While everybody else is just watching, Righetti High School students will be studying Monday’s solar eclipse with a scientific approach.

With protective glasses and mobile devices in hand, the young scientists from freshman science and AP biology will start by using an environmental meter to take the temperature, relative humidity, amount of light and other data.

Then, the groups will collect light sensitivity, photosynthetic active radiation and other details with Vernier Probes. Afterward, the data will be grafted and logged into the Citizen Science Database.

The labs were created by teachers Laura Branch and Rebecca Wingerden and also involve mastering the basics:

» What conditions must be present for this happen?

» What is the difference between a total solar eclipse vs. a partial solar eclipse and a penumbral eclipse?

» Why does a lunar eclipse last so much longer than a solar eclipse?

Branch described the eclipse as “an excellent learning opportunity that helps make science fun.”

Throughout the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District, staff has been issued information about the dangers and safest ways to view the eclipse. Teachers have been instructed to go over the information with their students.

— Kenny Klein for Santa Maria Joint Union High School District.