A valuable resource for TASTE project has been the so called “Parallel Globe”. Ideal for an activity in the open air, when the Sun is shining, this device allows to visualize the Earth keeping your position, wherever you are on the globe, at the topmost location in the globe. Many educational works and articles have been written, two very productive and fruitful writers for this are Nicoletta Lanciano, Rome University “La Sapienza”, and Enrica Giordano, University Milano Bicocca, who have been very helpful to this experience. Assembled with a common geographical terrestrial globe, it can be inclined so that any location can be set at the globe topmost position, no matter where it is on the Earth. A small circular cardboard represents the local horizon plane, and helps to visualize the cardinal points. Small sticks and their Sun-shadows show the differences in latitude and longitude. A special time for its utilization is the local noon. This device has been included as fundamental part in the activities we wrote for a common European proposal for Astronomy at school.
