Science teachers in several area school districts have used resources from NASA, supplemental lesson plans, games and other methods to help their students appreciate and learn from the eclipse.
Some have also used their own personal experiences.
"In 2017 I took my family and we went to southern Illinois to watch the last total solar eclipse," said Eric Powers, a science teacher at Pendleton Heights High School. "It's something that's indescribable, and I try to impress that on my students. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Powers and his students have been studying the sun for several weeks, examining models that demonstrate how eclipses unfold and why even partial eclipses are not common. Using specialized equipment, they've examined the sun's various features.
The eclipse, Powers said, is "a great opportunity just to get them excited about what the sun is, its different features."
A self-described "eclipse nerd," Powers has enjoyed seeing his students express understanding of how unique Monday's events will be. A total solar eclipse, he noted, happens in a specific area on average once every 360 years.
"I think with all the hype, especially in the media, before I even mention it, they start asking me some of these questions," he said. "I do believe they're getting excited about it, and I hope it translates."
"The teachers have been talking about the solar eclipse at length with the students," said Sterling Boles, superintendent at Frankton-Lapel Community Schools. "We're educating the kids about the importance of the event."
Anticipation for the eclipse has also captured considerable class time in lower grades. At Anderson Community Schools, administrators and teachers have used the eclipse as a basis for lessons in math, astronomy and biology.
"There are so many ways you can approach it," said Andrew Jones, STEM coordinator at ACS. "At the different grade levels, there are a lot of different on-ramps as to how you can get them to engage with this.
"Given that it is kind of like this cultural thing — you're hearing about it everywhere for the last couple weeks — we wanted to be sure that everybody's kind of addressing it as best they can."
Students at Eastside Elementary School have been working on projects for several weeks, using Play-Doh, construction paper, glue and other materials to build models for projecting the eclipse's path of totality and other characteristics.
With younger learners, Jones said, eclipse-related discussions center on more basic concepts, with an emphasis on safety while viewing the phenomenon.
"Our biggest focus is safety, and how we need to wear our eye protection when we watch the solar eclipse," said Carla Lee, a media specialist and librarian at Eastside Elementary.
Lee hosts several classes a day in the school library, and she spent time this week giving lessons on the spherical shapes of the earth, sun and moon, and the rarity of the three bodies lining up to produce a spectacle that will be viewed by millions Monday.
Lee, Powers and other teachers said that, due to the unpredictability of the weather, they're not giving students specific assignments to complete during the eclipse, but they plan to continue discussions when school resumes Tuesday.
"We'll discuss what they saw," said Lee, who is also a STEM coach at Eastside. "I've given them ideas like, please observe, and we'll just kind of talk about their experience, and then we'll probably watch a clip of the solar eclipse from NASA, so if they don't get a chance to see it, they can see it and we can reflect on that."
Among the 80 or so students in Powers' four science classes, several have signed up to contribute data to an Indiana Geological and Water Survey research project related to the eclipse.
"They want to get as many data points as possible, so we're going to encourage them also to go through and download the app and submit their data so they can be part of this really big experiment," Powers said.
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