Monday 4 July 2011

How Science works - thinking like William Smith

Out latest ELI is 'William Smith - The Father of English Geology'. This acitivty encourages pupils to try to think like William Smith in order to answer a series of questions. Smith lived in the late 1700s at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the UK. When William Smith was reaching maturity, questions were being asked about the age of the Earth. Beliefs of the time were being challenged. Geology was established as a science at around this time, originally to enquire about the nature of the Earth before and after the Deluge, (Noah's Flood). It is remarkable that William Smith, a poorly-educated Oxfordshire labourer, working alone, managed to survey and record the rocks of England, Wales and part of southern Scotland so accurately, especially as he did most of his travelling by horse-drawn carriage. His original geological map looks very similar to a
modern geological map.
This is one of many activities your pupils can try when considering 'How Science works'.

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