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Interdisciplinary Approaches to Astronomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Andrew Fraknoi
Andrew Fraknoi*
Affiliation:
Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 390 Ashton Ave, San Francisco, California 94112, U.S.A.

Extract

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To understand the motivation for my talk, you must bear in mind what Don Wentzel discussed so eloquently at the beginning of the colloquium. In the U.S., the vast majority of students taking astronomy classes at the college level are not science majors. Many students coming into the astronomy courses are afraid and distrustful of science and often see science as a very alien endeavor, quite separate from their everyday lives and other studies.

For such students, it can sometimes be very reassuring and enlightening to show some interesting connections between astronomy and other (nonscience) fields at a few places in the introductory astronomy course. For example, many students are surprised and excited to see the inspiration that astronomy has provided for music, literature, and art and some of the interesting connections between astronomy and psychology, archaeology, and law.

Type
2. Astronomy and Culture
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 105: The Teaching of Astronomy , 1990 , pp. 50 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

References

Resources for Interdisciplinary Approaches to Astronomy

Digby, J. and Brier, B., eds. Permutations: Readings in Science and Literature. 1985,Morrow. An eclectic collection of excerpts and poems.Google Scholar
Dubeck, L., et al. Science in Cinema. 1988, Teachers College Press. An introduction to teaching science through science fiction films.Google Scholar
Fraknoi, A., et al. Interdisciplinary Approaches to Astronomy. 1986, Astronomical Society of the Pacific. A 32-page collection of articles from Mercury magazine on astronomy and music, poetry, science fiction, etc. Includes a 4-page detailed reading list.Google Scholar
Fraknoi, A. Universe in the Classroom. 1985, W.H. Freeman. Features suggestions for interdisciplinary paper and discussion topics and more detailed reading suggestions in every field of introductory astronomy.Google Scholar
Friedman, A. “Contemporary American Physics Fiction” in American Journal of Physics, May 1979, p. 392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, A. and Donley, C. Einstein as Myth and Muse. 1985, Cambridge U. Press. A fascinating examination of Einstein as symbol for science and genius in our time, with excellent sections on the influence of Einstein’s work on the humanities.Google Scholar
Nicholls, P., ed. The Science Fiction Encyclopedia. 1979, Doubleday.Google Scholar