“Life in the Cosmic Context” (AGA0316) is\ud
the astrobiology course offered by University\ud
of S˜ao Paulo to undergraduate students of\ud
science and humanities majors. The variety\ud
of background of the population attending\ud
AGA0316 and the broad scope of the addresssed\ud
issues makes this course a laboratory\ud
of transdisciplinarity.Resumo publicado no periódico: Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y Astrofísica. Serie de Conferencias, v. 44, p. 127, 2014

A. C. S. Friaca

E. Janot Pacheco

“Life in the Cosmic Context” (AGA0316) is the astrobiology course offered by University of S˜ao Paulo to undergraduate students of science and humanities majors. The variety of background of the population attending AGA0316 and the broad scope of the addresssed issues makes this course a laboratory of transdisciplinarity

Friaça, Amancio C.

Janot Pacheco, Eduardo

iStarDB (The Astronomy Education Research Repository)

Life in the Cosmic Context. An Astrobiology Course as an Experiment in Transdisciplinarity

Friaca, Amancio Cesar Santos

Pacheco, Eduardo Janot

Biblioteca Digital da Produção Intelectual da Universidade de São Paulo (BDPI/USP)

  Universidade de São Paulo
 
2013
 
Life in the cosmic context: an astrobiology
course as an experiment in transdisciplinarity
 
 
Latin American Regional IAU Meeting, 14, 2013, Florianópolis.
http://www.producao.usp.br/handle/BDPI/48529
 
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Departamento de Astronomia - IAG/AGA Comunicações em Eventos - IAG/AGA
RevMexAA (Serie de Conferencias), 44, 127–127 (2014)
LIFE IN THE COSMIC CONTEXT. AN ASTROBIOLOGY COURSE AS AN
EXPERIMENT IN TRANSDISCIPLINARITY
A. C. S. Friac¸a1 and E. Janot Pacheco1
“Life in the Cosmic Context” (AGA0316) is
the astrobiology course oﬀered by University
of Sa˜o Paulo to undergraduate students of
science and humanities majors. The vari-
ety of background of the population attend-
ing AGA0316 and the broad scope of the ad-
dresssed issues makes this course a laboratory
of transdisciplinarity.
Astrobiology is a new ﬁeld of research concerned
with the study of the origin, distribution, and des-
tiny of life in the universe. It is rapidly gaining the
attention of scientists and the public, partially due
to the fundamental questions it poses: what is life?
are we alone in the universe? what will be the future
of life on Earth and elsewhere? In 2003, University
of Sa˜o Paulo (USP) created the course of astrobiol-
ogy “Life in the Cosmic Context”, addressing these
questions, taking into account several disciplines –
astrophysics, biology, chemistry, geology, meteorol-
ogy, environmental sciences.
The course is provided by IAG (Instituto de As-
tronomia, Geof´ısica e Cieˆncias Atmosfe´ricas) to un-
dergraduate students of science and humanities ma-
jors. In general, AGA0316 is oﬀered each semester.
During the period of 2003-2013, a total of 1513 stu-
dents have enrolled in the course, distributed over 32
majors.
The fact that a large number of majors is rep-
resented in the course illustrates the capability of
astrobiology in integrating several ﬁelds of knowl-
edge. Considering the deﬁnition of astrobiology as
“the study of the living universe” (Chyba & Hand,
2005), their two objects – universe and life – are so
encompassing that astrobiology could be character-
ized as being transdisciplinary in addition to being
interdisciplinary.
Transdisciplinarity is an approach to knowledge
that goes beyond objects to consider the environ-
ment in which the objects are embedded. The trans-
disciplinary research not only focuses on the envi-
ronment of the object under study, but also cre-
ates the environment. In contrast to the interdis-
1Departamento de Astronomia, Instituto de Astronomia,
Geof´ısica e Cieˆncias Atmosfe´ricas, Universidade de Sa˜o Paulo,
Rua do Mata˜o, 1226, Cidade Universita´ria, 05508-090, Sa˜o
Paulo SP, Brasil. (amancio@astro.iag.usp.br).
ciplinary research, which surrounds its object from
several points of view, in the transdisciplinary ap-
proach, the object expands into an enveloping space.
In that transdisciplinary space, there is the integra-
tion of diverse forms of research, derived from spe-
ciﬁc problem-solving strategies for building knowl-
edge (Jaeger & Scheringer, 1998). The transdisci-
plinary approach has been used in complex problem
solving context, for instance, in shaping university
curricula (Ernst, 2008) and in preventive medicine
(Kessel & Rosenﬁeld, 2008).
In the classes of AGA 0316, the central under-
lying questions of astrobiology are explored in by a
wide variety of activities designed to build a trans-
disciplinary frame. For example, philosophical in-
sights are combined with the design of strategies for
the recognition of life elsewhere, and the biological
ﬁeldwork on extremophiles with astronomical obser-
vations of exoplanets and of the molecular content
of the universe.
At the same time that the course focuses on is-
sues related to the idea of extraterrestrial life, the
reﬂections and activities of the students lead them
to broaden their conceptions about life and to bridge
disciplinary barriers. The explicit project of defrag-
mentation of knowledge of transdisciplinarity (Max-
Neef, 2005) is mirrored by the very ambition of astro-
biology of reuniting the present-day fragmented sci-
entiﬁc body, and both are experienced in the classes
of AGA0316. Finally, one important impact of the
“Life in the Cosmic Context” is that several students
who have attended the course have become actively
involved in science teaching and outreach, thus hav-
ing an important role in promoting the scientiﬁc lit-
eracy.
REFERENCES
Chyba, C.F., Hand, K., 2005. ARAA, 43, 31-74
Ernst, R., 2008. In Sommerville, M.A. and Rapport,
D.J. (Eds.), Transdisciplinarity: Recreating Inte-
grated Knowledge, 121-136. Oxford, UK: EOLSS
Publishers
Jaeger J., Scheringer M., 1998. GAIA, 7(1), 10-25
Kessel, F., Rosenﬁeld, P.L. 2008. Am. J. Prev. Med., 35,
S225-S234
Max-Neef, M.A., 2005. Ecological Economics, 53, 5-16
127


Life in the cosmic context: an astrobiology course as an experiment in transdisciplinarity

“Life in the Cosmic Context” (AGA0316) is
the astrobiology course offered by University
of S˜ao Paulo to undergraduate students of
science and humanities majors. The variety
of background of the population attending
AGA0316 and the broad scope of the addresssed
issues makes this course a laboratory
of transdisciplinarity

LIFE IN THE COSMIC CONTEXT. AN ASTROBIOLOGY COURSE AS AN EXPERIMENT IN TRANSDISCIPLINARITY

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