New upper school elective takes interdisciplinary look at the impact of space observation and exploration

Picture this: a story truly epic in scale, delving into the past, present, and far into the future, while peering into the depths and mysteries of outer space and bridging the gap between humanities and science. Is this a teaser for a summer blockbuster or a class at Moses Brown School?

The latter! A new upper school class co-taught in the first semester did all of these things and more. The seed of the class concept started with humanities teacher Edward Henry, who did his master’s thesis on outer space law and is fascinated by space exploration, the history of the space race, and human engagement with outer space. He found a kindred spirit in science teacher Will Abisalih, and their journey began.

They were keen to explore how space observation, followed by actual exploration, has impacted humanity from a historical perspective. What are—or could be—the ethical, environmental, and social impacts? 

A class combining history and science was intriguing to both teachers. Edward wanted to look at outer space from a humanity perspective, “going all the way back to ancient astronomers gazing up at the stars, to modern day where we're actually talking about permanent human settlement beyond Earth.” Will was drawn in by the challenge of combining a humanities and science approach to space. They had to consider: how do we pair these two things together in a way that feels cohesive?

“We wanted the students to see that these two things were not happening separately in their own discrete silos,” said Will. “History and science are heavily impacted by one another. And that led to our structuring the course around scientific paradigms.”

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