OSHER 505 - Carl Sagan's Cosmos: Episode 7 "The Backbone of Night"

This is a single 90-minute course based on Episode 7 of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" series, originally broadcast in 1980. Entitled "The Backbone of Night," this episode shows Sagan talking to 6th graders in his former classroom in Brooklyn, NY. He shows them photos of planets and galaxies and you can see how excited they are to learn. He talks about ancient people trying to figure out what the stars were and how they created gods to help understand the forces of nature. He goes on to present the early stages of scientific thought from the days of the ancient Greeks. We will play this 45-minute episode and pause at selected intervals, about every 5 minutes, to discuss what we have seen and learned. We will conclude with a robust class discussion at the end of the video. Join in this group journey to better understand our universe and our place in it!