ubuysa
The BSOD Doctor
It's been decades since I completed my OU degree coursework and got my BSc but I started back in the early 1980's with the Science Foundation course. For me it was a kind of sampler to enable me to see whether the OU and its teaching methods suited me. I chose the Science Foundation course primarily because I've always had an interest in science, two of the three GCE's (remember those?) that I got at school were Physics and Biology (the other was English).
Why am I rambling on like this? Well, it's because I recently read this report of Greek schoolchildren cooperating in an international effort to repeat Eratosthenes' ancient experiment to calculate the diameter of the Earth.
In the first few weeks of the OU Science Foundation course we also repeated Eratosthenes' experiment (as far as we were able) to calculate the diameter of the Earth ourselves. Then, using a lunar eclipse we estimated the diameter of the Moon based on the shadow of the Earth projected on to it. Next, using a stick and a small disk we occluded the Full moon with the disk and using small angle approximations were able to calculate the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Finally, we waited for a day when the Moon was half full and visible in the sky along with the Sun (that happens more often than you think - when I see that today I think back to those times). With the Moon half full you known that the angle Earth-Moon-Sun is a right angle, we already know the distance to the Moon and can measure the angle Sun-Earth-Moon, and with that we can calculate the distance from the Earth to the Sun. 😲
In those first few weeks of the course I had measured the heavens in the same way the ancients had done. I was hooked.
Reading that article made me think back to how good the OU's teaching methods were, I'm sure they're even better now. No more getting up at 3am to watch your course TV program because we didn't have a video recorder! I can't praise the OU enough. It was a long slog - it took me 8 years in the end - but I learned so much about stuff that really interested me. I would recommend the OU to anyone looking to further their education - even if measuring the diameter of the Earth with a stick and a well doesn't get you excited.
Why am I rambling on like this? Well, it's because I recently read this report of Greek schoolchildren cooperating in an international effort to repeat Eratosthenes' ancient experiment to calculate the diameter of the Earth.
In the first few weeks of the OU Science Foundation course we also repeated Eratosthenes' experiment (as far as we were able) to calculate the diameter of the Earth ourselves. Then, using a lunar eclipse we estimated the diameter of the Moon based on the shadow of the Earth projected on to it. Next, using a stick and a small disk we occluded the Full moon with the disk and using small angle approximations were able to calculate the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Finally, we waited for a day when the Moon was half full and visible in the sky along with the Sun (that happens more often than you think - when I see that today I think back to those times). With the Moon half full you known that the angle Earth-Moon-Sun is a right angle, we already know the distance to the Moon and can measure the angle Sun-Earth-Moon, and with that we can calculate the distance from the Earth to the Sun. 😲
In those first few weeks of the course I had measured the heavens in the same way the ancients had done. I was hooked.
Reading that article made me think back to how good the OU's teaching methods were, I'm sure they're even better now. No more getting up at 3am to watch your course TV program because we didn't have a video recorder! I can't praise the OU enough. It was a long slog - it took me 8 years in the end - but I learned so much about stuff that really interested me. I would recommend the OU to anyone looking to further their education - even if measuring the diameter of the Earth with a stick and a well doesn't get you excited.
