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Listen & Learn: Carl Sagan

29th January 2025 by Jaksyn Peacock
Carl Sagan with Viking Lander
Carl Sagan with a Viking Lander (NASA)

Pre-listening vocabulary

  • astronomer: a scientist who studies space
  • habitable: able to support life
  • greenhouse effect: the process where certain gases in a planet’s atmosphere trap heat and cause high temperatures
  • probe: an unmanned spacecraft sent to collect information
  • advocate: to speak in support of a cause
  • disarmament: the act of reducing or removing weapons or military resources

Listening activity

Gapfill exercise

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer and science . He is widely known for his 1980 TV series Cosmos and book by the same name, which helped introduce astronomy concepts to everyday people. Sagan was very interested in the possibility of life. He studied the of other planets to find out if they were habitable. He was the first scientist to show that the high on Venus were because of a greenhouse effect. In the 1970s, Sagan led the project of putting together the Golden Records for NASA’s Voyager probes. Sagan and his team chose a series of images and sounds to represent life on Earth. Sagan was very concerned about the future of humanity. He advocated for nuclear disarmament, and his on Venus’s climate caused him to fear the effects of global climate change early in the 1960s.

Comprehension questions

See answers below

  1. Carl Sagan showed that the greenhouse effect was responsible for temperatures on
    a. Mercury
    b. Mars
    c. Venus
  2. Sagan advocated for
    a. nuclear advancement
    b. nuclear détente
    c. nuclear disarmament
  3. Sagan began to fear the effects of global climate change in
    a. the 1960s
    b. the 1970s
    c. the 1980s

Discussion/essay questions

  1. Do you think space exploration is important for the future of humanity? Why or why not?

Transcript

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer and science writer. He is widely known for his 1980 TV series Cosmos and book by the same name, which helped introduce astronomy concepts to everyday people. Sagan was very interested in the possibility of alien life. He studied the climates of other planets to find out if they were habitable. He was the first scientist to show that the high temperatures on Venus were because of a greenhouse effect. In the 1970s, Sagan led the project of putting together the Golden Records for NASA’s Voyager probes. Sagan and his team chose a series of images and sounds to represent life on Earth. Sagan was very concerned about the future of humanity. He advocated for nuclear disarmament, and his research on Venus’s climate caused him to fear the effects of global climate change early in the 1960s.

Answers to comprehension questions

1c 2c 3a

Listen&Learn: “Cosmos”

15th September 2021 by Jaksyn Peacock
Cosmos

Pre-listening vocabulary

  • cosmos: the entire universe
  • popular science: a genre of books that explain science in a simple, understandable way
  • host: to be the presenter of a TV show
  • astronomer: someone who studies space
  • documentary: a non-fiction, educational movie or TV series
  • remake: a new adaptation of an existing movie or TV show

Listening activity

Gapfill exercise

Cosmos is a popular science book written by astronomer Carl Sagan. The book was published in 1980, when Sagan was hosting a documentary with the same name. The of both the book and the series was to introduce the general to astronomy. The book has 13 , which match up with the 13 episodes of the documentary series. At the time, Sagan’s work caused many people to become interested in space and science. In 2014 —18 years after Sagan’s death— a remake of the original Cosmos series aired on TV. Though scientists’ understanding of the universe has grown since 1980, Cosmos is still one of the most famous scientific books ever published.

Comprehension questions

[wp_quiz id=”20597″]

Discussion/essay questions

  1. What are your beliefs about the universe? Do you think there is life on other planets?

Transcript

Cosmos is a popular science book written by astronomer Carl Sagan. The book was published in 1980, when Sagan was hosting a documentary series with the same name. The goal of both the book and the series was to introduce the general public to astronomy. The book has 13 chapters, which match up with the 13 episodes of the documentary series. At the time, Sagan’s work caused many people to become interested in understanding space and science. In 2014 —18 years after Sagan’s death— a remake of the original Cosmos series aired on TV. Though scientists’ understanding of the universe has grown since 1980, Cosmos is still one of the most famous scientific books ever published.