More than 1,000 Chicago Public Schools students crowded the rotunda at the Museum of Science and Industry on Monday morning, building rockets, learning to use telescopes and attempting to draw the sun’s outermost layer.
About 5,000 visitors are expected to gather to watch the solar eclipse at the Chicago museum, which is hosting an official viewing in its courtyard. Inside, visitors will watch a NASA livestream of the event in the Giant Dome Theater and participate in space-related activities throughout the day. The moon will block 94% of the sun in Chicago.
Kate Higbee, senior director of business development at the museum, said she started planning the event over a year ago.
“It’s one of those things that can really make an impact on your understanding of science and our solar system and the universe,” Higbee said. “It’s such a great opportunity that everyone should see, and it doesn’t take a lot to do.”
Programming began around 10 a.m., when the first round of visitors arrived. The museum partnered with CPS and Black in Astro, an organization for Black people working in astronomy, to set up activity and information tables, helping attendees better understand the event.
Carmen Mahon, curator of STEM programs at Chicago Public Schools, said an eclipse is the perfect opportunity to help students get excited and involved with science at an early age.
“I want them to take it all in,” Mahon said. “Remember that you’re a human, experience is learning and what we’re seeing can inspire pure joy.”
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CPS introduced activities to help the museum’s visitors learn about the eclipse in a number of ways. Some drew, others learned by listening and some simulated the eclipse with physical stress balls.
Mahon said making students feel comfortable in the Hyde Park museum was one of her biggest goals for the day.
“I grew up on the South Side, and I didn’t feel a part of the museum growing up,” Mahon said. “Someone told me, ‘This is your museum, this is your South Side.’ And I thought, what if I could make sure all of the kids felt like that? This is where science happens and this is your museum.”
The museum also set up several “pop-up” viewing locations around the city for Chicago residents who may not be able to make it to the museum or might not be able to pay the admission fee.
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Museum representatives are spanned out over Millennium Park, the Michigan Avenue Bridge, Oak Street Beach and the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center with eclipse glasses and telescopes. Higbee said accessibility was a priority for the museum in organizing their coverage.
“One of the great things about an eclipse is that it’s a community experience,” Higbee said. “You stand with a bunch of other people, whether it’s your friends or your students, and you watch it happen together. I think everyone should have that.”
Voula Saridakis, a curator at the museum and a NASA Solar System ambassador, will be inside the museum, teaching visitors about the science behind and the importance of a solar eclipse.
She said she hopes everyone leaves the museum or one of MSI’s viewing locations with an increased appreciation for the wonder of space, science and the universe.
“These are the most spectacular events to witness, and it’s a rarity,” Saridakis said. “It’s a rare event, it’s a beautiful event and I hope that everybody young and old gains that appreciation for the beauty of the universe and the heavens, and hopefully learns something new about science.”
