Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Farris:
Classical astronomy can be a great way to teach children math and science. Jay, what are some of the key differences between classical and modern astronomy?

Jay Ryan:
Well Mike, it would be nearly impossible for students to reproduce and confirm the methods of modern astronomy, but the methods of classical astronomy are easily within reach.

For modern astronomy, students cannot easily conduct a spectrographic analysis of starlight. It would be extremely difficult to use that information to infer the chemical composition of stars and extrapolate theories. The student of modern astronomy learns very little except to receive theoretical conclusions on the authority of the science mainstream.

However, with traditional classical astronomy, the sky can be studied using simple geometrical instruments. This enables accurate timekeeping and navigation from the sky, as it had been done for centuries before modern technology. For example, a student can directly verify the traditional proofs that the Earth is spherical, which have been known for thousands of years.

In this way, students can learn the scientific method from a concrete science that yields tangible results, and this is in contrast to the inferred, speculative conclusions presented in support of evolutionary theories.

Mike:
Thank you, Jay. I know our listeners are very interested in what you had to say today, and they’ll be back tomorrow. I’m Mike Farris.