McMaster’s Doctor Who takes students on celestial tours

McMaster University’s Robert Cockcroft is so committed to teaching and learning that he’s controlling time and space for hundreds of students.

The assistant professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy has added planetarium visits to the curriculum for his integrated science and astronomy courses.

Along with teaching 300 undergraduate students, Robert serves as director of the W.J. McCallion Planetarium – the first in Ontario to offer public shows more than 70 years ago.

“Instead of looking at flat screens in a classroom, students learn under a dome of stars,” says Robert about moving learning beyond the classroom. “This makes for a more realistic simulation and a more engaging experience for students.”

It also lets Robert speed up events that unfold slowly in the real night sky, condensing an entire evening into a 60-minute presentation without the risk of clouds or freezing temperatures.

“Like Doctor Who with the TARDIS, we have the advantage of controlling time and space for students in the planetarium.”

Robert gets behind the controls for the smaller classes and enlists the help of teaching assistants and his team of planetarium presenters for the larger classes.

The shows tend to spur more questions from star-struck students than what’s asked in a classroom. “Being in the planetarium lets us both tell and visually show students the answers on the dome.”

Students in Robert’s first-year astronomy course are immersed under a simulation of the night sky that show celestial motions across different timescales and from different vantage points throughout the solar system. Robert and his team of presenters can also zoom in on objects as though students are looking at them through a telescope.

Integrated Science students get a customized show that ties into their research project on planetary exploration.

The planetarium also gives students a preview of upcoming celestial events, like the total solar eclipse that will cross over McMaster next year during mid-afternoon on Monday, April 8^th.  Robert and his team of planetarium presenters are also preparing a show for the new Perspectives on Indigenous and Eurocentric Astronomy course to be introduced this September.

Email Robert at cockcroft@mcmaster.ca to learn more about how he takes learning beyond the classroom.