New Mars Forums

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,356

Save Phobos Book Title

This new topic is on the speculative side, but it is at least feasible to consider as a Mars Society project.

The title would be "Save Phobos", and the subtitle would be "Help Push" 

What I am imagining is a composite book, covering multiple ages, with text and illustrations appropriate for each age group.

These would be (approximately): Pre-school, Elementary school, Middle School, High School, College, Post Graduate

All would be written and illustrated with a STEM orientation.

The Post Graduate ought to be of interest to a number of forum members.  It would show advanced calculus.

The object of the exercise is to provide a concise view (for the younger set) of the variety of ways of 'seeing' the subject under discussion.

Exposure to calculus as early as possible is a consideration.  I approve of efforts by a very few educators to introduce the magic of calculus early.

The emotional pull would be a selling point for the younger set and their parents.  It would be (or could be) comparable to the connection humans made to Pluto.

Edit#1: The layout of the book is to be determined (of course) but as an opening gambit, I would like to suggest a page (side) devoted to each age group.

That would mean three physical pages would be devoted to a particular topic.  Development would take place over those three pages, so that an individual in high school could stretch all the way to the PhD level on the back of page 3 if the motivation were present.

The idea and intent is to expose the younger ages to the thought process of advanced ages, while making the content for their age fulfilling (to the extent possible).

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2020-05-18 08:27:02)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,356

Re: Save Phobos Book Title

This is a continuation of the opening post, extended to multimedia format ...

A book format is the foundation for a project along these lines, but extending into the realm of multimedia opens the door to much more learning.

In particular, having a sound track of someone reading the material would be helpful in exposure of younger students to the terminology and rhythm of calculus.

In modern YouTube videos, it is possible to hear PhD level folks speaking the terms of the equations they are writing, in the rhythm that I observe varies from speaker to speaker.  It would be (should be) possible to incorporate such readings into the multimedia version of "Save Phobos"

In addition, animation can supplement the fixed images and illustrations of the book format.

(th)