Knowing the Universe: Teaching the History and Philosophy of Astronomy

Astronomy is the oldest science, with connections to development of most important concepts in physics. A course described that covers its evolution from prehistory modern cosmology, giving due weight philosophical implications subject. The pedagogy designed let students develop their writing and reasoning skills. newly developed has been delivered three distinct audiences: non-science majors at a major public university, adult community members taking for enrichment, worldwide audience lifelong learners who enroll massive open online (MOOC). Class content informed by scholarly literature on philosophy history physics astronomy. Subject matter divided into thirteen chronological topics: Ancient Skies, Greek Science, Revolutions, Telescopes, Gravity, Evolution, Mapping, Relativity, Quantum Theory, Stars Atoms, Galaxies, Big Bang, Life Universe. topics are presented rate one per week during standard university semester, they parsed five two-hour sessions local seven weeks self-paced video lectures MOOC audience.