Can you relate what you see to what you think you know?

When you see the Sun and the shadows it casts change throughout the day, what do you relate that to? What do the phases of the Moon tell you, and how do they relate to when you see the Moon in the sky? What do the apparent motions of the Sun and Moon in the sky with respect to the stars tell us about our relationships to each of them? How do you know what the planets are, how to find them in the sky,  and how to tell the difference between them and stars? What do the apparent motions of the planets tell us about their relationship to our Earth and to the Sun? What do the Sun, Moon, and stars have to do with time?

How have humans in the past and in different places understood and told stories about these sky objects and their relationships to each other? How have these understandings affected their sense of time? How has contact between different groups of humans altered these understandings and time-keeping traditions?

You and I are here to help facilitate your answers to these questions and more. You will study the sky (astronomy) including the Greco-Roman traditions that gave us much modern astronomical terminology, various historical Native American views on objects in the sky (archaeoastronomy), and the interaction between Native and European Americans with its resulting changes in astronomical understanding. To accomplish this learning means: you will work to learn concepts and particular entities that you can draw on in your future studies and life, and I will work to provide the environment and tools for you to make that learning happen. While we will be studying the knowledge of the sky and certain cultures’ knowledge of the sky, we will focus equally on the question: how do I know? In every step of this course, you should ask yourself how you know a certain fact or what it would take for you to know it. For that reason, we will limit our studies to those aspects of the sky that can be seen without the aid of instruments.

My hope for you is that, in your life going forward, you see the night sky as a window into the vast universe that is both in one part familiar and in another full of objects to be explored.

Course Structure

Course Modules

Further Course Details

• Who I am
• When you can see me in person
• What you will do to learn
• What you should plan to learn
• How we will deal with unusual circumstances
• How we will track your learning

Cognitive Tips

• Striving builds expertise
• Active recall makes the best studying
• Interleaved learning creates lasting knowledge
• Spaced repetition strengthens memory
• Mind maps help thinking
• Keeping up your body and spirit supports learning 

PDF version of syllabusLinks to an external site.