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Modeling the History of Astronomy: Ptolemy, Copernicus and Tycho
written by Todd Timberlake
This paper, submitted to Astronomy Education Review, describes a series of activities in which students investigate and use the models of planetary motion introduced by the Hellenistic astronomer Claudius Ptolemy in the 2nd Century, by the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus in the mid-16th Century, and by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe in the late16th Century.  The activities involve the use of open source software to help students discover important observational facts, learn the necessary vocabulary, understand the fundamental properties of different theoretical models, and relate the theoretical models to observational data.  Once they understand the observations and models, students complete a series of projects in which they observe a fictitious solar system with four planets orbiting in circles around a central star and construct both Ptolemaic and Copernican models for that system.

The computer simulations, activity handouts, and project assignments discussed in the paper are all available in a ComPADRE shared file folder: http://www.compadre.org/OSP/filingcabinet/share.cfm?UID=12250&FID=33000&code=A816D1F75A.
Astronomy Education Review: Volume 12, Issue 1, Pages 010201
2 supplemental documents are available
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Astronomy
- Astronomy Education
- Historical Astronomy
= History of Astronomy
- Solar System
- Lower Undergraduate
- High School
- Instructional Material
= Curriculum
= Project
Intended Users Formats Ratings
- Educators
- Learners
- application/pdf
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Mirror:
https://doi.org/10.3847/AER2013001
Access Rights:
Free access
Restriction:
© 2013 Todd K. Timberlake
DOI:
10.3847/AER2013001
Keywords:
Copernicus, EJS, Easy Java Simulations, OSP, Open Source Physics, Ptolemy, Tycho, modeling, planet, solar system
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created January 11, 2013 by Todd Timberlake
Record Updated:
December 2, 2021 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update
when Cataloged:
January 10, 2013
Other Collections:

ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!

Record Link
AIP Format
T. Timberlake, , Astron. Educ. Rev. 12 (1), 010201 (2013), WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12579&DocID=3173).
AJP/PRST-PER
T. Timberlake, Modeling the History of Astronomy: Ptolemy, Copernicus and Tycho, Astron. Educ. Rev. 12 (1), 010201 (2013), <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12579&DocID=3173>.
APA Format
Timberlake, T. (2013, January 10). Modeling the History of Astronomy: Ptolemy, Copernicus and Tycho. Astron. Educ. Rev., 12(1), 010201. Retrieved December 7, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12579&DocID=3173
Chicago Format
Timberlake, Todd. "Modeling the History of Astronomy: Ptolemy, Copernicus and Tycho." Astron. Educ. Rev. 12, no. 1, (January 10, 2013): 010201, https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12579&DocID=3173 (accessed 7 December 2024).
MLA Format
Timberlake, Todd. "Modeling the History of Astronomy: Ptolemy, Copernicus and Tycho." Astron. Educ. Rev. 12.1 (2013): 010201. 7 Dec. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12579&DocID=3173>.
BibTeX Export Format
@article{ Author = "Todd Timberlake", Title = {Modeling the History of Astronomy: Ptolemy, Copernicus and Tycho}, Journal = {Astron. Educ. Rev.}, Volume = {12}, Number = {1}, Pages = {010201}, Month = {January}, Year = {2013} }
Refer Export Format

%A Todd Timberlake %T Modeling the History of Astronomy: Ptolemy, Copernicus and Tycho %J Astron. Educ. Rev. %V 12 %N 1 %D January 10, 2013 %P 010201 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12579&DocID=3173 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A Timberlake, Todd %D January 10, 2013 %T Modeling the History of Astronomy: Ptolemy, Copernicus and Tycho %J Astron. Educ. Rev. %V 12 %N 1 %P 010201 %8 January 10, 2013 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12579&DocID=3173


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