Meet the Scientist

Introduction: Please meet one of my favorite scientists.

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(TEXT) Q. Where do you live? How old is your home? Where do peoples of the world live? As a people, where is our home?

A. We live in a house or an apartment. We call it “home”. This home is in a town or a city. This town or the city is in a county. This county is in a state or province. That state or province is in a country. That country is on a continent. Where is that continent? How many continents are there? Where are all the continents? These are a few simple questions, but for 8 year old student they are significant, because they help the child to start learning about his/her world, and begin to make a connection with its environment.

I want you to meet a brilliant man, an astronomer and science writer. He wrote and said some very interesting things about our world and human behavior.

• Once he said: “We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.” Think about it.

What does he mean by that? I learned this a long time ago, but I am amazed at the beauty of this idea that still lives on. For us to learn better, and understand our world and ourselves better, we need to be brave to ask questions. Then listen to the response, and evaluate the depth of the answer. We must have the courage to ask questions. Ask questions about what we do not know. Ask about what we doubt. Ask questions, even, about what we may think we know. [I thought to know many things in my youth and I was so sure about what I knew. I find deeper and more acceptable answers to them as I am gaining more experience in this "Information Age". As we learn more, we grow and mature. As we grow we need to learn more. Learning never ends.]  

Here is the man: His name is Carl Edward Sagan. 

He lived from (9 November 1934 – 20 December 1996). He was an American astronomer and popular science writer. He wrote a lot about science.  You can learn more about him and his ideas at: Link and his TV show "Cosmos" http://www.hulu.com/#!cosmos Links to an external site..

1. Make notes of new vocabulary words in this lesson;

2. Make sentences with 5 words of your choice from the list;

3. Write abour your thoughts on the role of science in our lives?(5 points)

4. And submit all 3 to next lesson as an attachment. (5 points)