Session Information
MC_POST, Main Conference Poster Session and Lunch Break
Posters will be displayed throughout the conference and submitters are asked to be present in both Poster Sessions to answer questions. Poster Session I: Tuesday, 12.15 - 13.30 Poster Session II: Wednesday 12.15 - 13.30
Time:
2009-09-29
12:15-13:15
Room:
Otkogon
Chair:
Contribution
This paper considers the implication of the power that individual disciplines have on teaching, learning and pedagogy. It challenges the role of the disciplines by concentrating on physics and astronomy, particularly the field of instrumentation within astrophysics, whilst examining the nature and context in which academics find themselves as scholars and teachers within these fields. It suggests that knowledge associated with the discipline of physics is becoming ever more specialised and that this is starting to fragment the meaning of the discipline itself.
The paper goes on to consider specialised knowledge showing the impact it may have on present and future teachers of physics, astronomy and instrumentation.
The basis of the discussion will focus on the fact that astrophysics has traditionally been seen as a field of physics. The reasoning behind this view is that since the same physical laws that apply on earth, apply to the rest of the universe, only a good knowledge of physics should be sufficient for the explanation of all astrophysical phenomena. However, as with many other fields of physics, it has been many decades since astrophysics advanced to such an extent as to require a large investment of time for a scientist to study all the accumulated knowledge in the field. In practice, it makes the movement of established researchers from other fields of physics to astrophysics rare and thus resulting in astrophysics being considered as a separate discipline at postgraduate level.
Method
The paper will be presented in three sections: the first considers the issues related to astrophysics, followed by a discussion of instrumentation, and concludes with the implications for the pedagogy of the discipline areas. Comparisons will be made between the approach taken to researching and teaching physics and astrophysics in England and Greece.
Expected Outcomes
This phenomenon will be explained through understanding the physical process in astrophysical research and linking these to the underlying principles set out in the definition of Discipline.
References
Davis, J.R. (1995) Interdisciplinary Courses and Team Teaching: New Arrangements for Learning, Phoenix: Oryx Press.
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