CCSD Students Watch Solar Eclipse During Legends of Learning Event

Clemson University hosted 40 middle school students from the Cobb County School District for a field trip of a lifetime.

Two students from each participating CCSD middle school traveled to Clemson to watch the August 21 eclipse from one of the most optimal places in the country.

Griffin Middle School seventh grader Mayson described watching the solar eclipse “as possibly one of the most amazing experiences of her life.”

Mayson’s essay about why she wanted to watch the solar eclipse won her a seat at the Clemson viewing party. Listen to Mayson share her reasons in this Legends of Learning video.

Adding to what the students like Mayson learned from their first-hand experience at Clemson, students played Legends of Learning eclipse games on the bus ride to the school.

Legends of Learning, an innovative game-based learning platform, made two of its most popular eclipse-related curricula games available, “Walter’s Travels” and “Bubble Eclipse” here. Like all Legends of Learning games, the games engage middle school students studying science with standards-based curriculum content. Legends of Learning teachers could access additional eclipse games via the Earth and Space Sciences “Eclipses and Seasons” learning objective.

Dickerson Middle School teacher Kristen Cain was excited to be with the CCSD students during the eclipse. She said the Legends of Learning games helped the students connect the science with what they were watching. Listen to the eighth grade science teacher share with Legends of Learning about her eclipse experience. In addition to the games, Legends of Learning created a solar eclipse lesson plan for its Eclipses and Seasons learning objective. The platform also included a curated resource with additional educational tools for teachers. These materials are available at www.legendsoflearning.com/solar-eclipse.

Legends of Learning launched earlier this year and has thousands of curriculum-based education games and assessment items focused on middle school science. The company conducted rigorous academic research in partnership with Vanderbilt University and found that students boosted their test scores by the equivalent of more than half a letter grade in three weeks when their teachers used digital games in the classroom. The study was recently published by the “Journal of the Learning Sciences.”

Here’s how Kennesaw Mountain High School turned the eclipse into a learning experience for the entire school district: goo.gl/SU1g2Q