Hello and welcome back to another episode and a new "Teaching With Magic" season!

Our first guest is the incredible Dr. Kristine Larsen, astronomy and physics professor and pop culture extraordinaire. Kristine teaches courses at Central Connecticut State University. She is heavily involved in science outreach and serves on the Board of Advisors and as co-leader of the Solar Observing Section of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO).

Kristine frequently publishes works on Tolkien, Lewis, and other fantasy and science fiction stories in the Journal of Tolkien Studies, and has a chapter in Approaches to Teaching Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings" called "Melkor, Moon-Letters, and Menelmacar: Middle-earth in the Science Classroom." You can find more of Kristine's published works on her website.

Kristine and I talk about how science isn't all that scary, how to bring the humanities and sciences together in the classroom, and just how valuable experiential and inquiry classrooms are in today's society.

Like this episode? Be sure to leave a rating and a review!

You can visit our website at http://teachingwithmagic.blog for all of our episodes, and you can find the Hobbit Activity Packet on our Patreon site.

Resources for the Science Classroom:

The Hobbit: https://sites.ccsu.edu/astronomy/hobbit.htm

Harry Potter Series: https://sites.ccsu.edu/astronomy/hpstarfinder.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kODmcRM1SI&t=7s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRy9f1vaUIw&t=27s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf1GkXhpYMw&t=32s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-H82bM0uNQ&t=42s

Article: Harry Potter and the Upcoming Venus Conjunction

Transits, Spots, and Eclipses: The Sun's Unique Role in Outreach

Background Artwork by Matej Cadil and Kip Rasm