Mars - a target for teachers and science students

• A case study is here presented of an interdisciplinary course about Mars for teachers and science students. We aim to share the experience of creating an interdisciplinary approach with lecturers spanning physics, geology, radiation physics and philosophy. Issues in ethics, morality, rights and obligations, conflict management and human psychology as well as rocket orbits, fuel economy, radiation hazards and knowledge of the solar system have proven to be a valued and successful initiative for the further training of teachers and science students. The focus of the course is on planning for a journey with humans to the planet Mars. This provides a great opportunity to package complex societal problems in a physics context. The course is offered with a special sustainability content mark. Mankind has always had a strong and dependent relationship with the physical landscape. The land has given us food and shelter but also imposed challenges and disasters. Understanding the physical environment has been crucial for our survival and development. The same will be equally, or more important for Mars where life conditions are much more extreme. We highlight similarities and differences in the geologic processes that have shaped Earth and Mars. What conditions do the future explorers on Mars have to manage? We then enter the modern era and explore the dynamic Martian landscape of today. Also, by learning to read the landscape we may find locations of shelter such as vast systems of lava tubes, or locations of essential resources such as preserved glacial ice etc. A journey to Mars will cause substantially higher personal irradiation than obtained on Earth. The radiation part of the course lectures starts with defining the different radiation types and the biological effects these different types of radiation will cause. Then, the difference between the irradiation on Earth to the elevated irradiation in space and on Mars is described. Thereafter, it is discussed if this elevated radiation burden can cause acute biological effects, e.g. fatigue, vomiting and death, and late biological effects as cancer induction. Last, possible radiation protection strategies are described and discussed. The philosophy of space exploration consists of philosophical approaches to ethics, presently applied to the topic of Mars exploration and colonization, with environmental ethics (anthropocentric vs ecocentric) and value theory at its core. Four main uses of philosophy are distinguished: ethics, aesthetics, cognition and existentialism. Research has shown that visual representation is an important part for students to be able to create a deeper understanding of concepts as well as context about the material that is taught. Interdisciplinary and complex societal problems have also been shown to be important in science teaching. One way for the teacher to develop his/her teaching is to take further education courses in universities whose focus is to seek and discuss the complex societal problems as well as its solutions from a physics and teacher perspective. Future research could be done on the impact of this course on the education in different levels.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Filosofi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- Philosophy (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Etik (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- Ethics (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Annan fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Other Physics Topics (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Mars

education

interdisciplinary

didactics

radiation

landscape

ethics

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)