Student ideas about the phases of the Moon come from concepts that developed long
before any scientific instruction. How far back do these ideas go in terms of their permanence in
memory? Historically and anthropologically, the concepts about the Moon=s phases are old and
numerous. In Paul Katzeff=s book, A Moon Madness,@ he mentions several traditional beliefs
about the phases of the Moon. One such belief is the way a tribe of Australian aborigines
explained the waning Moon as a woman whose endless partying causes her to lose weight
(Katzeff, 1988). In our own culture, concepts about the Moon come from family members,
books, television, movies, etc.