from their participation. Many locations have participated year after year and look forward to the invitation to participate each spring. Kathleen Smith has been the Project's coordinator since its conception.

Purpose of the Noon Project is to use simple measurements and calculations to determine the north-south circumference of the earth.

General Procedures

At least two sites must collaborate whose latitudes are different enough to give a significant difference in measurements.

On a specified date (or within a day or two dependent upon weather conditions) students will conduct their measurements outdoor at high noon, local time.

Using a standard meter stick, at precisely high noon local time, each team of students (at least two students per team) will:

1. lay out a piece of paper flat on the ground
2. hold the meter stick (taped to a bookend) perfectly vertical
3. mark on the paper the end of the shadow at one minute intervals over a ten to twenty minute period
4. several measurements should be made by several different students or teams; the more the better
5. measure the length of the shadow cast by the meter stick to the nearest centimeter; the measurements will then be analyzed by the students
6. using statistical computations the class should arrive at what they feel is the length of the shadow cast at local noon (shortest shadow length). This information will be sent to the other participants of the Project.

This project can be the basis for problem solving for the students. Students come to understand the need for accurate measurement, for data analysis, for cooperation with others.

Plotting each site on maps using latitude and longitude will enable each site to calculate north-south distance, and east-west distance between sites. Knowing the north-south distance is essential to solving this problem.