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The Personal Computer for Teaching Astronomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

R. Andreoni
Affiliation:
Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, 50125 Firenze, Italy
G. Forti
Affiliation:
Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, 50125 Firenze, Italy
P. Ranfagni
Affiliation:
Istituto di Astronomia dell’Università di Firenze

Extract

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The two interactive software packages, which we called ASTRONOMIA 1 and ASTRONOMIA 2 (in the following Al and A2) and developed for a personal computer under MS-DOS, are primarily intended to be used in junior-high and high schools as tools for teaching astronomy. With the help of these programs and using the sky as a laboratory, the teacher can explain the most difficult parts of the astronomical geography: time and coordinates. Very few schools in Italy own the necessary educational tools such as a small planetarium, a sidereal clock, an oriented celestial sphere, etc.

We tried to exploit the capability of a personal computer to visualize and to present the results of a calculation as diagrams and tables. A limited interaction permitted by the programs allows the user to compare the results with other computations.

Type
5. Computers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

References

Ranfagni, P., “Presentazione di alcuni programmi per il personal computer utili all’insegnamento dell’Astronomia,” Giornale di Astronomia, vol. 11, n. 4, 1985.Google Scholar
Andreoni, R., Forti, G., Ranfagni, P., “Astronomia con l’ausilio del personal computer,” Giornale di Astronomia, vol. 13, n. 3, 1987.Google Scholar
Forti, G., Ballerine, I.L., Ranfagni, P., Fossi, B. Monsignori, “Un Planetario del XV secolo,” L’Astronomia, n. 62, 1987.Google Scholar