Big History Project in Michaelmas 2015
In Michaelmas term we explored the first four thresholds, so for us, life is really just beginning in Lent 2016!
We want to break down the artificial barriers between the traditional subjects and to play with myriad combinations and possibilities—so that in our ‘Big’ world, English features in Chemistry and Physics in History, among many other variations—so we’ve been mixing up the disciplines as much as possible. Students have explored why some theories of the origins of the Universe become accepted more than others and debated which of the scientists came up with the most persuasive theory (Copernicus and Ptolemy proved surprisingly popular!). Students have also written and performed odes to different chemical elements and redesigned the Periodic Table.
Two of our selection of our ‘odes to elements’ are below:
An Ode to Carbon
Carbon my dearest
The diamond in my ring
The graphite in my pencil
How you make my heart sing!
In Latin it means coal
It is abundant in me
It is found in sugars
but not sweet you will see
Sometimes you are radioactive
Other times you are not
With four electrons ready to share
You sure do react a lot
You and Oxygen are dangerous
When mixed in the air
You trap in heat
And your fumes I cannot bear
But I love you anyway
Even when you are in a carbohydrate
Try and elude my grasp if you wish
but you and I are fate.
An Ode to Oxygen (to be sung!)
Where would we be without you?
Colourless, tasteless, odourless too
You who bring light to the world
But in the twilight, end it….
You, who is all around us
Silent, watching and sure
You will never leave me
You’re trapped inside
me ‘til I die!
Oxygen! Oxygen!
Why do I need you?
You who is all around me
But who kills me
Inside….