Private Education Assistance Committee

60 MIN

Universe Next Top Introduction/

LESSON OUTLINE
Review the works of Eudoxus, Aristotle, and
Review Aristarchus.

Model Motivation
Instruction/
Delivery
Four Pics One Word
Picture analysis and interactive discussion on the
different astronomical models
Practice/
Enrichment
Evaluation Concept Map, Timeline, and Multiple Choice

WRITTEN BY: Materials 1. Worksheet

2. Power point presentation
3. LCD Projector

Resources

Content Standards
The learners demonstrate understanding of:
- Competing models of the universe by Eudoxus, Aristotle, Aristarchus,
Ptolemy, Copernicus, Brahe, and Kepler

Performance Standard:
- Create either a printed or an electronic picture-catalog showing the day-
to-day applications of Astronomy, Mechanics, Optics, and Relativity and
reflect on the social, cultural, environmental, and economic implications.

Learning Competency:
The learners should be able to:
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1. Compare and contrast explanations and models of astronomical phenomena (Copernican, Ptolemaic, and Tychonic)

Specific Learning Outcomes:

The learners should be able to:
1. identify key ideas of the different astronomical model;

INTRODUCTION/REVIEW (10 MINS) Teacher Tips

 Review the previous discussion on models of the universe by Eudoxus, Aristotle and Aristarchus 
 Using pictures of the astronomers, ask the students to name the person on the picture and explain the
model of the universe that these astronomers had.
 Recall the similarities and differences among the models of these three astronomers.

MOTIVATION (10 MINS)

 4 PICS 1 WORD
 Students will be asked to form groups. Each group will try to answer the “4 PICS 1 WORD” game. There will
be four pictures that will be displayed that are related with one another. There will be letters that will help
the students guess the idea or concept that the four pictures refer to. The group with the shortest time will
be the winner.
 Sample of the 4 PICS 1 WORD
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INSTRUCTION / DELIVERY (50 MINS)

 Ptolemy
 Who is Ptolemy?
 Students will be given pieces of jigsaw puzzle which is a picture of Ptolemy. After putting the pieces on its
proper place, students will be asked if they know the person and if they have any idea of why this person
is significant in the field of Astronomy.
 Discussion of the life of Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy was born in about the year 100 AD, almost certainly in Egypt. He lived in the metropolis
of Alexandria on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast.
Alexandria was built by the Ancient Greeks, but later conquered by the Romans. Claudius is a Roman
name and Claudius Ptolemy was a Roman citizen. Ptolemy, however, is a Greek name and Ptolemy wrote
in Greek. He was possibly related to the Greek Ptolemy royal dynasty, ousted by the Romans in 30 BC.
There is, however, no direct evidence to support a relationship.
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Ptolemy’s most famous work is the Almagest, an astronomy textbook and star catalogue.
The Almagest was a substantial, ambitious work. It taught its students how to predict the location of any
heavenly body at any time from anywhere on Earth using Ptolemy’s mathematical model of planet
movements. Ptolemy presented his model’s output in the form of data tables. Using his tables, one could
also predict eclipses.
Ptolemy first entitled his book Mathematical Treatise. Almagest is a later fusion of Arabic and Greek
words – ‘Al’ is Arabic for ‘the’ and ‘megiste’ is Greek for ‘greatest,’ the title indicating the books status in
astronomy.
To create the Almagest, Ptolemy assembled observations of the heavens spanning many hundreds of
years, beginning with data compiled in Babylon in 747 BC. He used state-of-the-art mathematics to
analyze and interpret the data to create his model.
 Ptolemaic Model of the Universe
 Picture Analysis. A picture of the Ptolemaic model of the universe will be given to the students. Each
group will have a representative who will briefly describe the model in two to three sentences.
 Discussion of the Ptolemaic Model of the Universe


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Ptolemy proposed a universe consisting of nested spheres containing the heavenly bodies.
He incorrectly placed the earth at the center of the universe. He correctly showed the stars as the bodies
farthest from Earth. He incorrectly showed Mercury as the planet closest to Earth.
In the Almagest’s star catalog, Ptolemy provided the coordinates and brightnesses of over 1,000 stars and
placed them in 48 constellations. Modern scholars believe Ptolemy assembled much of his star catalog
from an earlier one compiled by Hipparchus.

 Copernicus
 Who is Copernicus?
- Students will be given pieces of jigsaw puzzle which is a picture of Copernicus. After putting the pieces on
its proper place, students will be asked if they know the person and if they have any idea of why this
person is significant in the field of Astronomy.
- Discussion of the life of Copernicus
Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was instrumental in establishing the concept of a heliocentric solar
system, in which the sun, rather than the earth, is the center of the solar system.
Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473 in Torun, Poland. Circa 1508, Copernicus developed
his own celestial model of a heliocentric planetary system. Around 1514, he shared his findings
in the Commentariolus. His second book on the topic, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, was banned
by the Roman Catholic Church decades after his May 24, 1543 death in Frombork.
 Copernican Model of Universe
- Picture Analysis. A picture of the Copernican model of the universe will be given to the students. Each
group will have a representative who will briefly describe the model in two to three sentences.
- Discussion of the Copernican Model of the Universe
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In this new ordering the Earth is just another planet (the third outward from the Sun), and the Moon is in
orbit around the Earth, not the Sun. The stars are distant objects that do not revolve around the Sun.
Instead, the Earth is assumed to rotate once in 24 hours, causing the stars to appear to revolve around
the Earth in the opposite direction.

 Tychonius
 Who is Tychonius?
- Students will be given pieces of jigsaw puzzle which is a picture of Tychonius. After putting the pieces on
its proper place, students will be asked if they know the person and if they have any idea of why this
person is significant in the field of Astronomy.
- Discussion of the life of Tychonius
Tycho Brahe, (born December 14, 1546, Knudstrup, Scania, Denmark—died October 24, 1601, Prague),
Danish astronomer whose work in developing astronomical instruments and in measuring and fixing the
positions of stars paved the way for future discoveries. His observations—the most accurate possible
before the invention of the telescope—included a comprehensive study of the solar system and accurate
positions of more than 777 fixed stars.
 Tychonic Model of Universe
- Picture Analysis. A picture of the Tychonic model of the universe will be given to the students. Each group
will have a representative who will briefly describe the model in two to three sentences.
- Discussion of the Tychonic Model of the Universe
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The Tychonic System is a theoretical model of the solar system hypothesize that earth is the center of the
universe; the sun, moon, and the stars revolve around the earth; and other planets within our solar
system revolves around the sun. Tychonic System is sometimes also referred as the Geo-Helio-Centric
System; because it inherits the combination of both.
In simple terms, it is a model of the Solar System which retains the ancient Aristotelian-Ptolemaic
Idea that earth is fixed as the center of the universe, where sun and the moon revolve around the earth;
on the other hand, retains the modern concept of the Copernican Idea that all the other planets within
our solar system revolves around the sun. This theoretical model is known as the Tychonic system; named
after Danish Astronomer, Astrologer, Alchemist, and a Writer Tycho Brahe who proposed this law around
the 1570s.

PRACTICE/ENRICHMENT (20 MINS)

1.

EVALUATION
1.
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