In this role-play students take on the roles of scientists attending a symposium in the late 1920's. They discuss the feasibility of continental drift using evidence available in the 1920's. Each group presents the results of its research.
ENGAGEMENT
Day One
The teacher sets the scene. The year is 1926, and you are Alfred Wegener, and ham it up with costume and phony German accent. Since the publication of your book in 1924, scientists have been looking for evidence that might support or contradict his idea. Eight groups from all over the world are meeting to present the results of their research and to discuss continental drift. The spokesperson for each group is a leading scientist, but he or she is accompanied by research assistants who helped with much of the work.
It may be helpful to prepare a folder of resources in advance to give to each
group. This contains
- A copy of the briefing sheet with a presentation note-taking sheet on the reverse.
- The appropriate role card:
- Overhead projector transparencies- you can prepare these for the students, or give them overhead pens and have them make their own.
- Props and dramatic suggestions for the group leaders (such as tie, hat, scarf, shawl, Geiger counter, rocks, use of accents, etc.). Sometimes students like to really run with this, and other groups can barely get up in front of their peers. It's important to help students with presentation skills - keeping their heads up (focus on a point beyond their peers if nervous), voice projection, etc.
EXPLORATION
Allow students time to prepare their presentation. This time may be spent making reading their briefing sheets, transparencies, gathering props, making lists of what will be said, researching their country in an Encyclopedia or on the suggested web sites, decorating folders, etc.
Day Two
During role-play, students are typically asked to take on a relevant role and then to prepare and prsent an argument relevant to a particular issue. Remind students to use their knowledge and understanding of the science that is relevant to the particular issue so that their arguments will be meaningful. Give suggestions on working collaboratively to develop an argument, clarity of presentation, respect for the views of others, etc.
When the symposium begins, each group in turn describes the research it has done and the results of its work. Allow about 20 minutes for this. Some presentations will be very short, others will take longer. Allow students to ask questions if more explanation of a particular topic is needed, but make sure they do not begin the discussion of Continental Drift until all the papers have been read.
Assign the most mature and consciencious student as presider of the symposium - take on the role of Dr. Wegener yourself and have the presider introduce you and then you are the last presenter, tying together the evidence into one solid theory of Continental Drift.
In the second part of the symposium, evidence for and against the two theories is weighted in the light of what students have just heard. They must, in their roles as scientists, decide whether the theory of Continental Drift is a feasible one. By 1926 there was plenty of evidence that continents were once joined together; what was lacking was sufficient information about the mechanism by which they might have drifted apart.
In reality, the theory was not widely popular. However, allow students to come to their own conclusions. If the debate lasts about 10 minutes, there should be time at the end of the lesson to hand out abstracts from the syposium. These provide a record of the proceedings and, for the students, give a useful summary of the evidence.
Day Three
EXPLANATION
The Review Sheet (with abstracts on the reverse) recounts the story of what happened at the real symposium in New York in 1926. It explains why the theory of Continental Drift was virtually forgotten for many years, even though the evidence for the existence of one "super-continent" was so strong. The second theme in the Student Sheet is that of the nature of scientific discovery, and the ways in which scientists communicate their findings to one another.
ELABORATION
Students are asked to write a conclusion to their own symposium and to compare it with that arrived at by the geologists in 1926. They can then list ways in which scientists gather information.
EVALUATION:
Answers to questions on Review Sheet:
1. The answer will depend on the result of the students' own symposium.
2. The Continental Drift theory was dismissed largely because scientists could not explain how the continents could have moved apart.
3. Wegener was a meteorologist and, as such, may not have been taken as seriously as if he had been a geologist.
4. From the Student sheet it can be concluded that scientists gather information by doing experiments, making observations and measurements, reading the results of other research in scientific journals, and talking with other scientists at conferences.