3.2 - Ways of Knowing: Stars & Elements

Lesson Purpose

In the explosions of dying stars, all of the naturally occurring chemical elements of the Universe were formed. Yet we are still learning new things each day about these elements: their physical properties, potential uses, and hazards associated with them. Early scientists used simple techniques to explore chemistry, but made important realisations that shape science even today.

The outcomes of this lesson are: 1.) To describe the structure of the periodic table of elements; 2.) To explain how the formation of stars and the emergence of elements are related to your immediate surroundings (your classroom, your community, the geographic region you live in)

Activity 1 - DQ Notebook

Activity Objectives
At the start of the unit, you looked at the driving question for the unit without much to go on. Now that the class has seen a couple of lessons, you will revisit the driving question. This time, you will cite specific passages and evidence from the content in the unit that provide insights into answering the driving question.

Activity Tasks

Look back at the Driving Question worksheet: How can looking at the same information from different perspectives pave the way for progress?
In the middle column for Lesson 3.2, write down any quotes or evidence that you have come across in the previous lessons that provide new insights for this question.
Finally, complete the last column by describing how this new information has impacted on your thinking about the driving question.

Activity 2 - Ways of Knowing: Intro to Chemistry

Activity Objectives
In this short introduction to chemistry, Professor Anne McNeil describes the basic topics and tools in the field of chemistry. This video is designed to provide a view into the field of chemistry and the types of questions a chemist might ask.

Activity Tasks

Watch the video and try to answer the following questions:
1. 1:12 What do chemists mean by structure and composition of a compound?
2. 1:54 What is an example of how understanding the structure of a molecule can help us understand its properties?
3. 3:40 What is an example of how chemistry is central to other scientific disciplines?

Chemistry is used across an amazingly diverse set of disciplines. It helps us to understand the underlying mechanics of many phenomena. As we move on in this course, many of the issues and questions will have chemistry at its source, or at least playing an influential role.

Activity 3 - What do you Know? What do you Ask?

Activity Objectives
This activity asks you to decide what kinds of questions scholars from different disciplines might ask about an object or a significant event. The goal is to help you solidify your understanding of the different disciplines, but more important, to move you towards thinking in an interdisciplinary fashion.

Activity Tasks

Download and complete this worksheet. You need to think of an object or event. You need to think of three disciplines that would help you know more about that object or event. What would they know or want to know about that event or object?
Discuss - what teams did you come up with? Why are your teams the best? What would your team know and ask?
Discuss - why is understanding of that event or object as an interdisciplinary team better than doing it from an individual perspective?

Activity 4 - Crash Course Chemistry: Periodic Table of Elements

Activity Objectives
Chemistry plays an important role in Big History. The elements born in the death of stars are what connect our world today to the stars, their death, and the birth of the Universe. This video provides a brief introduction to how chemists structure the elements and the story behind the periodic table of elements.

Activity Tasks

Watch the video and try to answer the following questions:
1. 3:22 What does it mean that a table is periodic?
2. 6:40 Why are each of these sections important?
3. 9:45 Why does Hank wrap the table around in a cylinder like that?
4. Can you think of other examples of situations where you or famous people have looked at a problem in new ways to come up with different answers?

Prior to the invention of the periodic table, we knew a lot about individual elements, but we didn’t know how they were connected. The inspiration for this table was the simple card game of solitaire. By taking the information we had about these elements and sorting them in new ways, Mendeleev unlocked some of the most important insights in chemistry

Activity 5 - 'Dimitri Mendeleev: Building the Periodic Table'

Mendeleev is one of the most famous chemists in history. Building on a few simple insights, he was able to not only create the periodic table of elements but he was able to make predictions about elements that had not even been discovered yet.

Activity Objectives
While unquestionably brilliant, Mendeleev provides us with an important reminder that sometimes our most powerful insights come from simple sources. In thinking about the structure of atoms, Mendeleev looked at the simple game of solitaire to find a way to organize what is today the periodic table of elements.

Activity Tasks

Download and read this article on 'Dimitri Mendeleev' and answer the following questions:
1. Prior to the Mendeleev, how were elements categorized?
2. What was the inspiration for the periodic table? What was the connection between that inspiration and what became the periodic table of elements?
3. Why is the table called a “periodic” table?
4. What are some of the similarities and differences between chemical elements in different parts of the periodic table?

Activity 6 - 'Marie Curie: Chemistry, Physics, and Radioactivity'

Activity Objectives
The story of Marie Curie is important because of the amazing discoveries she made and the high price she paid to make them. Marie Curie is one of the most important researchers of modern science. She was the first person to win two Nobel prizes. Her achievements are remarkable, but they came at a tremendous cost: Her exposure to radium, the subject of much of her research, eventually resulted in her contracting leukemia, a form of cancer. Her experience highlights the reality that we are learning about the physical properties of chemical elements and compounds every day.

Activity Tasks

Download and read this article on 'Marie Curie' and answer the following question:
1. What are x-rays?
2. How did Marie Curie know to look for radium?
3. What is a “half-life”?
4. Why do you think radium glows at night?
5. What are some of the key differences between the experience of Marie Curie and other scientists? Did her experience help or hinder her progress?

Marie Curie is one of the only people in history to win the Nobel Prize twice. Her work led to tremendous insights in the structure and nature of atoms. Yet, her dedication also led directly to her illness and eventual death.

Activity 7 - Timelines and Periodization

Activity Objectives
This activity will allow you to continue to explore timelines as analytical tools that help us understand the past. In particular, this activity aims to get you thinking about periodization and how that relates to scientific revolutions.

Activity Tasks

Split into two groups and read these instructions. Each group should research and create a timeline on the whiteboards which represents a certain aspect of the development of music. Choose from: changes in sounds; genres of music; development of instruments; or music and technology.
Place each event or development within a particular time period on your timeline.
Name each time period (be creative!).
You have just completed the process of 'periodization'. Periodization is the: dividing of history into distinct and identifiable periods.
1. What other examples of periodization can you think of?
2. What are two reasons why you think periodization is helpful when creating timelines?
3. What are two reasons why you think periodization might be misleading when creating timelines?
4. What patterns do you notice when looking at your timeline?

Investigation 3 - How can looking at the same information from different perspectives pave the way for progress?

Investigation Objectives
This investigation asks you use the documents in the Investigation Library to develop an explanation for how new points of view pave the way for progress. We have provided you with a graphic organizer that you can use to trace a path from Lavoisier to the present. Feel free to explore other influences that are not accounted for in the Investigation Library to create your path. Your teacher might ask you to use your graphic organizer, your notes, and the documents in the Investigation Library to write a four- to five-paragraph essay.

Investigation Tasks

You will write a 4-5 paragraph essay on the question: 'How can looking at the same information from different perspectives pave the way for progress?', using new ideas in chemistry as your case studies.
Download and read these instructions and sources. Use the research table on page 5 to record your research as you read through the seven texts.
Read the writing mark scheme on this page to see how your essay could be improved and what mark you think you have achieved. Don't forget to do the following:
1. Use big history ideas and content
2. Refer to the sources from which you're getting your information
3. Write a thesis statement in the introduction that sums up your explanation
4. Support your thinking with logic and evidence
5. Write a concluding paragraph to close your argument

Challenge Yourself! - Optional Activities

1. ASAP Science lists all 118 elements in this fun (and nerdy) song.
2. Dmitri Mendeleev has a crater on the Moon and an element—mendelevium—named after him.
3. Mendeleev devised the original, standard layout for the periodic table that we still use today. See other ways the periodic table has been reimagined.

TAKE THE QUIZ!

3.2 - WAYS OF KNOWING: STARS AND ELEMENTS