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The History of US

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Lesson Plans for The Story of Science


Aristotle Leads the Way Johns Hopkins University has developed Teacher and Student Quest Guides for Aristotle Leads the Way. Click here to view a sample. You'll find classroom activities, homework suggestions, multidisciplinary links, and directed reading.


Johns Hopkins University has developed Teacher and Student Quest Guides for Newton at the Center. Click here to view a sample. You'll find classroom activities, homework suggestions, multidisciplinary links, and directed reading.


Teacher TipsTeacher Tips

-View tip for Aristotle Leads the Way, Chapter 16 Euclid in His Elements




Name: Kathi Kearney

School information: Noble VI School, Berwick ,ME (Noble VI is a single-grade, 6 th grade center)


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 Which book is the Lesson Plan/Teaching Tip for?

 Aristotle Leads the Way

 What section/topic in the text is your lesson/tip about?

Chapter 16, “Euclid in His Elements”

Type in any comments/Teaching Tips here:

 I teach gifted 6 th grade students, and last year in the History of Science class I had a number of advanced math students, including several who were completing high school Algebra I or Algebra II. After reading and discussing the chapter and some of Euclid ’s contributions, I decided that it would be good for all the students to actually try reading some of Euclid ’s “Elements” themselves. While searching online for a good reading copy (in translation), I came across a website that not only has the text of “Elements” but includes a variety of very interesting manipulatable java applets to explore “Elements” in more detail:

http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/elements.html

 I explained to the students that I didn’t expect them to understand everything, as they had not had even a high school level course in Geometry and most students did not try tackling “Elements” until college level (if at all), and that I knew the reading level would be very high, but that I wanted them to just try reading and exploring a little bit of the site so that they could become familiar with how “Elements” had originally been written (of course, this was an English translation). I asked them to try out the java applets that accompany this particular online version to illustrate Euclid ’s postulates, common notions, and propositions.

 We used the computer lab so that each student had individual access to the site (although the Algebra I and Algebra II students preferred to work in pairs).

 Not only were students very engaged by this activity but they asked to spend a second class session continuing to read and explore “Elements” on this website!

 It was amazing to watch students access and be excited about reading and exploring Euclid ’s ancient words, combined with their use of the distinct 21 st -century manipulatable java applets to illustrate his work!
Aristotle Leads the Way Johns Hopkins University has developed the Teacher Guide and Resource Book for A History of US.


Click here to view a sample from:

Book One: The First Americans
Book Two: Making Thirteen Colonies

Book Six: War, Terrible War
FAQs

FAQs

Q: Do you see your series replacing traditional textbooks or being used in conjunction with these textbooks?

Q: What age group constitutes your target audience? What ages are you writing for most?

Q: I've always used a traditional textbook, why should I switch?

Q: Are there any errors in the books?

Q: Do you see your series replacing traditional textbooks or being used in conjunction with these textbooks?

A: I wrote them as a new kind of text; an anti-textbook - to replace those ponderous tomes that no one reads willingly, but they can also be used as a supplement. The ten small volumes gives this series great flexibility.

Q: What age group constitutes your target audience? What ages are you writing for most?

A: Good writing is never age-specific. I seem to get a lot of mail from readers and some has come from eight-year-olds (bright) and I've had more than one letter from an octogenarian. Storytelling has a broad appeal. A History of US is being used in many elementary and middle schools and in a few college courses.  The Story of Science is used in middle and high schools as well as in a few colleges.

Teachers often deal with 20-30 students in a classroom, each of whom may be at a different reading level. I'm told these are high-interest books that keep kids reading. It's the teaching materials and the expectations that vary with ages.

Q: I've always used a traditional textbook, why should I switch?

A: The standard textbook has failed our students. Almost no one reads them willingly. They're usually massive and backbreaking in format, and dull in content. I wrote A History of US to attempt to break that non-reading book mold. Think of the standard textbook as a reference book. It can be useful on the teacher's desk, but it has kept our children from reading. In this Information Age we need to encourage literacy, question-asking, and critical thinking. Textbooks don't do that.

Q: Are there any errors in the books?

A. Graciously, several readers have alerted me to errors or discrepancies in The Story of Science , Book 1. I invite readers to contact me if they see something they believe to be an error and sincerely thank those who have contacted me. If you are reading or teaching with the first printing of Aristotle Leads the Way you need to know that on page 83, the correct area of the square is 1 (not 2). On page 180 the 30-60-90 triangle is incorrectly labeled. The hypotenuse should be 2. And, on page 221, each person ends up with 262 monetary units of animals (not 168, which is the total of animals). These errors have been corrected in the second printing.
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