A Program Incorporating Physics, Astronomy and Environment

Abstract

A cultural role of astronomical education at all levels is well known and it is needless to repeat the corresponding arguments. Nobody denies it, but nobody can propose any universal way of introducing Astronomy on a level this branch of science deserves.There is a good tradition to appreciate Astronomy in Russian schools. For more than a century part of the natural history science in school dedicated to the Universe has been considered as a separate part of the school curriculum in Russia. Before 1917 it was named Cosmography, and Astronomy thereafter. And up to now there is no decision or prescription to rule it out of the school program.

A Program Incorporating Physics, Astronomy and Environment

“…As a first approximation we use our earlier elaborated and recently revised short textbook in Astronomy (Zasov and Kononovich, 1993) as a sum of basic astronomical information, principal ideas, and main teaching methods to introduce into this new type of project. T h e recently organised almanac "The Universe and Ourselves" (Kononovich, 1993(Kononovich, , 1995 might be very useful for supporting this program.…”