Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Teaching scientific concepts using UFO reports and other aspects of the UFO phenomenon
Teaching scientific
concepts using UFO reports and other aspects of the UFO phenomenon
Students
have a strong interest in UFOs and “space stuff” because of the prevalence and
prominence of those concepts in pop culture. Because of this, UFOs may be the
ultimate teaching resources since students already have an inherent interest in
pop culture.
Whether or not UFOs are “real,” they
figure prominently in our society, selling us products on television
commercials, are featured in major movies and books and have encroached on
everyday life through common expressions and dinner party conversations. If
UFOs are not a physical phenomenon, they are definitely a psychological and/or
sociological phenomenon. In either case, they are of scientific interest.
What’s more, they should be of great interest to educators because talking
about UFOs can be an excellent way to teach students basic principles in many
fields, including the physical and social sciences.
Scientific
Disciplines Teachable Through a Study of UFOs
For
the purposes of this presentation, let’s not even get into the debate over
whether UFOs are or are not alien spacecraft, but talk in terms
of possibilities and the implications of extraterrestrial life.
Astronomy
This
isn’t necessarily as obvious a connection as you might think, since UFOs are
not necessarily from outer space. But if they are, where could they be from?
This question leads us into many facets of astronomy. What kind of star is our
Sun? Is it bigger than average? Smaller? Hotter? Where is the Sun in relation
to other stars in the sky? Then there are some specific exercises that can lead
to an understanding about distances in the universe. For example, one star
system said by some people to be the origin of aliens visiting Earth is Zeta
Reticuli. (Some students may have heard of this already!) Where, exactly, is
it? Can we see it from your city? How far away is it? A good way to get across
the scale of astronomical distances is to make a scale model of the Solar System
and then extend it to a model of the nearest stars. If you use a pea as a model
of our Sun, how far away will the next nearest pea be? Across the room? Down
the hallway? Across the street?
Planetary
formation
This
topic leads naturally from a discussion of stars and their differences. How do
planets form? How did the Earth get its oceans? Are planets common or rare in
other parts of our Galaxy? How likely is it that other star systems will be
suitable for life?
Meteoritics
Many
people have seen shooting stars. But what are they? How big are they? I
sometimes get a grain of sand and place it in a vial to show and pass around as
an example of the true size of a typical meteor. What are bolides?
Observational
Astronomy
This
topic can spin out into a discussion about constellations and mythology. There
is so much richness for learning opportunities here, you really can’t go wrong.
But a real shocker for most students will be that they don’t need a telescope
to do basic astronomy. How many planets can you see with the naked eye? Why do
stars twinkle, but not planets? What are comets? Galaxies? Nebulae?
Physics
and Engineering
Okay,
you want to get there from here (or vice versa). How? Would aliens use rockets
or a Space Shuttle? An overview of rocketry is perfect here. What were the
first rockets? How do rockets work? What are Newton
Atmospheric
Physics
Many
kinds of weather phenomena can look pretty weird. Noctilucent clouds glow
brightly long after sunset, and lenticular clouds look like giant flying
saucers. Sundogs are neat, and most people don’t know they are simply a kind of
rainbow. One mysterious (and thankfully rare) phenomenon is ball lightning,
which can seem to move with a mind of its own. A stepping-off point here would
be weather observation and forecasting, which many students will find
interesting, especially if they test the accuracy of weather forecasts.
Physiology
Many
science teachers are aware of an exercise called “Invent an Alien,” adopted by
many schools for teaching exobiology. The idea is to make students think about
the necessary characteristics of an alien living on a planet in our Solar
System. We can get students to ask some serious questions about the physiology
of aliens speculated to live on other planets. How could an alien breathe on
Mars or Jupiter? How would it move around? What would it eat? What would it
look like? Communicate? Reproduce?
Psychology
Sightings
of UFOs bring up the subject of perception. This would be a good way to
introduce optical illusions and show that things are not always what they seem.
Autokinesis can be demonstrated to show that stationary objects can seem to
move in the sky. It’s very difficult to judge distance and velocity of an
object in the sky, especially without a reference point. But exactly how
difficult? Another branch of psychology is clinical psychology, which includes
hypnosis. Does it work just like on TV and in the movies? What about belief
systems? Does believing in something sometimes make you think it is real? What
is a psychosomatic illness?
Biology
What
are the conditions which allow life on Earth? Are we damaging our ecosystem?
Are we in danger of becoming extinct? This question is important to any
discussion about aliens because it sheds light on the precariousness of life on
a planet. How quickly can species become extinct? What is adaptation? Why do
animals look different in different parts of the world? If there was life on
another planet, what would it look like? (This brings us back to Invent an
Alien.)
Chemistry
Is
there water on Mars? If not, what are its ice caps made of? Why does Mars look
red? Could we breathe the air on Venus? What is our air made of? Why are
Jupiter’s bands different colours? These are all questions relating to the
chemistry of planetary atmospheres, and can give students an idea of what we
need to survive on this planet.
Sociology
These
are more of the “fun” questions to ask. We can get into all sorts of
speculative ideas by trying to imagine what aliens would be like. The best way
to do this is to compare our own behaviour with that of how we might imagine
aliens to behave and interact. What would a truly alien civilization be like?
What would its government be like? How would it educate its young? If an alien
landed on Earth and said to you, “Take me to your leader!” ... to whom (and
where) would you take it? How would you explain to an alien the concept of war?
Money? Love?
These
are just some of the subjects which could be taught using UFOs and aliens as a
starting point for learning. All of these areas use straightforward scientific
principles as a way to understand a popular topic. There is no “pseudoscience”
here - just good science. This is a positive and enjoyable way to help your
students grasp scientific concepts and apply them to the UFO phenomenon in all
its varied aspects.
But
wait! There’s more!
We’ve
just covered the scientific disciplines teachable with UFOs as a topic.
But what about other disciplines?
Language
Arts
I’ve
been contacted by ESL instructors who were using UFO books as texts for
reading. Again, the students were interested in the topic, so the instructional
materials worked well. Paranormal subjects and magic really have a way of
catching the imaginations of young readers. (Just look at the popularity of
Harry Potter, Goosebumps and Animorphs, to name a few!) Stories about aliens
can be found in most popular fiction series, and juvenile science fiction is an
ever-growing market in the book publishing industry. Using a scenario such as
“I was abducted by an alien” can be a lot of fun for a creative writing
assignment, and students will enjoy letting their imaginations run wild.
Applied
Arts
Twice
now I have been asked by electronics dabblers to evaluate “UFO Detectors” on
their operating principles. It’s a fairly simple project, basically something
which detects magnetic fields. (This assumes, of course, that alien spaceships
generate such fields.) So, with that in mind, why not get your students to
design such a device, and have them explain the theory behind it? Oh, and if
they actually detect anything, let me know.
Fine
Art
I
once had the cooperation of the teacher of a grade school class in a
fascinating comparative experiment. Two of the students in the class had
reported seeing a UFO several days earlier, and their parents were convinced
they had a real experience. When I visited the school to talk with the students,
their homeroom teacher asked me to talk to his class about UFOs in general, but
I had a better idea. I gave all the kids an assignment to draw or colour a
picture of what they thought an alien spaceship looked like. What they handed
in at the end of the hour was pretty interesting. They all drew elaborate
aliens with their spaceships, many of which were modeled after spacecraft on TV
shows like Star Trek and movies such as Star Wars. Except for two drawings, by
the two students who had said they had actually seen something. They both drew
dull, boring pictures of a grey, disc-shaped object hanging in the sky. It
didn’t have any windows or flashing lights or any aliens peeking out. It didn’t
seem like they used their imaginations at all.
Journalism
Have
your students make a video of a newscast about a UFO sightings or an abduction.
See if they can interview someone in their community who has had an experience.
Finally,
here’s an older article about putting UFOs in the classroom that has some interesting
(although perhaps a bit outdated) ideas:
Rocker,
Donald E. It worked for me. Grade
Teacher, Dec. 1968, pp. 24, 26.
So,
you now have some ideas on how to motivate your students. If their heads are
going to be in the clouds anyway, at least they can get some good learning
done!
“Second star to
the right and straight on till morning...”
Labels: children, education, science, UFOs
# posted by rutkows @ 3:53 PM 
