Lesson 8: The Life and Time of Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was born in 1879 in a town called Ulm in Germany. As a young boy, he did not show a lot of intellectual promise except in mathematics and while he did attend a university in Switzerland, his marks were not high enough for him to get into graduate school. Einstein decided to work as a clerk in a patent office in Berne in 1901 and in 1905 he published papers on three important concepts in physics. One of these three concepts was special relativity and soon he came to be known as one of the giants of modern science, next to Newton.
This chapter focuses on the life of Einstein and some of his major contributions to the field of physics.
Learning Objectives:
- Understanding that Einstein's ideas revolutionized modern physics in the way that Newton's ideas had in the past.
- Gaining an appreciation for the human intellect and understanding that what we have today has come from the knowledge that others shared with us.
The following is a hilarious interpretation of a "rap battle" between Einstein and Hawking, which students may find interesting.
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The video below shows a documentary of Einstein's life, focusing less on his accomplishments and highlighting his human side.
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The following is a group-activity that will make Einstein Jeopardy more fun to play:
To consolidate the lesson you may wish to:
- Divide students into groups so that there are about 5 or 6 students in each group.
- Give each student in a group a different passage to read on Einstein's life which they will be responsible for knowing.
- Play Einstein Jeopardy (see Creative Work section) and have the different groups compete with each other for the grand prize.
To consolidate the lesson you may wish to:
- Have students fill out an exit card explaining what they thought was the most significant part of Einstein’s life to them.
- Ask students to write a journal entry on someone who they think changed the way we live today due to their inventions or contributions.
References
- Hirsch, A., Stewart, C., Martindale, D, & Barry, M. (2011). Nelson Physics 12. Toronto: Nelson Thomson Learning