Ancient Greece – Science Ideas Web Age range: 5–7 years

Nutrition – eating the right foods Life cycles of animals and plants Distinguishing between an object Changes in materials and its material Soldiers in ancient Greece needed energy Aristotle studied chicks hatching and wrote Ancient Greek people used clay to make pots to fight and for long marches into battle. down all the things he observed. He did We know about how the ancient Greeks lived and jugs. They would squash and bend the They ate foods like barley, onions, salted this because he wanted to know how the because we have found things they used, clay to make it the right shape, then heat it so meat and cheese. different parts of the chicks developed while buried in the ground, like clay pottery and it became hard. Do you think the Greek soldiers had a they were in the egg. metal coins. Not everything that they used Can we change the shape of a piece of healthy diet? How do you think it could be Can you observe a creature at different has survived. clay? What happens if we leave it in a improved? Can we do a survey to find out stages of its life cycle? What can you see? Which materials would last a long time if warm place? Can you explain why this which types of food we ate for lunch today? What can you hear? What changes we buried them? Let’s bury some things happens? Which materials can be bent can you see after one day, two days and so and find out! How many ways can we sort and stretched? Can we create a table to on? Can we create a set of drawings or objects into different groups (eg size, shape, show what we can do to different materials? Conditions for growing plants photographs to record what we see? material)? Are there any objects that fit into more than one group? Ancient Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus Identifying and grouping everyday noticed that healthy plants grew on the land materials that the river Nile in Egypt had flooded. Which plants can we grow in our school? Rich Greek soldiers wore armour made from Can we make a picture diary to show what metal and poor soldiers wore armour made our plants look like each week? Can we BIOLOGY from cloth. They also carried shields made find out about what plants need to grow and CHEMISTRY from wood and metal, and wore helmets and stay healthy? ANCIENT leg guards made from metal. Why do you think metal is a good material GREECE for making a shield, helmet or leg guard? Weather Can we make a table to show what our clothes are made from? Aristotle studied the weather and wrote down all the things he noticed about air, water, the sun, rainbows, thunder and lightning. He also came up with ideas about the water cycle, suggesting that water from the oceans turned PHYSICS into rain. Written by: Kirsty Hird, Can we make a table to show what the Burlington Junior School, Bridlington weather is like where we live and in Greece this Seasonal change week? What do you think the weather will be like tomorrow? How does the weather In Greek mythology, the goddess Demeter here and in Greece change over the year? helped plants to grow. When her daughter, Sounds and their sources Persephone, was at home it would be spring and the plants would grow. Persephone lived Children in ancient Greece were often given in the underworld for six months each year. gifts when they were born, including rattles in When Persephone was away, Demeter would the shape of animals such as pigs. The rattles be sad and it would be winter. Edited by: were made from clay with small beads inside. Can we make a table to show what time Can we make our own rattles? What will the sun rises and sets in spring, summer, we use to make them? How can we autumn and winter? What happens to the make a loud sound? How can we make plants in our local area in spring, summer, a quiet sound? autumn and winter? Ancient Greece – Science Ideas Web Age range: 7–9 years

Keeping teeth healthy Grouping living things Changes of state: melting Changes of state: evaporating

Hippocrates was an important Greek doctor. Aristotle made many detailed studies into a There is evidence that many bronze statues Perfume played an important role in ancient He suggested that people should rub their vast range of animals, including cuttlefish, were produced in ancient Greece. However, Greece. It was used as part of religious teeth with peppermint powder and remove any whales and bees, dividing them into two very few remain today. Most were melted ceremonies and to keep healthy. Perfume pieces of food to keep them clean and healthy. types: those with blood and those without. down so that the valuable metal could be came from plants like rose and cinnamon. What would you say to Hippocrates about How can we sort plants and animals from reused for a different purpose. Can you explain how we can smell perfume his ideas if he was alive today? What advice our local environment into different groups? Can we make a table to show when it has been sprayed? How far away would we give him about how to keep his Can we make a guide to some of the plants • materials that melt when they are heated? can we be and still smell the perfume? How teeth healthy? and animals that live in our local area? • whether all the materials start melting at quickly does perfume evaporate and its smell the same temperature? fade? Do different liquids evaporate at the • whether we can always get the original same rate? Functions of the skeleton material back again after melting something?

In ancient Greece, children used the ankle Comparing and grouping rocks bones of sheep or goats to create a game called ‘knucklebones’. They would take it in The ancient Greeks believed the goddess turns to throw knucklebones into the air and Athena protected their city, Athens. They built catch them on the back of their hand, or throw her a stone temple, called Parthenon. The the bones into a small hole in the ground. BIOLOGY temple still stands on a high rocky hill above Why do you think children used ankle CHEMISTRY the city. bones for their game? Why wouldn’t they ANCIENT Can we make a table to show the use shoulder blades or ribs? What would properties of different types of rocks? happen if humans didn’t have skeletons? GREECE Which rocks would be the best for building with? Why? Which rocks are used for building in our town? How have Light reflection from surfaces they changed over time?

Ancient Greek scientist Euclid wrote a book called Optica in around 300 BC. Euclid described what happened when light was PHYSICS reflected from different surfaces. Written by: Kirsty Hird, What do you see when we shine light on a Burlington Junior School, Bridlington mirror? Which materials reflect the most light? Can we make a table of different uses for reflective materials? Pushes and pulls Sound: pitch and volume In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was punished Plays performed in theatres were very popular by the gods. He had to roll a huge stone to during ancient Greek times. The actors often the top of a hill. Whenever he reached the wore masks to show the audience how the summit, the stone would roll back down character was feeling. As well as eye holes, the and Sisyphus would have to begin his tiring Edited by: masks had large holes where the mouth was. journey up the hill once more. Why do you think the masks had a mouth How far and how fast can you push a stone hole? Can we draw some pictures to on different surfaces? Which surface is the explain what might happen to the actor’s voice easiest to push a stone on? Can we change with and without the mouth hole in the mask? a surface so it is easier to move the stone? Ancient Greece – Science Ideas Web Age range: 9–11 years

Exercise and healthy lifestyles Human circulatory system Irreversible changes Properties of metals

In ancient Greece, boys did athletic activities Ancient Greek physician Herophilos was In Greek mythology, there was a hideous Ancient Greek people used metals like bronze, like running, wrestling and throwing spears the first to come up with the idea that it was creature called Medusa. If someone looked gold and silver for making armour, weapons, to keep fit, enter athletic competitions and the brain that controlled the movement of directly at her, they would be turned to stone. statues, cooking utensils and jewellery. prepare for life as a soldier. the limbs – not the heart, like most people The hero Perseus used the shiny side of his Can we create a table to show what Why do you think it was important for believed. Herophilos’ colleague Erasistratus shield to view Medusa’s reflection so he different metals are used for and why their boys to be fit and healthy? How do the observed that blood moved through the veins. didn’t have to look directly at her. properties are useful? Can we find out children in our class keep fit and healthy? Can we make a model to show how the Medusa’s powers created an irreversible which metals conduct electricity? How can Can we do a survey to find out what types circulatory system works? Can we find change. How many examples of irreversible we find out if all metals are magnetic? of exercise are most common in our class? out what happens when a blood vessel in the changes can we find? How many ways heart or the brain gets blocked by a clot? can we think of to change a material into another material? Atomic structure Adaptation, evolution and fossils Ancient Greek called Leucippus and Ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander had Democritus suggested that all matter was a theory of evolution: all living things began made from tiny, indivisible particles called as a type of slime, possibly in the oceans. atoms. When the oceans dried up, the slime evolved BIOLOGY Can we find out more about the history to create different species, including humans. of atomic theory? What would you say How would you explain the difference CHEMISTRY to Leucippus and Democritus about their between a fossil and a plaster cast around a ANCIENT ideas if they were alive today? Can broken leg? Can we invent a new animal that we find out how modern scientists have would survive well in a hot country like Greece? GREECE improved their ideas?

Effects of gravity

Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle suggested that all objects have a natural state. Objects on Earth always seek their natural state, which PHYSICS is to be on the ground. If an apple comes loose from a tree, Aristotle said it will fall to the Written by: Kirsty Hird, Burlington Junior School, Bridlington ground because it is seeking its natural state. How do you think Aristotle would explain The Earth and the sun Light and shadows a helium balloon? What would you say to Aristotle about his ideas if he was alive today? In ancient Greece, most people believed that In 300 BC, the mathematician Euclid studied Can we draw a labelled diagram of the the Earth was flat. Thales was a philosopher light and wrote book about what he found forces acting on the apple when it falls? and mathematician who suggested that out. In this book, he suggested that light the Earth was spherical. Most people didn’t always travels in straight lines. believe him. Can we draw some pictures to show how Edited by: How do we know that the Earth is we see an object? What would the picture spherical? What evidence can we collect look like if light doesn’t travel in straight lines? to show that Thales is correct? Can we What difference do you think it would make a model to show how day and night make? Can we draw some pictures to occur on Earth? Would our model still explain why shadows have the same shape as work if the Earth is flat? the objects causing them?