The Nehru Planetarium has a fresh batch of students-visitors learning how to tell the time by reading a sundial Telling the time of day without using a watch hardly appears possible in the city that never sleeps,but thats exactly what visitors are learning at the Nehru Planetarium,Worli. A new Shadowdial or a modern sundial has taken up the task of educating people about the importance shadows play in our daily lives. With a shadowdial,one can tell the time by interpreting the angle at which a shadow casting element (or a gnomon) moving under the sun casts its shadow. But its purpose doesnt end there: it has also taken up the more daunting task of making science,maths and astronomy fun for kids. We chose to build this sundial this year because it is also the International Astronomy Year. While we wanted Mumbaikars to get a taste of history,the more challenging aspect was to make sure kids get out of their classrooms and have some fun learning maths,trigonometry and geometry, says Suhas Satam,programme coordinator at the Nehru Planetarium. The Planetarium kickstarted its sundial workshop this week and had its first session. The first workshop was open for kids from Std VIII to X. Learning how to tell time is a tough task for growing kids,but the process can be simplified using a sundial. Apart from that,the new sundial has become an attraction for more visitors, said director of the planetarium,Piyush Pandey. So how does the sundial works? Sundial experts say that they mainly rely on the principle that as the earth turns,the sun seems to travel across the sky and any object standing in the sun casts a shadow. On any stationary object in the northern hemisphere,this shadow will move in a clockwise direction. This means that the relative times of the day can be marked around the stationary object,and during daylight hours the approximate time can be learnt. At the Nehru Planetarium,the concept of sundials is also used to teach the children about shadows. Learning about shadows and how they work is not only interesting but also practical,since kids cannot learn these things in schools. Here,besides learning about geometry,kids can also learn about shadows, says Satam. The workshop also taught children how to make portable sundials using cardboard,paper and other such stationary. The students might gift it to their respective schools who may in turn decide to convert these cardboard sundials into sturdier ones in stone,marble,steel or other materials that can bear the brunt of sun and rain, said Pandey. Udyaan Arya,a student of class IX,said: The workshop was an interesting way to learn about geometry,lines and maths. It was fun and interesting because we got a good break from usual classroom studies and leant something very relevant. Depending on the success of the sundial workshop,the planetarium will extend its reach to more school children,science teachers and design students as well. Right now we are trying to gauge how well received our first attempt has been. If sundials continue to kindle more curiosity then we will definitely go further with more such initiatives, says Pandey.
