Adorah enjoyed the buzz of the first week of classes. The first years, no matter what semester, had a little air of chaos around them, trickling throughout the castle. The second years weren't much better, but at least they knew where they were going around the castle. As the students came in, she stood at the doorway greeting them, watching as they found similar seats to the previous year, and began conversing in their usual friend groups. As the bell rang, she went to her desk, took attendance, and then looked up at the second years as the bell rang. "Welcome back everyone! Most of you should remember me from last year, but I'm Professor Zumwalt. I'm excited to see you all again and move on to some new parts of astronomy this year. Let's get started!"
"This year, we are going to be focusing locally in astronomical terms - on our own solar system." She paused a moment, letting students finish taking out their notes and giving a knowing glance to those who were not quite paying attention yet. "We're going back thousands of years when Ptolemy, a notable muggle astronomer, and others came up with the idea of a Geocentric Universe. Everyone pretty much agreed on the idea in the muggle world. However, wizard astronomers who tried to bridge the gap and tell muggles that idea was wrong... well, they were pretty much ignored, including the wizard Aristarchus," Professor Zumwalt paused again, gauging if she'd already lost a few students with her story. It was difficult to keep 12 and 13-year-olds engaged, especially in a subject where they weren't using their wands. However, she hoped that some of them were keeping up.
"A Geocentric Universe, simply put, is that everything is revolving around the Earth while the Earth stands motionless. It wasn't until the year 1540 that things started to change in the world when Nicolas Copernicus published work suggesting a Sun-centered model. Johannes Kepler was the first to realize the planets moved in ellipses, not circles like Copernicus had assumed. We talked about ellipses last year if you remember. Can anyone remind the class what an ellipse is?" Professor Zumwalt asked, picking a student whose hand shot up quickly. "An ellipse is the way the earth goes around the sun, and it's an oval-shaped circle," they answered. "Yes, exactly. 2 points to you!"
"The planets and other objects flying around the Sun are held in their paths by the Sun's gravity, as it is the most massive object. That is the Heliocentric model our solar system follows." Professor Zumwalt paused a moment to glance at the clock. She saw the second hand was about 30 seconds away from hitting their time, and she could see a few students yawning as they tried to adjust to night classes again after their break. "Well, that finishes today's lesson. I have a short bit of homework for you; make sure you grab a sheet from the stool by the door on your way out," she called as many students headed to the exit.
--
For full credit, RP the lesson.
First poster to answer the question will receive 2 house points.
For extra credit (3 points), fill out the homework.
Code:
[b]Name[/b]:[b]House/Year[/b]:[b]Tell me two things you remember learning about in astronomy last year.[/b]