we live in a ‘material’ world: cluster 2 themes & applications edub 2130
TRANSCRIPT
WE LIVE IN A ‘MATERIAL’ WORLD:CLUSTER 2 THEMES & APPLICATIONS
EDUB 2130
Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8
Cluster 0 Overall Skills and Attitudes
Overall Skills and Attitudes
Overall Skills and Attitudes
Overall Skills and Attitudes
Cluster 1 Maintaining a Healthy Body
Diversity of Living Things
Interactions Within Ecosystems
Cells and Systems
Cluster 2 Properties of and Changes in Substances
Flight Particle Theory of Matter
Optics
Cluster 3 Forces and Simple Machines
Electricity Forces and Structures
Fluids
Cluster 4 Weather The Solar System
Earth's Crust Water Systems
on Earth
Cluster 2: Material World Topics
Central Themes 1. Properties of Materials – characteristics –
descriptive or behavioral. What is this material like? 2. Uses of the material based upon its properties.
Knowing this, what is this material used for? 3. How the material changes – permanent or
temporary, chemical or physical. How & Why does this material change?
4. Issues associated with the material - environmental, social, technological. What are the issues associated with his material?
Gold is unreactive, aesthetically appealing, malleable and lustrous and for these reasons, it is used for capping teeth. It is quite useful and rare, thus its economic status and associated issues with mining, currency, and social conflict and exploitation.
Some Historical Themes and Applications
Early Greeks – again white males- first reference to the ‘particle’ – atomus/atoma – indivisible
400 BC (2400 years ago)! In Early Greek society there were several ‘schools of
thought’. One school being the ‘materialists’ – primary figure was
the mentor of the school - Leucippus – but given little recognition for his contributions
Materialists believed that things (phenomena) could be explained based upon evidence
From this school, the earliest thoughts about the atom as a particle originated
Reasoned explanation for natural phenomena based upon evidence
Had the potential to strongly influence the development of early science
Three Levels of Materialist (Scientist) Activity
The relationship between theory, evidence, and reasoning:
THEORY Development - Resolution ________________________________________
Processing of Evidence
Evidence Collected – Experiential Level
_______________________________________
Reasoning – Cognitive – Psychological Level
Where’s Leuicippus?
The banknotes and historical recognition are given to another guy, Democritus, rather than Leuicippus
The ‘materialist’ school was based in Athens Democritus was from northern Greece, like
Aristotle Had a privileged life – extrovert – the ‘laughing
Philosopher’ – favor because of Aristotle lnk Leuicippus although Democritus’ mentor, largely
overlooked – referred to as ‘shady’ – ‘shadowed’. Public recognition of science contributions of one
over the other primarily because of status and perception rather than sound credibility – not to discredit Ds efforts as he did systematize understanding of the ‘particle’
Fast Forward to the 1600s
The time of alchemy – making ‘kimia’ (gold) out of something that does not possess gold
Search for the ‘philosopher’s stone’ that would make this process a reality – what a diversion!
No significant exploration into the nature of the particle until the 1600s
Robert Boyle – another European! Controlled investigations focusing upon the
collection of evidence to support scientific reasoning
Worked primarily with air in confined containers – examples
Strong mathematical basis to his work – evidence to support theory
His Model for Explaining Pressure- Volume!
Materialists in Other Cultures?
The Town of Inuvik, 68º 21'N Longitude: 133º 43' W, was located on the east side of the Mackenzie River delta, 97 km south of the Beaufort Sea. It was approximately 75 miles distant from Aklavik. (Map courtesy of Multimap.com)
Hallway of Aklavik School
Rangifer tarandus
Inuvialuit & Gwichin of Northern NWT &Yukon
Recognized that the migration route of caribou was along corridors through the mountain valleys.
Observations of migratory assisted in preparing for the spring and autumn hunts.
Migration influenced by lichen abundance. One lichen today is called caribou ‘moss’ – Cladina rangiferina
Scores of lichens but not all consumed by caribou
Hard to distinguish between them by appearance
Evidence-Reasoning-Theory Lichens are very acidic – not consumable Cladina rangiferina not as acidic as other lichens Palatable for caribou Stomach contents eaten by Gwichin - dependent on
lichen contents – for good health – especially in ill health
Stomach contents of caribou with lichen used to alter colours of plants for dyes – dark to light colours
“soapberries” used to alter colour of plants - especially flowers - for dyes- light to dark colours
Also used as a soup thickener & mild fermenting agent Note uses of the lichen based upon its properties
A variety of bioactive compounds have been isolated and identified from
C. rangiferina, including abietane, labdane, isopimarane, the abietane
hanagokenols A and B, ontuanhydride, sugiol, 5,6-
dehydrosugiol, montbretol, cis-communic acid, imbricatolic acid, 15-
acetylimbricatoloic acid, junicedric acid, 7α-hydroxysandaracopimaric
acid, β-resorylic acid, atronol, barbatic acid, homosekikaic acid, didymic
acid and condidymic acid. …Some of these compounds have mild
inhibitory activities against microbial action and are mildly depressant in
fermented state.Nybakken L, Julkunen-Tiito R. (2006). UV-B induces usnic acid in reindeer lichens. Lichenologist 38(5): 477-485.
Closing Thoughts
Our students learn science from one perspective only, not realizing that the evidence-theory connection of all science is evident in the thoughtful and purposeful thinking of all cultures.
Science must be presented in a manner that honors the thoughtful reasoning evident in all peoples. This is just not affirming the cultural diversity of the marginalized, but also helping the dominant culture to realize that other cultures are equally able to reason.Adapted from Prof. Elizabeth McKinley University of Auckland