ERIC Number: EJ1243147
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Mar
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-9120
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Using Freeware Planetarium Software to Simulate the Astronomical Measurements of Ancient Greeks
Spathopoulos, Vassilios McInnes
Physics Education, v55 n2 Article 025020 Mar 2020
The ancient Greek astronomers devised ingenious methods for measuring the size and distances of the Earth, Moon and Sun. The concepts were beautifully simple and although in most cases could only yield approximate results, they have the advantage that they can be understood by anyone with a basic mathematical background. The emergence of affordable planetarium software enables educators to reproduce these pioneering measurements in the classroom. In this paper, several activities are presented that are based on observations and experiments performed over 2000 years ago. By using freeware software students are introduced to key milestones in the history of astronomy in an immersive and interactive way.
Descriptors: Greek Civilization, Computer Simulation, Astronomy, Computer Software, Technology Integration, Science Activities, Measurement, Observation, Computation, Scientific Concepts
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
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Language: English
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