"Explora el Universo - UNAWE en Español" Lara Albanese Presentation given at the 3rd UNAWE Multidisciplinary Workshop Date: June 16, 2008

1. VIEWING THE SKY,
A MULTICULTURAL
EXPERIENCE
Lara Albanese
Osservatorio di Arcetri
This year Arcetri Observatory is presenting the exhibition “Skies of the World”
at the Festival della scienza di Genova (25 October – 6 November 2007).
(Firenze)

2. The sky over
Lara Albanese (coordinator), Francesca
Brunetti, Antonella Gasperini, Daniele
China
Galli, Filippo Mannucci, Guia Pastorini,
Franco Pacini, Eleonora Sani (INAF
Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri )
Discovering the sky using
Chinese myths and legends
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 “We are all citizens of the
the DVD., Mariano Dolci- puppeteer
sky”
Camille Flammarion

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. The Gandhi Multicultural
Literacy Centre
Collaboration with this
centre was fundamental. It
mainly works with
children and youngsters
who have recently arrived
in Italy and who need to
learn Italian as quickly as
possible in order to take
part in school activities
with their peers.
The length and intensity
of the learning process
depend on first language,
school background and
personal factors, but in
general courses are
designed to take up as
little time as possible so
as not to disrupt
attendance in normal
classes. Children follow
as many activities where
language skills are not
indispensable as
possible (Physical
education, art, music,
English.)

8. Phases of
the project
! There were three main
phases in the project,
which lasted for one
year.
" lesson on Chinese
legends about the sky
given by astronomers
from the Arcetri
Observatory.
" classroom acting out of
Chinese myths and
legends using different
techniques of
expression and
dramatisation. Guided
by teachers, cultural
mediators and
astronomers from
Arcetri.
" realisation of a new play
in the Starlab travelling
planetarium using

9. 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 .

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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 – Chi - Niu, the daughter of the Emperor of Heaven,
Niu , the princess weaver, and her was a very expert weaver, and she sat every day by
bridegroom, the keeper of the oxen the heavenly loom, the small parallelogram next to
in the heavens. Vega.
The princess was expert at weaving the colours of
the dawn and the sunset.

14. 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 Chinese
children and spectators in
general feel extremely shadows
involved in the story.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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

18. Thank you
Info: albanese@arcetri.astro.it
www.arcetri.astro.it/BIBLIO/
www.planetario.fi.it