7.10 The Scientific Revolution
Media Guide
| Name | Type | Description |
The Matrix | DVD | I show the scene of Neo meeting with Morpheus to discuss whether or not the "truth" is worth knowing. This sets the theme that I use throughout the unit. The movie is rated R but the scene I show is G at worst. |
NOVA - Galileo's Battle for the Heavens | DVD | There isn't much out there in terms of interesting Galileo documentaries but this one isn't awful. I wouldn't show the whole thing by any means but there a couple worthwhile clips. |
Animaniacs Season 1: Fair Game | DVD | While this clip scores low on educational value I've found few other ways to make Newton interesting. This clip has the Warners playing a quiz game where they answer every question with "Isaac Newton" until, of course, a question about gravity is asked. |
Galileo and the Sinful Spyglass | DVD | Another good Galileo documentary. This is from the "Man, Moment, Machine" series from the History Channel and is very well done. Arguably usable in full and definitely usable in pieces. Good reenactments and some basic recreations of Galileo's experiments are a nice touch. |
| Great Scientists: Galileo | TV | Easily the most entertaining Galileo documentary out there but sadly not available on DVD in the U.S. I caught it on History Channel Classroom one day and have hoped for a DVD ever since. It is only about 25 minutes and is just plain fun to watch. If you can find this I highly recommended picking it up. If you are in the U.K. you can get the dvd as an entire series. |
Simpsons Season 10: They Saved Lisa's Brain | DVD | Probably not worth buying for this alone but if you already have it then there is a clip in this episode of Comic Book Guy pretending to be Copernicus proclaiming "Verily I declare that the Earth revolves around the Sun, and not t'other way round!" |
| Weird Science | Song | Soundtrack to the movie contains the Oingo Boingo song "Weird Science" which will easily find itself into your lecture notes at least once. |
Scientific Revolution Teacher's Guide
Lecture Notes
I. The Scientific Method
a. Covers some of the basic causes of the revolution and the introduction of the scientific method. A short discussion of the Christian church's role and position in this is also here.
b. Chapter Walkthrough
II. Galileo (and some other guys)
a. These notes really just tell the story of Galileo. Copernicus and Newton are mentioned in brief but Galileo's experiments and interactions with the church are the focus.
b.
Galileo: To Tell The Truth - This is a class play/mystery that is a variation on the old game show. In it students ask pre-written questions (they are available in the link above) to 3 panelists who then answer the questions (which are also in the link.) By listening carefully to the 3 panelists students should be able to figure out which is the "real" Galilleo by the end.