Famous Scientists

- The students will become familiar with famous scientists and their contribution to the scientific world.
- The students begin asking questions and recording data about famous scientists.
- The students will be able to write about the contributions made by famous scientists over the course of the year.
- The students will compare the times in history when significant discoveries were made and discuss why they think the discoveries happened.
- Significant vocabulary would be the words ending in "ologist". Students will able to define the job of the scientist by knowing that "ologist" means "the study of".

This activity is intended to be used daily or once a week all year long in an average 5th grade classroom. It should take about 5 to 10 minutes to introduce the famous scientist using Power Point while the students take notes on a note taking sheet. This sheet should be kept in a science journal. This can be modified to a class discussion with books or printed material if Power Point is not available.

This can become a nice routine that takes 5 to 10 minutes depending on the time available and the interest level. Science class can begin with this brief presentation about a famous scientist. Students will need to take out their note-taking sheet while the teacher sets the Power Point to the famous scientist being presented.

Materials:
-Computer
-Projector
-Power Point presentation
-Note-taking sheet
-Pencils

Once everything is in place, the students write birth, death, country and contributions in the proper spot. The information in the slides is available on the Internet at various sources-just do a google search. Also teach the "ologist" vocabulary. The following web site lists many "ologists": http://www.morewords.com/contains/ologist/ Power Point Presentation: Famous Scientists (PowerPoint 5.9MB Sep8 08) Notetaking Sheet Famous Scientist (Microsoft Word 33kB Sep8 08)

This activity can be done throughout the year or in one part of the year. The students love the pictures, which is why I wanted to create a pre-made Power Point that I can use to capture the students' attention. In the past I would waste a lot of time finding information at the last minute. My goal is to make this run efficiently. Bottom right corner of slide is person's birth country and dates of his/her birth and death.

I will assess this by quarterly asking the students to write about their 2 favorite famous scientists letting them use their notes. I want to have them write a short biography in paragraph form using the data they collected.

I.C.2 & 3 identify men and women who contributed to science and technology