Albert Einstein: Hero of Learning

Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not hard duty.
~Albert Einstein

Abstract:  

This integrated curricular unit strives to engage students with the scope of Einstein’s impact upon the Twentieth Century.  Through History, students will understand the wide reaching effects of Einstein’s life and work upon science and human history.  Through English students will consider the nature of perspective, not only in terms of relativity, but as it effects literature, particularly, in the biography genre.  Another English unit considers how Einstein’s individual learning style effected the way he expressed his understanding of reality.  These ideas will be contrasted through the work of Pablo Picasso’s similar expression of reality through cubism.  Biology studies will explore the physical qualities of Einstein’s intelligence through an understanding of the brain’s functions, and contrasts between the average human brain and that of Einstein.  Throughout these units, Variations for diverse learning styles will be incorporated as needed through the guidance of our Special Education consultant.

Names and Majors of the Team Members:

• James D. Lancaser, English Education

• Cathy LeRoy, Special Education

• Brian Rini, Social Sciences: History Education

• Isobel Stasheff, English Education with Art History minor

• Nora Timoney, Biology Education

Subjects Integrated:

• Biology:  Einstein: What Brains Say About Us

• English:  Albert Einstein:  Biographies and Perspective in Writing

• English:  Einstein, Picasso and Learning Styles

• History:  Einstein and the Twentieth Century

• Special Education:  Learning for Everyone

Unit Time Frame:  Adaptable 1-2 weeks

Rationale:

Albert Einstein was one of the most gifted minds of the twentieth century.  The impact of his work has several far-reaching consequences all over the world.  It is important to note that although he was a brilliant mathematician and physicist, the work he accomplished throughout his lifetime influenced more than just the scientific community and science textbook authors.  This extraordinary and fascinating man made an impact upon the world that continues to influence the world today.

Objectives

Learning Diversity:

• Across the units, instruction will be designed to include a range of learning opportunities in order to directly involve as many students as possible in classroom learning.

• The range of adaptations will be implemented for all students to avoid drawing undue attention to any one individual.

Biology:

• After completing this portion of the unit, students will be able to

• Students will be able to analyze experiments based on scientific method

• Students will be able to discuss the conclusions on the studies of Einstein’s brain in comparison to other human brains

• Students will be able to describe the parts of the brain and the functions of each

English: textual literacy

• Students will be familiar with Albert Einstein an his life.

• Students will become familiar the biography genre by reading and writing biographies.

• Students will become familiar with the idea of perspective in writing.

English: visual literacy

• Students will see Einstein and Picasso as people who trusted their own abilities to learn.

• Students will understand that how we each experience reality effects how we learn and understand life and reality.

• Students will understand their own learning styles.

• Students will describe ways that their learning styles can support their goals.

History:

• Students will display knowledge of facts concerning Einstein’s life

• Students will compare the contributions Einstein made in different facets of life. 

• Students will synthesis the life and work of Einstein.

• Students will evaluate Einstein as both a man, and his body of work.

Resources Needed:

• Equipment for a Power Point presentation: a computer and a viewing screen.

• Equipment for watching the video: the documentary, a television, and a VCR or DVD player, depending on what the documentary is.

• A chalkboard for assistance during lecture.

• Overhead projector.

• Transparencies: Ingres, Jean-Auguste-Dominque.  Comtesse d’Haussonville. and Picasso, Pablo.  LesDesmoiselles d’Avingon, Girl with Mandolin

• CD player and a recording of mandolin performance for use with Girl with Mandolin.  Also, recordings of Mozart or Bach string performances to illustrate Einstein’s musical taste.

• Biographies about Albert Einstein

• PBS Albert Einstein Video

• Encarta Encyclopedia description of Albert Einstein.

Unit Descriptions

Variations for Diverse Learning Styles: 

• Special Education students have been, and will be, a part of regular classes. All students learn in their own way, using the basic learning style or combination of styles that suits them best. They may not be actively choosing these methods, but will be drawn to whatever methods fit them. Adaptations of all kinds should be implemented as much as possible in every classroom so that every student has ample opportunities to learn the given subject matter.  

• Another reason to universally utilize diverse teaching methods is to camouflage any changes made to assist a special student. Students (especially jr. high and high school) are quite averse to the idea of being “different” from their peers. They are likely to refuse any special adaptations to avoid standing out. The consequence is that the student may not learn the material at all. 

• Some adaptations, such as breaking up lectures with, more get up and move around type activities (such as experiments, demonstrations, scenarios acted out) are advantageous for all learning types. Providing printed notes on lectures, having students work with a “study buddy” or in cooperative groups is also helpful. Writing directions on the board, having students do research on the computer, having worksheets on vocabulary that is pertinent to the lesson and having practice quizzes before a final test can be beneficial to all students. Use of visual aids such as posters, videos, repeating questions asked and use of tape recorders may help other students as well as pupils with visual and hearing challenges.

Biology:

• Activities:  The unit will start with a short history of Einstein and an in depth look at the various studies completed on Einstein’s brain. We will discuss the history of the studies, who completed them, and why Einstein’s brain has been the center of so many scientific studies. The students will discuss the results of these studies and the basis for the conclusions that were made. Errors in the studies will be identified based on the students’ previous knowledge on the scientific method. They will discuss how these studies could have been completed with more accuracy. Students will work in groups to make revisions on the studies. In continuing lessons, the students will compare and contrast Einstein’s brain to other human brains. They will cite the similarities and differences and make their own conclusions on the mystery of Einstein’s brain. This assignment will be turned in. The students will then explore the different areas of the brain. The students will learn about the different parts of the brain and the functions of each through teacher lectures and educational Internet sites they will visit. Students will also diagram the parts of the brain and work with Jell-O brain molds to gain hands-on learning of the different parts of the brain.

• Evaluation:  Students will be assessed in their participation in discussions, their work in revising the studies and forming their own conclusions, and on a test of the human brain involving diagramming the brain and identifying different parts of the brain in a lab practical.  

English:

• Part One Instruction:  How many of you are familiar with Albert Einstein?  How many of you have read books or seen television shows about him?  How many of you think you know how to write a biography?  Follow this inquiry by posting the definition of a biography and laying out samples of biographies written about Einstein.

Unit Descriptions

English: Textual Literacy

• Students will read passages from two biographies about Albert Einstein that refer to the same part of his life.  Students will watch a segment of a PBS video about the life of Albert Einstein.  Students will discuss the differences between the accounts of Albert Einstein, and what they thought was effective in the conveying in information.  Students will discuss the stylistic elements of the video in comparison to the biographies.  Activities will involve pre-reading by showing a segment of the video; during reading through the Magnet Words Handout; and post-reading through response journals about reading in relation to the video

• Part Two Instruction:  Explain Albert Einstein’s theory of Relativity and his emphasis on perspective.  Discuss how this emphasis on perspective is evident in writers and readers of all types of texts including biographies.  Students will discuss the differences between the subjective and objective.  Students will look for differences in the biographical segments about Albert Einstein as a student, (Paterni claims that Albert Einstein was a good student, while Encarta claims he was an average student).  I will generate a discussion that emphasizes the differences in perspective both in reading and writing.  Activities will include: comparing and contrasting the two passages.  Then, free write from another person’s perspective.

• Evaluation:  Part One will be assessed through a 2-3 page formalized biography of Albert Einstein.  Graded on clarity, creativity, accuracy, and grammar/spelling.  Part two will be assessed based on a one page response to the comparison of the two biography segments.  Graded on clarity, creativity, punctuation and spelling.

English: Visual Literacy

• Instruction:  Initial discussion will show students a correlation between their personal interests and favorite learning experiences.  They will then receive an overview description of Multiple Intelligences and take a quiz to get an idea of their own intelligence style(s).  Post-quiz discussion will explore the career and hobby areas related to the various intelligences.  Students will then read textual quotes describing how Picasso and Einstein worked and learned.  Based on this reading, students will speculate which intelligences these men were most comfortable with.

• A lecture will provide general background behind the near simultaneous developments of Cubism and the theory of relativity.  In particular, the students should understand that Einstein’s theory of relativity and Picasso’s cubism both express a unique and similar way of understanding space and time.  The difference in their results reflects the differences in their individual learning styles.  Both men brought their various ways of experiencing and knowing reality to support their quest.  Neither man accepted that anyone way of learning was better than another.  This section can be expanded with greater detail to accommodate a longer unit.  Should time permit, students may perform selected (and judiciously edited) scenes from Picasso at the Lapin Agile to further demonstrate how Picasso’s and Einstein’s learning styles effected how they saw the world.

• This unit will wrap up with discussion(s) of achieving students’ personal goals.  Prewriting brainstorming sessions will explore the various opportunities for learning most compatible with students’ individual learning styles.  In a concluding essay, students will first describe their goals and learning styles, then discuss how best to reach these goals through their learning styles.  This section can be adapted to a longer unit through an essay writing workshop.

Unit Descriptions

English: visual literacy

• Evaluation:  Instruction success will be assessed through the student essays which will be evaluated for clarity of goals and learning styles description and the degree to which students can relate learning opportunities to achieving their goals.

History:

• Activities:  The students will experience a Power Point Lecture and watch a documentary video on the life of Einstein.  These experiences will help students to absorb information about the man, but also will give them an opportunity to assess the topic and to begin to create their own opinions on the man or his work.  Other scientists contemporary to Einstein will be studied, thus giving students material that they can compare to Einstein.  At the end of the unit, students will have the opportunity to put together a project utilizing the creativity of the students.  Einstein’s work and life will be represented by a visually stunning project that the students will complete.

• Evaluation:  After the initial Power Point lecture and video, the students will display their knowledge of facts about Einstein by completing a crossword puzzle.  After learning about other prominent scientists around the time of Einstein, the students will practice their writing and compare/contrasting skills by writing a two to three page essay comparing Einstein to one other scientist.  The final project the students will complete in this unit is a poster board or collage depicting Einstein and aspects of his life and work.  The project can include pictures, drawings, objects cut out of magazines, and several other things.  This gives the students an opportunity to make something different for school and also provides the students with an opportunity to show off their creativity on a school project. 

References:

English: Einstein, Picasso and Learning Styles
Cooper, Philip. (1995). Picasso, Pablo. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.  Cubism. Phaidon Press Limited: London, UK.
Hartt, Frederick.  Ingres, Jean-Auguste-Dominque.  Comtesse d’Haussonville.  Art: “A History of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. 1993 4th ed. Prentice Hall, Inc. and Harry N. Abrams, Inc.: Englewood Cliffs , NJ.
Hilton, Timothy.  Girl with Mandolin Picasso.  Thames and Hudson: London, UK.
Martin, Steve. (1996). “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Other Plays. Grove Press: New York, NY.
Miller, Arthur I. Einstein, Picasso. 2001. Basic Books, New York, NY.

Studies of Einstein’s Brain
Why size mattered for Einstein. BBC news online. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/371698 retrieved 17 October 2002.
The exceptional brain of Albert Einstein. http://www.bioquant.com/gallery/einstein.html retrieved 17 October 2002
What became of Einstein’s brain? http://faculty.washington.edu/chulder/ein.html retrieved  17 October 2002.
The mystery of Einstein’s brain. http://www.popular-science.net/nobel/einsteinbrain.html retrieved 17 October 2002.
Diagrams and Jell-O brain at http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler
Internet site of brain at http://student.biology.arizona.edu/sciconn/brains.html