While in Montreal, all public schools closed their doors on Monday due to the solar eclipse, some establishments decided instead to take advantage of this rare phenomenon to make it a unique educational experience. This is the case of the Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix primary school, in the small village of Saint-Simon, in Montérégie, where young and old were able to witness this alignment of the stars together.
“Fantastic”, “incredible”, “spectacular”: these are just some of the adjectives that came from the mouths of the children and parents who gathered in the baseball field of this small school of around 150 students. to witness the solar eclipse. When it became complete, around 3:28 p.m., cries of joy erupted from the amazed children. For a little over a minute, they were able to remove their protective glasses to look directly at the sun, hidden by the moon. Near them, some parents could not hold back their tears at the beauty of this alignment of the stars.
“It was incredible. We were really amazed, says father of three Francis Barray, met just a few minutes after the end of the total eclipse. We were dazzled, really. There are no words to describe this. »
The enthusiasm of the children gathered side by side to observe this alignment of the stars, while wearing protective glasses, was palpable.
“I found it really fun. It was beautiful to see,” reacted Victor Horion, one of the students at this primary school, who considers himself “lucky” to have been able to witness this eclipse with his classmates.
A school that adapts
In recent days, the teachers of the primary school, located an hour from the metropolis, in a rural area, had increased classroom activities aimed at preparing their students for this event, both by making them aware of the importance of wearing well their protective glasses than by teaching them what a solar eclipse is. The school has also decided to close its doors at 5 p.m. this Monday, almost two hours later than usual, in order to adapt to this very particular context.
“All the teachers really mobilized to make the students understand what they are going to experience today,” he explained to Duty Monday teacher Camille Turcotte, who is also general director of the Association for the Teaching of Science and Technology in Quebec. “I am counting on this sense of wonder in children to spark their passion for science, perhaps even vocations for astronomy or any other science related to nature,” enthuses M.me Turcotte.
The teacher deplores, however, that schools located in most regions of Quebec have instead decided today to close their doors. “We have been working for two years to prepare the school environment by informing the ministry [de l’Éducation] and by informing school service centers. I never thought we would have a wave of closures like this,” she sighs.
An observation shared by the new president of the French-Canadian Association for the Advancement of Sciences, Martin Maltais, who went to this small primary school on Monday with his 14-year-old son.
“It’s a bit deplorable,” says the professor at the University of Quebec at Rimouski, according to whom this wave of school closures in anticipation of the eclipse shows “that we still have work to do” to raise awareness. the Quebec population on this type of astronomical phenomenon, “which should be a moment of promotion of science throughout our society”, and not a source of anxiety.
He also says he hopes that this solar eclipse will sow the desire in the heads of several children to one day become scientific researchers, which Quebec increasingly needs in the context of climate change. “We will need a greater proportion of young people to be interested in science, for boys and girls to get involved in it seriously and actively. And that requires that an event like this be celebrated more. »