{"id":13525,"date":"2024-06-04T12:58:12","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T16:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=13525"},"modified":"2024-06-26T12:16:50","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T16:16:50","slug":"lessons-designed-with-wonder-in-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/summer-2024\/lessons-designed-with-wonder-in-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons Designed With Wonder in Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In Doug Gobeille\u2019s astrophysics courses, work feels like play and lessons inspire wonder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHeads up, UNC-Chapel Hill: äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾ is coming for your Guinness world record for highest Galilean cannon launch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor of astrophysics Doug Gobeille proclaims this with the spiritedness of a 10-year-old boy thirsty for a schoolyard dustup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Galilean cannon is a simple demonstration of the principle of conservation of linear energy in which three balls of different weights are stacked (heaviest on the bottom to the lightest on top) and dropped, transferring energy to, and launching the topmost ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Gobeille\u2019s enthusiasm for this project isn\u2019t just about Galilean cannon record-breaking; it characterizes his approach to instruction in all his courses, from introductory to upper level. Essentially, Gobeille wants students to feel the same excitement he does for everything from supermassive black holes (his area of expertise) to the tiniest asteroids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gobeille, who grew up watching Carl Sagan\u2019s Cosmos<\/em> on PBS, seeks to inspire the same sense of wonder in his students that Sagan inspired in him. Students in the introductory course, Astronomy 108: Stars and Galaxies, for instance, received extra credit on an exam for attending a lunar lab one night this past spring. They gathered around a telescope on the Quad to look at Jupiter and the moon. Murmurs of \u201cCool!\u201d and \u201cWow!\u201d could be heard as students fell back in line for a second and third look\u2014no small thing when the temperature was below freezing and the line nearly 50 students deep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They even stayed in the cold a little longer to chat with Gobeille about how to tell satellites from airplanes in the night sky (hint: satellite lights don\u2019t blink).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In upper-level courses such as Physics 491: Astrodynamics, students are using software to simulate the building, testing, and launching of rockets that would land astronauts safely on Mars and return them home. For this assignment, students \u201cjust\u201d have to launch their rockets and get their missions to Mars and back; they don\u2019t have to worry about some of the important details\u2014like safety and food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you think planning a there-and-back mission to Mars or breaking a world record seems wildly out of the scope of what students could possibly achieve during a single semester, you\u2019re right. Gobeille grins at the suggestion that these are challenges designed to keep students coming back for more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor now, we\u2019re worrying about the rockets,\u201d Gobeille says. \u201cBut students can come back, take another course, and I\u2019ll throw much harder problems at them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What kinds of problems? \u201cThings breaking, for example,\u201d he says, and laughs. \u201cThat\u2019d be so fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As for that world record for highest launch of a Galilean cannon?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The physics and engineering students in Gobeille\u2019s Physics 492: Practical Classical Dynamics will be refining and testing Galilean cannon prototypes this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe objective is height. I really want a high enough launch that we\u2019d need Federal Aviation Administration clearance, which means over 1,000 feet,\u201d Gobeille says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the record to beat is just 13 meters, or 42.6 feet. Surely, talking about FAA clearance is overkill?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think so,\u201d Gobeille grins again. \u201cLaunching over 1,000 feet wouldn\u2019t be that hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014MaryBeth Reilly-McGreen<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PHOTO: NORA LEWIS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Wonders of Space: A Self-Study Guide<\/span><\/h1>\n

Rocket (or Galilean cannon) building, stargazing, the existence of extraterrestrials (pretty unlikely, Gobeille says), even the topic of death by exposure to outer space (it\u2019d be unpleasant, according to Gobeille)\u2014these topics and more are fair game in Gobeille\u2019s classes, including a science fiction course he co-teaches with film\/media professor Rebecca Romanow. He suggests the following books, films, and series for anyone interested in expanding their horizons.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read<\/span><\/p>\n

Fiction<\/span><\/p>\n