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Primary Newsletter 30 Late developers, classification & model lungs |
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The trivial pursuit of scientific curiosity How about a game of Trivial Pursuit® - Famous Scientists Special Edition? Answers below.
Q1 Who was described in his school report as ‘idle and inattentive’? It is difficult to understand why these great scientists were thought, at an early age, to be academically challenged. However, young Newton made sophisticated mechanical models, young Darwin collected and classified rocks and shells, Einstein was interested in numbers and Linnaeus was successfully gardening from the age of four. Were they all late developers? Did the school curriculum fail to inspire them? Einstein was asked later in life why his talking and reading were apparently undeveloped. He replied that he was busy working out what were the appropriate questions to ask! Stranger still is that the scientists were all male (why strange she asked?). Most research indicates that their female contemporaries were as likely to have been excellent scholars from a very early age. Is wee Jimmy sitting quietly at the back of the class our next Isaac Newton. Sir, take that apple away from the teacher and stot if aff his heid! Have you heard the one about the :-
Physics Teacher:
“Isaac Newton was sitting under a tree when an apple fell on his
head and he discovered gravity. Isn’t that wonderful?”
Student: “Yes sir, if he had been
sitting in class looking at books like us, he wouldn’t have discovered
anything.” The 5-14 Environmental Studies Guidelines are designed to offer a wide and interesting study of science and technology. They can, and mostly, they do. Lest teachers’ gardens were overgrown by a backbreaking of genetically modified new-initiative weeds, they might be allowed to cultivate the mind growth of our budding genii. Enough, enough, no more, as this Newsletter, at the request of a Primary teacher, takes another look at Plants and Animals. The relevant Attainment targets from Interactive Guidelines may be found on the ISE 5-14 website at LT-C1.3, LT-E1.2 & LT-E1.3
Carolus and his family lived in Vaxjo, Sweden; his father Nils was a local priest. Like many of the cloth, Nils was a devoted amateur botanist and gardener. His enthusiasm for plants was transmitted to the young Carolus, who became interested in botany and was given a corner of the garden to care for. In 1717, Carolus began school and his parents decided, like his father, that he become a priest. He was however, more interested in plants and nature such that, at school, he was nicknamed “little botanicus”. His teachers were not impressed by his abilities as they advised his father that he would not be capable of entering the priesthood. Indeed, his natural science teacher recommended that all he would be capable of studying would be medicine – strange but true. In the not so distant past, it seems the less academic but well connected were guided towards a career in medicine. Now they end up in SSERC! By 1753, Linnaeus devised a system for classifying plants and animals which grouped plants and animals using a two-part name (binomial). In his system, the first part of the name is the generic grouping or genus and the second is the specific grouping or species. The classification system currently used by modern scientists is based on this.
However, many more species have been discovered since 1753 and this means the
present classification system has necessarily become more complicated. Answers: 1 Isaac Newton, 2 Charles Darwin, 3 Alfred Einstein, 4 Carolus Linnaeus Lingua franca – universal language |
Who
better to start with than, the father of classification of plants and animals,
Carolus Linnaeus?
