Урок "Еврика! Нові наукові відкриття 20-го століття"

Розробка уроку за темою

                        New Frontiers.Eureka! Landmarks of Science in the 20-th century

                                                                                                             Level B 1

учитель англійської мови гімназії №267 з поглибленим вивченням іноземних мов м. Києва

Кузнєцова Галина Іванівна

Objectives:

• to practice using Key Words (Science) in different activities;
• to develop reading and speaking skills on the base of tasks

      to some short thematic  texts;

• to teach pupils to express their own opinion and to develop the abilities

to summarize the content of the given texts;

• to develop skills to work in pairs and in groups;
• to broaden pupils’ outlook and knowledge about famous scientists and 

      their discoveries.

Resources:  teaching cards with words, texts, additional texts with new scientific discoveries,

                    slide show (presentation of the lesson)

Interactive technologies:  pair work, group work, “merry-go-round”, microphone,

                                         press - conference (interview)

Procedure of the lesson

1. The beginning of the lesson

Teacher: Nice to meet you at the English lesson. It’s high time we started working. By the way, I’d like to know how you are feeling today. Are you happy / nervous / frustrated / confused etc?

In a chain ask each other questions about how you are feeling at today’s lesson of English.

Examples:

• Are you frightened? - A little bit. In some days we’re having a Module Test.
• Are you happy? - Surely. I’m going to have a great time and a good rest at the weekend.
• Are you exhausted? - Not at all. I’m full of energy.
• Are you confident? - Certainly. I’ve revised both Vocabulary and Grammar carefully for the lesson and have nothing to worry about.
• Are you confused? - To some extent. I suggested that we have Grammar lesson today. That’s why I haven’t taken my Students’ book with me.
• Are you hopeful? - To a great extent. I hope I will pass my Maths and Physics exams.

2. Warming- Up

Teacher’s questions:  1)What is the name of the module we are dealing with?

                                   Pupils:  New Frontiers.

                    2) What does the word “frontier” mean?

Pupils give the definition of the word.

Slide 2

 Frontier   n C   1) especially BrE  the border of a country (between / with)

2) the frontier – an area where people have never lived before that is not much known about, especially in the western US before the 20-th century

 3) the frontiers of knowledge / physics, biology etc,

     the limits of what is known about something

         push back the frontiers  = discover new things

   frontier town

Slide 3

3) What frontiers will we touch upon? – The frontiers of knowledge

Teacher: Quite right! We’ll speak about the frontiers of knowledge of science and scientific

                discoveries. What fields of science do these objects present / refer to / concern?

Pupils:  physics, biology, information technology and astronomy / astrology.

3. Vocabulary Practice

     Teacher: At the previous lesson you got acquainted with thematic Vocabulary.

 Let’s revise the Key words.

Phonetic and pronunciation drills. Pupil1, Pupil 2, Pupil 3 are in the role of trainers

Slide 4

Pair work: divide all the given words into 4 groups of science: biology, physics, astrology, IT.

Read the words belonging to each group. Let’s check if you are right.

Teacher’s question: Do you know the definition of these words?

Pupils are giving the definitions using the technology “Merry-go-round”.

Slide 5

Match the words with their meaning.

Teacher: Today we’re going to read and discuss some interesting information about scientific discoveries and inventions in § 17 of our Students’ Book,(New Opportunities Upper-Intermediate) which is called “Eureka!” (SB p.54)

Question: Do you know the meaning of the word?

Slide 6

Eureka is an interjection used to show how happy you are that you have discovered the answer to a problem, found something etc.

By the way, are you aware of the origin of the word? One of the pupils has prepared an interesting information for you.

Pupil: ‘Eureka’ has its origin in Greek and is taken from the word heurēka. This expression is supposed to be exclaimed by Archimedes when he discovered the way to measure the volume of an object with an irregular shape.

This method of Archimedes was then used to find out the purity of gold objects. The exclamation Eureka!  means “I have found (it)”. ‘Eureka’ is used to show an answer to a problem or to indicate triumph of finding or discovering something.

Teacher: What are your predictions about the information we’ll work out?  - Pupils are trying to give their guesses.

Teacher: In what situations is it possible to exclaim “Eureka”?

Examples: Suppose I lost my mobile phone / the number of my close friend’ telephone /

 the recipe of the cake / the task for the project / a note-book / a walkman etc and then I found it, I would exclaim “Eureka!”

 What synonyms would you give to this word? – I have discovered…/ invented / solved the problem / managed to do / I’ve succeeded / I have found the solution.

4. Reading

We’re going to read and discuss the texts about landmarks of science in the 20-th century.

Landmark – one of the most important events, changes or discoveries that influence somebody

                    or something.

Slide 7

Have a look at the photos. Do you know any of these scientists? They are: Albert Einstein, Alexander Fleming, Edwin Hubble, Presper Eckert – an engineer and William Mauchly – a physicist, the creators of the first programmable computer and James Watson and Francis Crick  - the explorers of DNA molecule.

Pre-reading task: SB p.54, ex.1

While Reading  - you are working in groups of three.

 Group 1:  Read the texts # 1, 2, 3!

 Group 2 – texts 2, 3, 5

 Group 3 – texts 1, 4, 5

Tasks: 1) Everybody in the group chooses one text. Read the text!

           2) Underline the key sentence and the key words!

Slides 8 - 12

           3) Read the key words in each text!

           4) Write down notes of the main points and the key information!

           5) Work in your group. Use the notes to tell each other about your landmark of science.

           6) Use the information you have collected to write a paragraph about the role of the

               scientific discoveries. Begin like this …

So, what are the main scientific discoveries / landmarks / inventions / breakthroughs of the 20-th century? What is their role in the development of the world? What is the influence of all these far-reaching findings on the Universe?

First of all, …

Secondly, thirdly, the next point, finally

All things considered, we’d like to say that …

To sum up, we’d like to pay everybody’s attention to …

In conclusion, we’d like to stress that …

5. Speaking.   Discussing technology

Teacher: Well done! You are now well informed about the major scientific discoveries

in the 20-th century. I’d like you to make the conclusion in the form of an interview. (SB p.55, ex.7)

The Interview

The participants: the presenter, the experts in science, journalists

Presenter: Good-morning and welcome to the interview with the experts in different

                 fields of science. The subject of today’s interview is connected with the inventions

                and discoveries of the 20-th century, their role in the development of the world,

                 their influence on the Universe.

So, let’s start! Your questions, please!

1-st journalist:  Journal “Universe” My question is: Which of the discoveries mentioned has been

                       the most important so far? Why?

Expert 1: Well, the question is interesting, the answer is quite easy, because personally I

                consider …

Presenter:  Right. The next question, please. Yes.

2-nd journalist:   the newspaper “Weekly News” An important question is: Which discovery will

                          have the most important consequences in the future? Why?

Expert 2:  Well. That’s a very big question. I mean that …

Presenter:  OK. Right. Next question, please. Yes. That journalist in the back row.

3-rd journalist:  I present the newspaper “Personal Life” The question is: Which of the scientists

                        do you admire most? Why?

Expert 1:  You see, I can’t but say about …

Expert 2:  I’d like to add …

Presenter:  We go on. Be active. Your next question, please.

4-th journalist: journal “Discoveries” I’d like to know which of the discoveries is the most

                        difficult to understand.

Expert 1:  For me …

Presenter:  I think you’ve managed to get answers to all the questions you are interested in.

                Thanks a lot for the participation.

Expert:   I’d like to know if you are ready to tell more news and facts about any other important

             inventions in the 20-th century.

Slides 13 – 16           Pupil 1:  Surely. I’d like to inform about  Xerox

Chester Carlson and Xerography

The xerographic process, which was invented by an American law student Chester Carlson in 1938 and developed and commercialized by the Xerox Corporation, is widely used to produce high-quality text and graphic images on paper. Carlson invented a copying process based on electrostatic energy. Xerography became commercially available in 1950 by the Xerox Corporation. Xerox comes from the Greek for ‘dry writing’

 Pupil 2:  I’d like to share information about the Microsoft

 It’s hard to believe that the first personal computer was developed less than 20 years ago. The software for that machine – the language that allows us to tell the computer what we want it to do – was developed by William Gates.

Bill was born in 1995 in Seattle. He became interested in computers when he was 13 years old. Bill attended Harvard University. There he began to develop the computer language called Basic. Later William returned to Seattle where he established the Microsoft Company in 1975. It employed only 3 workers at first. Microsoft developed software for established American companies like General Electric, City Bank and international Business Machines Company, known as IBM. In 1981 IBM began selling a personal computer that used Microsoft products as part of its operating system. By then Microsoft had 129 workers.

Today four out of five of the world’s computers run on Microsoft software, on what is called Microsoft DOS or on its latest incarnation – Windows. Windows system makes it much easier to use a computer. It’s through the Windows system that we may gain access to the Internet, the global computer network. Microsoft does thousands of millions of dollars in business each year. It now has more than 16 thousand workers in 48 countries. Microsoft produces computer programmes in 30 languages and sells them in more than 100 countries.

Pupil 3:  I’m ready to add something about the Skype

Skype – an eBay company, headquarters in Luxembourg  – began in 2003, and was founded by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. Skype is an online communication tool that you can use to talk to anyone anywhere in the world. You can use it as an instant messaging service, or as a telephone … with a special Skype phone or traditional headset. It even works for video calls. There are also plans for unlimited international use.

Since the dawn of the first version of the programme, the Skype community continues to grow, offering a wide variety of features and services.

Pupil 4:  One more scientific fact is about the Channel Tunnel which is the breakthrough which established the first link between Britain and Europe. Here are some fascinating facts about the remarkable engineering feat.

1. The Channel Tunnel is the busiest railway line in the world.
2. Seven million cubic metres of soil – enough to fill Wembley Stadium 13 times – was excavated during its construction.
3. The tunnels are on average 40 metres below the sea bed.
4. The shuttle trains are 800 metres long, equivalent to the length of seven football pitches.
5. There is a total of 200 km of track – 100 km in the tunnels and 100 km on the terminals.
6. Famous shuttle customers include actor Roger Moore, rock star Eric Clapton, ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, actress Elizabeth Hurley and naturalist David Attenborough.
7. Since Eurotunnel opened in 1994 it has carried more than 57 million passengers – equivalent to the entire UK population – on passenger shuttle services.
8. Since the introduction of the Pet Travel Scheme in February, more than 6,000 cats and dogs have also travelled through the Channel Tunnel.

6. Conclusion

Slide 17

Teacher: Well, we’ve done great work today. Now you are aware of scientific discoveries and inventions of the 20-th century which influenced greatly the development of the world.

So, what words either nouns or verbs can be used to reveal, to help understand better the issue of scientific discoveries?

They are: 1) nouns – landmark, frontier, far-reaching breakthrough, discovery, invention, research, development, ground-breaking find;

               2) verbs -  created, invented, discovered, managed to do, found out, succeeded, solved.

Teacher: What have we managed to do?

Answers:  

• We’ve revised vocabulary.
• We’ve found out a lot of information about scientific discoveries

           of the 20-th century.

• We’ve read and discussed interesting and meaningful texts.
• We’ve practiced to work in groups and pairs.

      7.  Homework

Be ready to tell about any important discovery of the 20-th century

8. The Final of the lesson

Your marks for your work at the lesson are …

I’m satisfied with your work. Have a good rest.