http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20020925wednesday.html?searchpv=learning_lessons
Beauty in the Eye of the
Scientist
Viewing Scientific Discoveries in a Historical Context
Author(s)
Deborah Lerman,
The New York Times Learning Network
Javaid Khan,
The Bank Street College of Education in New York City
Grades: 6-8,
9-12
Subjects: Global
History, Science
Interdisciplinary
Connections
Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students
research "science's 10 most beautiful experiments" and the historical
periods in which these experiments were conducted. Then, students create magazine
covers for issues of a fictional magazine, "The Year In History,"
using article titles to highlight the historical events from the various time
periods.
Review the Academic
Content Standards related to this lesson.
Suggested Time Allowance: 1 hour
Objectives:
Students will:
1. Identify important scientific discoveries throughout history; speculate
about how these discoveries have influenced history.
2. Learn about a recent list of the most beautiful scientific experiments in
history by reading and discussing "Here They Are, Science's 10 Most
Beautiful Experiments."
3. Research the historical periods during which these 10 experiments were
conducted.
4. Create magazine covers for the fictional magazine, "This Year In
History," using article titles to highlight the other notable events of
the time periods during which the scientific discoveries were made.
Resources / Materials:
-student journals
-pens/pencils
-paper
-classroom blackboard
-copies of "Here They Are, Science's 10 Most Beautiful Experiments"
(one per student)
-resources for researching scientific discoveries and other historical events
from the third century B.C. to the present (global history and science
textbooks, library references, computers with Internet access)
Activities / Procedures:
1. WARM-UP/DO-NOW: In their journals, students respond to the following prompt
(written on the board prior to class): "What do you think is the most
important scientific discovery of all time?" After a few minutes, ask
students to share their responses. Write some of the student responses on the
board and add further details about the discoveries while you discuss each
example. Who were the scientists who made these discoveries? How were these
discoveries made? How were these discoveries initially received? How are these
discoveries viewed today?
2. As a class, read and discuss the first four paragraphs of the article
"Here They Are, Science's 10 Most Beautiful Experiments," focusing on
the following questions:
a. According to the article, what is often true about the scientific
experiments that grab the attention of the world?
b. Who chose the experiments that are described in this article?
c. What is true about most of the experiments described in this article?
d. What is "beauty," as it applies to scientific experiments
described in this article?
**Students will be assigned to read different sections of the remainder of the article in small groups.
3. Divide students into ten groups or pairs. Assign each group one of the ten experiments included in the article to read. Explain that students will be researching the historical period in which their assigned experiment took place and how the discovery has influenced history since that time.
Using all available resources, each group should answer the following
questions through their research (written on the board for easier student
access):
--In what time period did this experiment take place?
--What other notable historical events took place during this time period?
--What was happening in the arts (literature, music, visual arts, performance
arts) during this time period?
--How was this discovery initially received during this time period?
--How was society's reaction to this discovery related to other cultural or
political trends that existed during the time period?
--How has this discovery influenced subsequent periods in history?
**Since students may have difficulty finding the exact years for the earlier discoveries, they may wish to expand their research to the entire decade, or even century, in which the discovery was made.
4. WRAP-UP/HOMEWORK: Each student designs a magazine cover featuring their group's assigned discovery for an issue of a fictional magazine entitled "This Year In History." Each cover should contain a graphic representation of that year's scientific experiment and titles of other feature articles about important historical events that would also be contained in that issue.
Further Questions for Discussion:
--Why do you think the author of this article chose to present the experiments
in chronological order, rather than in the original order in which the
physicists ranked them?
--How is the scientists' definition of beauty different from the definition of
beauty used to describe people? Art? Music?
--Why do you think the scientists ranked Young's double-slit experiment number
one?
--What technological limitations did the earlier scientists face, and how might
that have impacted the scope of their experiment?
Evaluation / Assessment:
Students will be evaluated based on initial journal entries, participation in
class and group discussions, thoughtful participation in-group research, and
individual magazine covers.
Vocabulary:
genome, torrents, grappling, slide rule, epitomize, elusive, inevitable,
ambiguity, quantum, cumulative, enterprise, chronologically, annotated,
solstice, hovers, deviating, constitute, impudent, arbiter, inclined, velocity,
traversed, decomposition, aberrations, gradations
Extension Activities:
1. Select one experiment described in the article and write an analysis of how
the discovery changed our understanding of the natural world. What accepted
knowledge did the findings challenge? What possibilities for further
discoveries were opened up by the findings?
2. Write a full article that might appear in your magazine, detailing the events of the period. Your article might include a full account of a particular historical event, an interview with a notable person, an explanation of the scientific experiment or innovation, or a review of a book or piece of artwork from the period.
3. Research the life of one of the scientists from the article. Then write an acceptance speech that might be given by that scientist at an awards ceremony for the "Most Beautiful Scientific Experiments." Include details from that scientist's life, whom he might thank for supporting and mentoring him during his work, and how he might have developed his ideas.
4. Create an advertisement, crossword puzzle, reader quiz, or another piece for your magazine.
5. Make a science video designed for younger students that explains or demonstrates one of the experiments described in the article.
Interdisciplinary Connections:
Current Events: Select a recent scientific experiment that you have read about
in the news. Write a letter to Robert P. Crease of the State University of New
York at Stony Brook, persuading him to include the experiment in his list of
great scientific experiments.
Fine Arts: Create a piece of artwork (music or visual arts) in the style of the period of one of the historical experiments.
Health: Create your own list of the "10 Greatest Discoveries or Inventions in the Field of Medicine." For each item on your list, include a brief description and a note about why you believe it to be important.
Mathematics: Write a geometric proof of Eratosthenes' estimate of the Earth's circumference.
Technology: Make a model of a technological innovation that was made possible as a result of a scientific discovery made in one of the experiments described in the article.
Other Information on the Web
For the most current science news, visit NYTimes.com's science section (http://www.nytimes.com/science)
Academic Content Standards:
This
lesson plan may be used to address the academic standards listed below. These
standards are drawn from Content
Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education: 2nd
Edition and have been provided courtesy of the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning
in Aurora, Colorado.
In addition, this lesson plan may
be used to address the academic standards of a specific state. Links are
provided where available from each McREL standard to the Achieve website containing state standards
for over 40 states. The state standards are from Achieve's
National Standards Clearinghouse and have been provided courtesy of
Achieve, Inc. in
Grades 6-8
Science Standard 16- Understands the scientific enterprise. Benchmarks: Knows
that people of all backgrounds and with diverse interests, talents, qualities,
and motivations engage in fields of science and engineering- some of these
people work in teams and others work alone, but all communicate extensively
with others; Knows that the work of science requires a variety of human
abilities, qualities, and habits of mind; Knows various settings in which
scientists and engineers may work; Knows ways in which science and society
influence one another
Connect to State
Standard
Historical Understanding Standard 2- Understands the historical perspective.
Benchmarks: Understands that specific individuals and the values those
individuals held had an impact on history; Analyzes the influence specific
ideas and beliefs had on a period of history; Analyzes the effects specific
decisions had on history
Connect to State
Standard
Grades 9-12
Science Standard 16- Understands the scientific enterprise. Benchmarks: Knows
that throughout history, diverse cultures have developed scientific ideas and
solved human problems through technology; Understands that individuals and
teams contribute to science and engineering at different levels of complexity;
Understands that science involves different types of work in many different
disciplines; Knows that creativity, imagination, and a good knowledge base are
all required in the work of science and engineering
Connect to State
Standard
Historical Understanding Standard 2- Understands the historical perspective.
Benchmarks: Analyzes the values held by specific people who influenced history
and the role their values played in influencing history; Analyzes the
influences specific ideas and beliefs had on a period of history and specifies
how events might have been different in the absence of those ideas and beliefs;
Analyzes the effects specific decisions had on history and studies how things
might have been different in the absence of those decisions; Understands that
the consequences of human intentions are influenced by the means of carrying
them out