Concept Question 1

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Concept Question 1

• Eudoxus required 27 spheres spinning around the
  Earth to describe the motion of the Sun, Moon,
  planets and stars.
• Aristotle required 56 spheres to account for this
  motion.
• Why is Aristotles scheme recalled as a theory,
  and Eudoxuss not?

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Concept Question 2

• Aristotles theory had difficulties, as he
  himself admitted, including apparent variation of
  the size of the Moon and planets.
• Aristarchus, a contemporary of Aristotles,
  proposed a heliocentric theory for the universe.
• Why was Aristarchuss theory found unacceptable?

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Concept Question 3

• It was not until 1837 that Bessel and Struve
  experimentally demonstrated the existence of
  stellar parallax.
• Why was the heliocentric theory accepted in the
  17th century despite the continued absence of
  observational proof of stellar parallax?

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Concept Question 4

• How does this history of science and the
  acceptance of new theories connect with your
  classroom dynamics and student learning?