This year Arcetri Observatory is presenting the exhibition “Skies of the World”

at the Festival della scienza di Genova (25 October – 6 November 2007).

VIEWING THE SKY,

A MULTICULTURAL

EXPERIENCE

Lara Albanese

Osservatorio di Arcetri

(Firenze)

The sky over

China Discovering the sky using

Chinese myths and legends

Lara Albanese (coordinator), Francesca

Brunetti, Antonella Gasperini, Daniele

Galli, Filippo Mannucci, Guia Pastorini,

Franco Pacini, Eleonora Sani (INAF

Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri )

This work has been supported by:

Consiglio Regionale della Toscana, Comune di

Firenze, Assessorato alla Pubblica Istruzione,

Istituto Comprensivo Statale Gandhi-

Florence,Comune di Firenze ,Centro di

Alfabetizzazione Gandhi

in the framework of the Universe Awareness-

UNESCO program of the International

Astronomical Union (IAU)

We thank also Duccio Ricciarelli e HZ Movie for

the DVD., Mariano Dolci- puppeteer

“We are all citizens of the

sky”Camille Flammarion

The exhibition has 3 parts:

1.The Sky over China

Discovering Chinese myths

and legends in the travelling planetarium.

(This part has been used in a Florence

school, but My Africa and Stories in the

Sky are new)

2. My Africa

Illustrated talk for children

given by Thebe Medupe, an astronomer

who has worked extensively in research

and outreach projects. He also made the

film Cosmic Africa. The talk shows

children the sky over Africa and shows

how an African child like Medupe

himself can become an astronomer.

3. Stories in the Sky

Interactive atelier where

children can make up their own stories

that take place in the sky.

This project introduced

nursery and primary

school children to myths

and legends from Greek-

Roman and Chinese

tradition. These were then

acted out.

The project was based on

the fact that children can

ask questions about, and

reason about, the world

around them, especially

when they are stimulated

and emotionally involved.

Children all over the

world, from every culture

and social class, will always

look up at the sky and see

the moon and the stars. The sky over China Discovering the sky using Chinese myths and legends

The Gandhi school is in the

Brozzi area of Florence, a

culturally rich part of the

city. The children come from

different parts of the world.

Cultural differences are an

important resource which

made it possible for us to use

myths and legends from

different countries.

About a quarter of the

children come from Chinese

families; Brozzi is full of

Chinese shops and businesses.

Most of the children did not

know the Chinese myths and

legends, and only a few of

them knew the Western ones.

So myths and legends were an

important part of the

discovery process.

The wonder of the starry sky

and the desire to understand

how the world works are stimuli

for all children. They may not

all become scientists, but it

helps them to make their own

independent decisions and

judgements.

In this project, children were

treated as having the ability to

make up and tell new stories

and myths to describe and

explain the sky, the stars,

constellations and the moon.

Most informal educational

activities for children used in

science education are “hands

on,” but you can’t touch the sky

and the stars. This is a basic

problem, and it meant that

rather than children’s love of

touching and feeling objects, we

had to involve their emotions

and desire to see.

The Gandhi Multicultural

Literacy Centre

Collaboration with thiscentre was fundamental. Itmainly works withchildren and youngsterswho have recently arrivedin Italy and who need tolearn Italian as quickly aspossible in order to takepart in school activitieswith their peers.

The length and intensityof the learning processdepend on first language,school background and

personal factors, but ingeneral courses aredesigned to take up aslittle time as possible soas not to disruptattendance in normalclasses. Children followas many activities wherelanguage skills are notindispensable aspossible (Physicaleducation, art, music,English.)

Phases of

the project

! There were three mainphases in the project,which lasted for oneyear.

" lesson on Chineselegends about the skygiven by astronomersfrom the ArcetriObservatory.

" classroom acting out ofChinese myths andlegends using differenttechniques ofexpression anddramatisation. Guidedby teachers, culturalmediators andastronomers fromArcetri.

" realisation of a new playin the Starlab travellingplanetarium usingchildren’s own storiesand plays.

Phase one was the lesson

given by Arcetri

astronomers to nursery

and primary school

children.

It was given in the Starlab

travelling planetarium at

their own school.

Astronomers showed them

how to recognise different

constellations as recognised

in the West and in China

and described the related

myths and legends .

The first aim of this phase

is to narrate myths and

legends of ancient and

modern China, and the

second is to bring children,

youngsters and their

teachers into contact with

the planetarium, so that in

the next phases they can

plan a show or

performance themselves.

Phase 2

This phase exploited the fascination

that the night sky holds for children

all over the world. It also used the

unifying effect of the idea that it is

the same stars that shine down on

everyone, everwhere. The children

in Brozzi, from different cultural

backgrounds, used both their

imagination and their scientific

knowledge to describe the sky over

their heads as they saw it. Using

different techniques of expression

meant that each child was able to

find for him/her self the best way of

expressing, telling and re-telling the

stories.

Techniques included narration,

drawing, and drawing using

overhead projector. The most

successful technique was Chinese

shadows.

Help from the Arcetri

library was fundamental to

this phase. The library

carried out the necessary

research and supplied

information for the project.

They selected the myths

and legends and stories

published for children and

young people in both Italian

and the original language.

They also prepared a file of

material on Chinese myths

and legends and astronomy

and distributed it to the

teachers. The library also

filed and stored the

children’s work ready for

the last phase of the project.

There are many Chinese myths and

legends about the moon and seasons,

but we chose to use another very

well-known story, ‘The Princess

Weaver’ because it involves

different constellations. Vega is near

the northern vertex of the small

parallelogram of stars known as the

Lyra, invented in Greek mythology

by the god Hermes (Mercury.)

In ancient China, Vega was known

as the “Weaver’s star.” The period

that Vega shines high in the sky

coincided with the period that

Chinese women worked very hard at

weaving. It was the time of year

when many weddings took place,

and every bride needed a wedding

dress. So the legend tells of Chi –

Niu , the princess weaver, and her

bridegroom, the keeper of the oxen

in the heavens.

Chi - Niu, the daughter of the Emperor of Heaven,

was a very expert weaver, and she sat every day by

the heavenly loom, the small parallelogram next to

Vega.

The princess was expert at weaving the colours of

the dawn and the sunset.

Thanks to the assistance

of cultural mediator Lao

San, we were able to link

the potential of Chinese

shadows with the

potential of the

planetarium. The

planetarium can project

over 360 degrees rather

than simply onto a flat

surface. This is a very

positive characteristic and

is potentially interesting

for narration of any type

using shadows, not just

astronomers. It makes

children and spectators in

general feel extremely

involved in the story.

Chinese

shadows

In ancient China the

shadow theatre was

originally used for the

veneration of gods and

also to chase away

ghosts and monsters. It

subsequently became a

form of entertainment,

as it still is today.

The children in Brozzi

produced the shapes for the

shadows in many ways. Some

used black card. Some used

cut out photographs of

themselves to give a profile.

Some used the overhead

projector to make the

shadows move on amazing

coloured backgrounds.

Of course, with children

from other cultures, other

types of performance or

show may be preferable.

This method is particularly

good for recounting myths

and legends from different

parts of the world.

We believe that telling

stories from different

cultures helps to make the

sky even more

fascinating. It is also a

way of drawing attention

to the differences between

cultures and appreciating

those from far away. We

hope that children will be

motivated to look up at

the sky with interested

eyes, ready to make new

and exciting discoveries

Thank you

Info: albanese@arcetri.astro.it

www.arcetri.astro.it/BIBLIO/

www.planetario.fi.it