xi's moments
Home | Education

Astronomer points out enrichment book gaffe

By China Daily | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-08-01 16:53

An astronomer in Shanghai has voiced his concerns over an exercise in an enrichment book that requires primary school students to document their observations of the moon.

According to the Xinmin Evening News, first-grade students are required to observe the shape of the moon between 7 pm and 9 pm for 28 consecutive nights in order to complete the task.

Tang Haiming, secretary general of the Shanghai Astronomical Society, was quoted as saying that the task is misleading because the moon rises at a different time every day. For example, people living in Shanghai were able to see the moon rise at 9:04 pm on July 12 and descend at 7:32 am the next day. On July 13, moonrise took place at 9:42 pm and moonset was at 8:32 am the next morning.

The difference in timing was greater on July 23 when moonrise was at 4:36 am. Moonset, on the other hand, was at 6:43 pm.

"It's a shame that the editors do not have enough knowledge about the science that led to such a mistake in a science book," said Tang.

He Qi in Shanghai contributed to this story.

Global Edition
BACK TO THE TOP
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349