Space is Everywhere (Coursera)

Space is Everywhere (Coursera)

You are here! Welcome to Course 4 - Space is Everywhere and the last course of this specialization. You are on the final stretch of this journey to finding your Pathway to Space. The topics of Course 4 span four weeks and nine lessons with 36 learning objectives. This course contains some of my most favorite aha moments in the the entire specialization. I hope that you find them and that they impact you in a positive way. We will discuss how space is communicated through news, art, movies, books, music and more. Space is everywhere in our lives and therefore everyone can be involved in it. So keep up the pace. You can do this. Your reward awaits you, finding your pathway to space.

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Week 1 - We will start with Space in Journalism with Paul Daugherty where Paul and I will discuss the importance of communicating science and space matters in an engaging and accurate way. Space and Music, with Dr. Jay Keister, explores role music has had and continues to have in our perceptions of space. Both lessons are eye and ear opening.
Week 2 - This week includes two special discussions centered around art. To bring the wonder of space and the science we do to everyone is best done through art. In the Art of Space, Erin Espelie and I discuss the significance of art as effective tool to inspire those interested in space to pursue and/or question it further. Erin is filmmaker and created a film just for this course. Joby Harris and I discuss the significance of Visualizing Space Exploration in his lesson. Joby uses many tools to bring a space mission to life well before it has even been funded. He explains his process and demonstrates some of his creativity in a interesting demonstration.
Week 3 - In this time of history, movies and tv shows play a large role in the visual entertainment of humans and some animals. However before this medium, writings played that role. In this week's lesson we discuss both. With Scott Millspaugh's lesson on Space Through the Ages, we discuss how space and it's influence on society was captured and communicated over great periods of time. And how some of these beliefs lasted over a thousand years. In Space and Movies, Dr. Ernesto Acevedo Muñoz and I discuss the movie that changed everything when it comes to space as well as those before and after.
Week 4 - The last week of lessons. I purposely put them at the end as I feel they are a fitting way to end to this specialization. In Science Fiction, Dr. William Kuskin and I revisit the concept of Space and Wonder and its influence on our imagination. How the power of imagination generates hope for all that wield it. In One Pathway to Space, I walk you through a journey in rocket history and connect that history to one book that shaped humanity's future in space. And last but not least, we end the course and this specialization with one final goodbye to the crew and the USS Pathway to Space. In addition, I have arranged for a very special VIP transporter. It is truly the end but it is also just the beginning. Enjoy!
Course 4 of 4 in the Pathway to Space Specialization.

What You Will Learn

  • You will learn about the cosmos and your place in it, the ways we explore space, and how people and politics play a role in what we learn.
  • Plus you will learn how space influences everything in our world all while finding your pathway to space.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
The Journalism of Space
Chris and Paul Daugherty (CUB) explore the tools of an effective science journalist and discover how their reporting on science influences the politics, policy, and public perception of space. [CUB = University of Colorado Boulder]
Space and Music
Chris and Dr. Jay Keister (CUB) perform an examination of the ways we use music to think about space, and space to think about music. [CUB = University of Colorado Boulder]

WEEK 2
The Art of Space
Chris and Erin Espelie (CUB) perform an examination of the role of art in space and its influences on our human nature to contribute to the larger understanding of the cosmos and our place in it. [CUB = University of Colorado Boulder]
Visualizing Space Exploration
Chris and Joby Harris (JPL) explore, through an artist's perspective, the role art plays in communicating the discoveries and future of space exploration through visualization. [JPL = Jet Propulsion Laboratory]

WEEK 3
Space Through the Ages
Chris and Dr. Scott Millspaugh (CUB) explore how humanity made sense of our place in space through the ages. [CUB = University of Colorado Boulder]
Space and Movies
Chris and Dr. Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz (CUB) discuss an overview of how movies transport our minds and alter our perceptions of space. [CUB = University of Colorado Boulder]

WEEK 4
Science Fiction
Chris and Dr. William Kuskin (CUB) take a look at the role art and science fiction play in shaping and creating new realities and understandings of our world and the cosmos. [CUB = University of Colorado Boulder]
One Pathway to Space
Chris provides you with a real life example of how one book influenced three individuals and forever changed humans from cave dwellers to star explorers.
Specialization Wrap Up
Chris and the USS Pathway to Space Crew reflect on our journey together as we review where we have gone and what we have discovered + a very VIP transporter!

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