‘It’s our Super Bowl’: This science teacher is
going all out for the eclipse
It’s not always glamorous being a science
teacher.
One of Rick Crosslin’s signature projects
involves picking through owl pellets — that’s
regurgitated owl food — to teach fifth-graders
about the bird’s carnivorous diet. His YouTube
page, where he posts gravity demonstrations and
commentary on “very interesting microworms,”
can be a labor of love, with some videos
amassing a few dozen to a few hundred views.
But on Monday, Mr. Crosslin in Indianapolis and
science teachers around the country will have
their moment in the sun (or, rather, out of it) with
the arrival of the total solar eclipse.
“It’s our Super Bowl. It’s our Taylor Swift
concert,” said Mr. Crosslin, a teacher who
specializes in creating hands-on science projects
for the Metropolitan School District of Wayne
Township in west Indianapolis.
Mr. Crosslin, 70, has gone all out for the day.
He helped procure thousands of eclipse glasses
for students in his district, where a majority of
students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
In one D.I.Y. project, he created a celebratory
mask — using a glue gun, a paper plate and
shimmering tinsel — to resemble the sun’s
corona, the outer atmosphere visible during an
eclipse.
His most ambitious project, though, was to build
a giant model of the eclipse to help students
visualize what happens.
Based on the provided text, what is the main
objective of Rick Crosslin in creating projects
like building a giant model of a solar eclipse?