THE HUMAN ORRERY

The human Orrery (link to the blog of the Orrery) is a flat material representation of the revolution of some of the celestial bodies around the Sun. It provides an astronomical context for an embodied approach to science and mathematical objects. The human Orrery is both a material object - a tarp on which the positions of the planets are printed - and a cultural artefact - a representation of the planets in orbit around a fixed Sun. The celestial bodies, real but unreachable and imperceptible, take shape on the human Orrery

By playing the role of the planets, the learners create an analogy between human bodies and the celestial bodies in the solar system, between the movement of the body and the movement of the planets. Both teachers and students discover the presence of a teaching body and a learning body that enable astronomical situations associated with science and mathematics concepts to be replayed and amplified.

This working environment can be described in the form of a scene mixing several spaces (the group of students, the space where the Orrery is placed, the space of the Solar System). Several artefacts can be associated with this scene: the cover of the planetarium (9m x 4m) or an A3-size printed planetarium, spheres or tokens to represent the different planets, globes, or virtual objects added by an augmented reality application. Through this scene, the learners will perform choreographies that will become meaningful. In this way, intercorporality takes on its full meaning...

Reference :

Rollinde, E. (2019). Learning Science Through Enacted Astronomy. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, Springer Verlag, 2019, Int J of Sci and Math Educ, 17, pp.237-252. ⟨10.1007/s10763-017-9865-8⟩. ⟨hal-01662026⟩

Abboud, M., Hoppenot, P., Rollinde, E. (2019) Enhancing mathematics and science learning through the use of a Human Orrery. CERME11, Feb 2019, Utrecht, Netherlands ⟨hal-02410299⟩. Conférence internationale en didactique des mathématiques

Rollinde, E., Décamp, N., Derniaux, C. (2021). Should frames of reference be enacted in astronomy instruction?. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 17 (1), ⟨10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.013105⟩. ⟨hal-03252842⟩

En français: Abboud, M., Nechache, A. & Rollinde, E. (2022). Former les enseignants du primaire à une démarche interdisciplinaire mathématiques-sciences dans le contexte de l’astronomie. In M. Abboud et C. de Hosson (Eds.), Rendez-vous en didactique : recherches, dialogues et plus si affinités (pp.205-211). IREM de Paris - Université Paris Cité. https://rdvdidac2022.sciencesconf.org/

En français : Rollinde, E., Nechache, A., Abboud, M. (2023, à paraitre). Etude du travail géométrique autour des ellipses avec le planétaire humain. Septième Symposium d'Etude sur le Travail Mathématique, ETM7, 27 juin-2 juillet 2022, Strasbourg (France).

En français : Rollinde, E., Maisch, C. (2023). Les orbites planétaires sont-elles circulaires ? Grand N, 111, https://hal.science/hal-04227613

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The Human Orrery is disseminated at the European level by the Eramus+ ARISTARCHUS project