Course Icon

Natural Science - Year II

Unit 34: Welcome to Natural Science Year Two

SO Icon

History Weblecture for Unit 34


This Unit's Homework Page History Lecture Science Lecture Lab Parents' Notes

History Lecture for Unit 34: Preparing for Chat Sessions & notes on the history materials of Year One

For Class

This section gives you a framework for the unit. It tells you the historical period, geographic locations, people, and scientific theories covered in the unit materials.

Outline/Summary

Reading for Meaning

Whether you are new or returning students, we need to start by going over the basics of how the course works.

Most history lectures will have web assignments — reading that you must do on another webpage or site. They will be in a box like the one below. They usually contain questions about the reading to help you identify what is important.

Read the following sections from Student Study Guide for this course. You may need to follow embedded links in the reading to find answers for the questions below.

  1. Why Study Science?
  2. The Science Course Online
  3. Managing your Time
  4. Weblectures
  5. Getting to Know the Textbook
  • What is a physical law?
  • What kind of math background do you need to have for this course?
  • Where can you find a list of all the parts of a normal Natural Science unit?
  • When do you read the web lectures?
  • What is the textbook for this course?

People we covered in units 1-33:

The first year of this course covered the history of science in the ancient world and medieval and Renaissance Europe. You should review this list and identify those folks you don't know (if you are new to this sequence) or don't remember (if you took Year One). We'll do a short review in chat on some of the more important folks below as part of Unit 35...but take the opportunity to identify anyone you don't know before our next chat!

Hints on How to study the history sections of this course

Because there is a lot of material in this course, you will want to develop study habits that help you learn the material. Studying anything requires certain skills, but there are also certain techniques you can develop to study specific subjects, like history and science.

Study Styles

Different people have different study styles. Some find it easy to read and remember written information. Some are better at remembering what they hear, still others are better at remembering things they have done "in real time", whether it is information they have written down, drawings they have made, or an experiment they have performed. You should try to do as many different kinds of learning activities as you can, and if you are short of time, focus on those that are required and those that help you the most.

As you read, take notes about the things you think you should remember:

Here's another look at the process of reading carefully for meaing, reflecting on the information and ideas that have been presented, and identifying what you do (or don't) understand so that you can ask questions. Wait for the animation to load, then click on the "next" button to page through hints on how to study the material and reflect on it carefully, so that your homework answers become thoughtful and detailed.

Getting the most out of chats

You need to complete a lot of reading, thinking, and some writing before you come to class, so that you can participate in our discussions. Work through this animation to discover how to get the most out of chat sessions.

Study/Discussion Questions:

This part of the history lecture usually has general questions about the history topics for the units. These questions don't have simple answers: they require you to put information from different parts of your reading and the weblecture together. We will often use these questions as part of our chat discussions.

Further Study/On Your Own

Sometimes I run across websites that are interesting but we don't have time to cover them officially in class. Follow-up links are always optional.

We cover a lot of material, and from time to time, I will assign you to do class reports. You may also want to look up more information on the history of science part of this course on your own. Don't hesitate to look these people up on the web, in Wikipedia or your local library or encyclopaedia. There are many good links, organized by topic, at these websites as well: