Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Participants
- Welcome and Opening Address
- Astronomy Education: an International Perspective
- Special Lecture: Sundials in London – Linking architecture and astronomy
- 1 University Education
- 2 Distance Learning and Electronic Media in Teaching Astronomy
- 3 The Student Learning Process
- What to Cover and When
- Alternative Frameworks Amongst University of Plymouth Astronomy Students
- Identifying and Addressing Astronomy Misconceptions in the Classroom
- Learning Effectiveness of Lecture versus Laboratory: are labs worth it?
- Robot Telescopes: a new era in access to astronomy
- The Teaching/Learning of Astronomy at the Elementary School Level
- The Influences of the National Curriculum in Children's Misconceptions about Astronomy and the Use of these Misconceptions in the Development of Interactive Teaching Materials
- Role of Novel Scientific Results in Learning
- The Jupiter-Comet Collision: some conceptual implications
- 4 Planetarium Education and Training
- 5 Public Education in Astronomy
- 6 Teaching Astronomy in the Schools
- Posters
- Final Address
- Authors
The Jupiter-Comet Collision: some conceptual implications
from 3 - The Student Learning Process
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 June 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Participants
- Welcome and Opening Address
- Astronomy Education: an International Perspective
- Special Lecture: Sundials in London – Linking architecture and astronomy
- 1 University Education
- 2 Distance Learning and Electronic Media in Teaching Astronomy
- 3 The Student Learning Process
- What to Cover and When
- Alternative Frameworks Amongst University of Plymouth Astronomy Students
- Identifying and Addressing Astronomy Misconceptions in the Classroom
- Learning Effectiveness of Lecture versus Laboratory: are labs worth it?
- Robot Telescopes: a new era in access to astronomy
- The Teaching/Learning of Astronomy at the Elementary School Level
- The Influences of the National Curriculum in Children's Misconceptions about Astronomy and the Use of these Misconceptions in the Development of Interactive Teaching Materials
- Role of Novel Scientific Results in Learning
- The Jupiter-Comet Collision: some conceptual implications
- 4 Planetarium Education and Training
- 5 Public Education in Astronomy
- 6 Teaching Astronomy in the Schools
- Posters
- Final Address
- Authors
Summary
INTRODUCTION
A typical science course at the high school level includes some information on planets and their moons. For example, it is well-known that Jupiter has 16 moons and Saturn has 18 moons. Add to this the enthusiasm of the public in the collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter in July 1994. This immediately raises the possibility of a collision of a comet with a moon of Jupiter. Due to this possibility a strange fact about these moons comes into the picture, that is some of them are prograde in nature and some are retrograde. Can these two types of moons pose any problems in teaching? The present situation in education leads us to believe that they can pose some problems. It is described below, in support of this answer.
Educators from many countries have observed that the Aristotelian ideas continue to persist among graduates, in spite of learning Newtonian mechanics in colleges also. This is evident, for example, in the fact that many students think that a tangential force acts on a body performing circular motion, instead of the centripetal force. So the greatest and global problem is how to get rid of the tangential force from the minds of students and how to impregnate the centripetal force instead.
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- Information
- New Trends in Astronomy Teaching , pp. 150 - 151Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998