"Exploration" as a Classroom Resource

'The Exploration of the Earth's Magnetosphere" can be used in several ways, described in more detail further below:

• (a)   As source material for the high-school or college curriculum,
  especially in physics. astronomy and their history.
  
• (b)   As a source of supplemental projects by high school students
  or by undergraduates.
  
• (c)   As material for independent studies, In particular by
  motivated students who seek to know more about space
  than is provided by regular curricula.
  
• (d)   As the outline of a one-semester introductory undergraduate
  course for non-science majors, which could be titled
  "Space Science for Poets."
  

General Suggestions

1. Any teacher contemplating an extensive use of "Exploration" might find it useful to obtain a self- contained copy (see next item below). The source files can be copied from the browser and stored on hard disk (they also fit 5 HD floppies), and can then called by the browser--e.g using "Open File" on the "File" menu of the Netscape browser.
   With this material on hard-disk memory, "Exploration" can be used without any connection to the internet and it runs quite rapidly. Of course, the many links to other net documents requfre a net connection in order to work.

2. "Exploration" can be freely copied for non-commercial use. Find out here about copying the entire "Exploration" package as a TARed and GZIPed file (about 5 Mb) to your own computer.

3. "Exploration" is best read sequentially, like a book; sections are accordingly numbered, and each is linked to the next one in sequence. Those wishing to look up specific topics are advised to use the index file, accessible from the end of any "Exploration" file. The index file displays a list of titles, from which any file of "Exploration" can be directly reached: an additional notation (+H) at the end can also be clicked, and brings up the attached history file.

4. For a folding 3-dimensional paper model of the magnetosphere, link here

Specific Uses

Relevant files are listed as they appear In the Index file. "S" stands for supplemental files, indented in the index list; "+H" means, include the history file.

(a)   Classroom Material in Physics and Astronomy

Topics listed below, relevant files in parentheses.
Also look up related summary files.

General

(c)    Self Study

Students with a more technical background may want to go beyond the introductory level of "Exploration." A suitable place to start is "A Brief History of Magnetospheric Physics During the Spaceflight Era" which is also included. Space scientists and graduate students, in particular, will find leads to many key articles in the extensive bibliography of that work.

(d)    "Space Physics for Poets "

"Exploration" can provide the outline of a one-semester course on a similar level, which might well be called "Space Physics for Poets." A teacher presenting such a course needs a thorough command of physics and some additional familiarity with the Earth-Sun environment. The article 'A Brief History of Space Physics During the Spaceflight Era" included in these web files contains a great amount of relevant material, and more can be found in its large bibliography and in the file Additional Resources" reached from the home page of "Exploration."

Teachers are also advised to look up the article "Space Physics for Poets" in The Physics Teacher, vol. 35, p. 38-9, January 1997.

Happy Exploring!