The Wind from the Sun

1
The Wind from the Sun

• Why did you like or dislike this story?
• Is it scientifically valid/truthful?
• Could there be such a solar yacht race? How
  soon?
• Bonus question why are the ships named as they
  are?

2
How might you use stories and art in a science
class?

• Pre-assessment
• Post-assessment
• Inject some fun -- throw them off of their
  expectations
• Opportunity for library and web research
• Chance to connect science to history and culture

3
Why do such interdisciplinary activity?

• Break down the walls between science and other
  subjects
• Involve and energize some students who are not
  typically interested in science
• Writing stories or creating art/music usually
  requires a deeper understanding of what is going
  on
• Way to make the science relevant, personal

4
Ideas for Interdisciplinary Science

• Writing short stories -- require that they be
  scientifically correct -- or news stories
• Create a myth or legend
• Poetry and song lyrics
• Critique a work of art or literature
• Create a mission to Mars, Mercury, etc.
• Develop a game
• Create a piece of art -- Sun-Earth system
• Video -- commercials, weather-cast

5
Cool facts from Wind

• Woomera Stick used by Aborigines to throw
  spears. Also rocket and missile testing at the
  Woomera Range
• Pyotr Nikolayevich Lebedev -- Russian physicist
  who demonstrated experimentally the minute
  pressure that light exerts on bodies
• Captain Joshua Slocum was the first man to sail
  around the world alone
• Arachne
• Story written in 1963