The sky over China

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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 cant
touch the sky and the stars. This is a basic
problem, and it meant that rather than childrens
love of touching and feeling objects, we had to
involve their emotions and desire to see.  
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.
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.
Ecsite Annual Conference 2007 Creating Museums
for Everyone Equity and Science Learning
31-05-2007 1130
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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 disturb attendance in normal classes.,
  Children follow as many activities where language
  skills are not indispensable as possible
  (Physical education, art, music, English.)

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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 childrens own
  stories and plays.

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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.
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 Weavers 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.
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 childrens work ready for the last phase of
the project.
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.
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.
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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.
Chinese shadows
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.
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.
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Thank you Info albanese_at_arcetri.astro.it www.arce
tri.astro.it/BIBLIO/ www.planetario.fi.it
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
exiting discoveries
Phase 3 has yet to be carried out. It will be the
performance combining what the children learnt in
phases 1 and 2, and will showcase their own
stories. We are making a DVD of the project,
parts of which you have seen today.