In the novel,
Sophie’s World
by Jostein Gaarder, Sophie Amundsen, a fourteen year old Norwegian girl embarks on an incredible adventure of self discovery when she comes in contact with Alberto Knox, an unusual professor, who through the course of 400 pages, teaches her a 3,000 year history of western philosophy. Published in 1996,
Sophie’s World,
a number one best seller, chronicles the imagination, brilliance, theories and discoveries of such historical thinkers as Socrates, Aristotle, Descartes, Spinoza, Hume, Kant, Darwin and Hubble, among many others. Since the book is written as a discourse between professor and student, a few of its pedagogical sections will be used as a model for introducing key scientific concepts with regard to the curriculum unit. Hence, the first lesson will direct two questions to students, which are also the first two questions that Professor Knox asks of Sophie:
“Who are you?”
and
“Where did the world come from?”
Without any preamble to these questions other than to let students know that this is stream-of-consciousness writing and that they should jot down whatever pops into their heads, students will be instructed that they have fifteen minutes to draft their answers. Instrumental music will be played during this time (perhaps Beethoven’s Ninth, which was used at the beginning of the film,
2001, A Space Odyssey
might be appropriately inspiring). After this assignment, students will put their papers into their student folders (which will be used to file their paperwork, including handouts and written assignments); the folders will be collected and we will play a game called “Atom.”
Atom is played in an open space, which can be created by pushing chairs (and desks) aside, or weather permitting, going outside. The game begins with music (either played or sung by the teacher) and will be stopped intermittently throughout the game. As the music continues, students move around; walking, skipping, dancing, etc. The music is stopped and the teacher says, “Freeze.” Students then freeze their positions. The teacher calls out “Atom” and a number, e.g., “Atom Five.” Students try to gather together in groups of five. Any students left over from the groupings are out of the game, but can then help the teacher to call out numbers as the activity is repeated. The game ends when two students are left.
After the game, we will gather together in a circle (a typical setting for a theater class). Students will be asked “Why is Lego the most ingenious toy in the world?” (another question from
Sophie’s World
), which will lead to the introduction of Democritus, the Greek natural philosopher (c. 460-370 B.C.), who believed that everything in the world was made up of tiny immutable blocks that were invisible. Because Democritus considered such a block to be “uncuttable,” he called it an “atom,” which means the same thing. Democritus also believed that nature consisted of many kinds of atoms, and that each one had hooks and barbs (not so dissimilar to the Lego idea) so that it could join with others to make up all sorts of things from flower petals to human beings. Even though science has fine-tuned Democritus’ original idea of the atom—adding elemental particles such as protons, neutrons, electrons—we have yet to find the minimal part of all matter; that which is indivisible. However, his basic theory has held up remarkably considering that he thought of it in a time long before microscopes and the Discovery channel. Students will then be asked how this could be? How could someone living over 2,000 years ago without the benefit of modern technology come up with the idea of the atom? We will conclude this first class by discussing how each of us possesses the capacity for logic and reason, and that we will use this capacity to explore the answers to the first two questions asked in this curriculum:
“Who are you?”
and
“Where did the world come from?”