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help me expand this unit study...


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I want to create a project for my daughter to do for school next week that incorporates her lessons in a meaningful way and gives her a reason to stop fighting with me about school. haha

 

Anyway, in history she's reading about Buddha (human odyssey v.1) , in writing she's reviewing how to write paragraphs for various purposes (paragraph town), in science she's learning about functional groups in chemistry/how chemistry impacts her life through commonly used items (carbon chemistry by mcHenry), and in math she just finished solving for an unknown variable, getting ready to start division (beast 3C).

 

My current idea:

 

Write and present a newscast explaining the differences between Buddha and Christianity. (this hits comparison paragraphs, and she will be required to use proper spelling/punctuation and incorporate her vocabulary words)

 

How do I include math and science in a meaningful way? 

 

 

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If it were me, and I decided to do that, I would go for the gusto.

 

Buddha had a fascinating contemporary: Pythagoras. (Confucius as well.)  If she is learning about Buddha, it might make sense to take a trip over to Asia Minor and learn about Pythagoras' theorem, and some of his other ideas about how math and philosophy interconnect.  The Pythagorean theorem is a practical use for solving for unknown variables.  If she doesn't know about square roots, then you would have to stick to perfect squares (aka Pythagorean Triples).  a^2 + b^2 = c^2.  If one leg of the triangle is 4, and the hypotenuse is 5, then how long is the other leg? 

 

For science, she is learning about carbon and how chemistry impacts her life, and right around when Buddha was alive in China they were tinkering with various combinations of carbon and silicon in order to produce serviceable cast iron.  This impacted the lives of commoners in China tremendously, because it allowed metal farm implements and weapons to be produced inexpensively enough that most could afford them for the first time. (Interesting article here.)  It would also be apropos to introduce her to phase diagrams if she hasn't met up with them yet, and show her the Iron-Carbon phase diagram.

 

Wendy

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