The Scientific Revolution: Ptolemy
Witnesses: 60 Points – Write a speech where you explain the material for your character and argue why your side is correct. To get full credit, you must:
a. Explain all the material that I ask you to cover well.
b. Explain the material in your own words and logically.
20 Points – Draw a Poster to present during your speech where you illustrate some of your main points.
20 Points – Participate during the trial and respond to judge’s questions.
Judges: 35 Points – You will be assigned 2 witnesses. Write out a summary of each witness’s viewpoints.
35 Points - Write out at least 2-3 questions and arguments to ask the witnesses (each) you’ve been assigned.
30 Points – During the Judgment phase, you need to participate during the discussion to explain who you are ruling for and why.
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The Church’s Side
The Church is putting Galileo on trial for promoting heretical ideas that go against Church teachings. Your side believes that you are seeking to stamp out the dangerous thoughts that Galileo represents. It is your task to ensure that European intellectuals are not contradicting Scripture (the Bible) or Christian beliefs. God created the Earth, and all the stars and heavens revolve around it!
Church Witness: Ptolemy
You are Ptolemy, an ancient Greek thinker whose model of the universe came to be accepted by most of Medieval Europe. Prosecutors seeking to convict Galileo of heresy will be calling you forward as a witness. Your job is to do your best to help convince the jury to convict Galileo of his sacrilegious views.
Your views:
Your model of what the universe looks like is a geocentric model: the Earth is the center of the Universe, while all the stars and planets revolve around us. You believe that the Earth stands motionless in the middle. It is surrounded by a series of “crystal shells.” Imbedded in each shells are orbs of pure light that are the stars, planets, and Sun. These shells, along with the orbs of light in them, revolve around the Earth. This universe made sense to Ptolemy. After all, if the Earth revolved around the Sun, then it would have to move amazingly fast to be able to go all the way around the sun each year– roughly 67,000 miles per hour. Yet, your body can tell you right now that it feels like it is NOT moving at such speeds. Also, ancient people believed that if we really were moving around the sun that fast, then every time someone jumped up into the air, the Earth would fly off underneath them and they’d land miles and miles away. Since that doesn’t happen, then there’s no way the Earth could really move that fast.
Finally, when you look up into the sky at night, you can actually see the universe rotate around the Earth. So the Earth must be at the center of the universe, while the planets, sun, and stars all revolve around us.(Ptolemy’s model is a bit more complicated than that, but that view is sufficient for our purposes).
Material you need to cover:
1. Be sure to cover his model for how the universe works – describe it in your own words. Make a poster to illustrate it as well to use as a visual aid in your speech.
2. Also be sure to explain his arguments about why logically the Earth is not revolving around the sun. There are 3 reasons why.
The Scientific Revolution: Church Official
Witnesses: 60 Points – Write a speech where you explain the material for your character and argue why your side is correct. To get full credit, you must:
a. Explain all the material that I ask you to cover well.
b. Explain the material in your own words and logically.
20 Points – Draw a Poster to present during your speech where you illustrate some of your main points.
20 Points – Participate during the trial and respond to judge’s questions.
Judges: 35 Points – You will be assigned 2 witnesses. Write out a summary of each witness’s viewpoints.
35 Points - Write out at least 2-3 questions and arguments to ask the witnesses (each) you’ve been assigned.
30 Points – During the Judgment phase, you need to participate during the discussion to explain who you are ruling for and why.
______
The Church’s Side
The Church is putting Galileo on trial for promoting heretical ideas that go against Church teachings. Your side believes that you are seeking to stamp out the dangerous thoughts that Galileo represents. It is your task to ensure that European intellectuals are not contradicting Scripture (the Bible) or Christian beliefs. God created the Earth, and all the stars and heavens revolve around it!
Church Witness: Church Official
You are a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, living in the 17th century. The prosecutors seeking to convict Galileo of heresy will be calling you forward as a witness. Your job is to do your best to help convince the jury to convict Galileo of his sacrilegious views.
Your views:
The idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun goes against Christian belief. After all, according to the Bible, God had created humans in his own image and made them the only beings capable of salvation. So, humans are the most important thing in all of Creation. So it just makes sense that the universe revolves around humanity and the Earth, with the Earth at the very center. Why would God make earth revolve around the sun when we’re the most important creation, not the Sun?
The Church supports the Ptolemaic view of the universe. According to Ptolemy, the Earth is at the center of the universe, while the planets, sun, and stars occupy several spheres that surround the Earth. Picture the Ptolemaic model as a basketball with several more basketballs inside of it. The innermost ball is the Earth, made up of “physical” matter, while the spheres surrounding the earth are “spiritual” matter. Surrounding all of this a perfect “sphere of stars.” (look at image above). Several passages of the Bible support this model of the universe. The Bible talks about how God divided the universe into higher worlds (spiritual) and lower worlds (physical). The Earth is the physical world and as you move outward you get closer and closer to the “sphere of stars,” which the Church believes is the spiritual world of Heaven.
Not only does the Bible support the idea that the celestial spheres surround the earth are made up of spiritual material, but the Greek thinker Aristotle also believed this. Aristotle was widely considered the most brilliant thinker of all time, and anything that he says should be believed. So when Galileo says that the other planets are made up of physical matter just like the Earth, he is contradicting the Bible and Aristotle. The nerve of that guy!
Also, the Bible directly contradicts the idea that the earth “moves” around the sun. Psalm 93 says: “Yea, the world is established, that it cannot be moved.” Psalm 103 says that God “fixed the Earth upon its foundation not to be moved forever.” Since the Bible is the word of God, any viewpoint that goes against scripture must be wrong. Anyone who supports views that counter the word of God must be punished.
Material you need to cover:
1. Be sure to explain how the Bible supports the Ptolemy’s model that the Earth is the center of the universe. Talk about the role God gave humans, and how Ptolemy’s ideas on the physical and spiritual halves of the universe match the Bible, and how the Bible shows that the Earth can’t be moving around the sun.
2. Explain why Aristotle and the Bible should be the authorities on this subject.
The Scientific Revolution: Copernicus
Witnesses: 60 Points – Write a speech where you explain the material for your character and argue why your side is correct. To get full credit, you must:
a. Explain all the material that I ask you to cover well.
b. Explain the material in your own words and logically.
20 Points – Draw a Poster to present during your speech where you illustrate some of your main points.
20 Points – Participate during the trial and respond to judge’s questions.
Judges: 35 Points – You will be assigned 2 witnesses. Write out a summary of each witness’s viewpoints.
35 Points - Write out at least 2-3 questions and arguments to ask the witnesses (each) you’ve been assigned.
30 Points – During the Judgment phase, you need to participate during the discussion to explain who you are ruling for and why.
Galileo’s Side
The Church is putting Galileo on trial for saying that they are wrong about how the universe works. They say that the Earth is the center of the cosmos and no one may disagree with them. Galileo is arguing that, using science and not scripture, he has proved that the Earth really revolves around the sun! You need to prove that he is right and should not be punished by the Church.
Ptolemaic, or Geocentric, Model Galileo’s Heliocentric Model
Galileo Witness: Copernicus
You are Copernicus, a 16th century astronomer. You originated the heliocentric theory – the idea that the Earth revolves around the sun. The defense will be calling you as a witness to help convince the jury that Galileo is right.
Your Views:
You are an astronomer/mathematician. You came to disbelieve Ptolemy’s model of the universe, because you felt it was too complicated and illogical. For example, Ptolemy said that the universe is made up of crystal spheres that envelope the Earth. Picture a crystal basketball with a bunch of tiny basketballs inside of it, layer by layer. The Earth is the middle sphere. That doesn’t even make sense. Also, according to the geocentric model, the planets and stars revolve around the Earth in orbits, but they also orbit around their orbits in a smaller orbit (see image on page 1). That just seems like a child’s drawing almost! Copernicus and other astronomers believed that there was no way that God would have designed so complicated a universe. So you proposed a heliocentric – or sun-centered- theory. As a mathematician, you felt that the universe had to have some sort of mathematical symmetry to it. Ptolemy’s model seemed too complicated – too imprecise to you.
You argued that the Earth and planets all revolved around the sun. The sun and stars only appearto be moving around the Earth in the sky because the Earth rotates daily on its own axis. You also feel that your model makes sense religiously. The Church said that since mankind was the most important of God’s creations, he would have the Earth be the center of the universe. However, you believe that the sun symbolizes God. God gives life and light to the universe – so does the sun. So it makes sense that the sun would be the center of the universe, not the Earth.
Material you need to cover:
1. Be sure to cover what Copernicus’s heliocentric theory was about and why he supported it over Ptolemy’s theory.
2. Explain how does Copernicus explain why it looks like the sun and stars revolve around the Earth.
3. Explain how Copernicus justifies his ideas religiously.
The Scientific Revolution: Kepler
Witnesses: 60 Points – Write a speech where you explain the material for your character and argue why your side is correct. To get full credit, you must:
a. Explain all the material that I ask you to cover well.
b. Explain the material in your own words and logically.
20 Points – Draw a Poster to present during your speech where you illustrate some of your main points.
20 Points – Participate during the trial and respond to judge’s questions.
Judges: 35 Points – You will be assigned 2 witnesses. Write out a summary of each witness’s viewpoints.
35 Points - Write out at least 2-3 questions and arguments to ask the witnesses (each) you’ve been assigned.
30 Points – During the Judgment phase, you need to participate during the discussion to explain who you are ruling for and why.
Galileo’s Side
The Church is putting Galileo on trial for saying that they are wrong about how the universe works. They say that the Earth is the center of the cosmos and no one may disagree with them. Galileo is arguing that, using science and not scripture, he has proved that the Earth really revolves around the sun! You need to prove that he is right and should not be punished by the Church.
Ptolemaic, or Geocentric, Model Galileo’s Heliocentric Model
Galileo Witness: Kepler
You are Kepler, a 17th century astronomer. You believed in Copernicus’s heliocentric theory of the universe. The defense will be calling you as a witness to help convince the jury that Galileo is right.
Your Views:
Just like Copernicus, you believe that the Church is wrong about the Earth being at the center of the Universe. You took Copernicus’s heliocentric theory and refined it. Here’s how you created your model: You inherited a vast amount of data about the sky. This data was made up of very detailed observations of the sky that noted the position of the stars and planets in the sky over a very long period of time. For example, you knew that on Jan 23rd of 1601, Mars was in a certain position, and that the next day it had moved slightly to the left. The date tracked the position of Mars and the other planets of stars every single night for several years. Then, by performing numerous mathematical calculations on this data (too complicated to go into detail really – ask your closest astronomer), you then came to determine that the only way to explain your data would be if the planets revolved around the sun in elliptical (oval shaped) orbits, NOT around the Earth in perfectly circular orbits like the Church said. This observation of elliptical orbits is known as Kepler’s First Law. With your refined model of the universe, you are able to accurately and perfectly mathematically predict the motion of the planets. For example, using your model, an astronomer could predict exactly where in the sky Mars will appear on April 20th, 2067 (or any other random date.) Since your model can be proven with direct observation, and it is much simpler than Ptolemy’s model, you feel that your model MUST be correct.
Material you need to cover:
1. Explain Kepler’s contributions to the heliocentric theory.
2. Explain HOW Kepler arrived at his theories.
3. How does the way he arrived at his conclusions make them more accurate? (Why does he feel his model is right)
The Scientific Revolution: Galileo
Witnesses: 60 Points – Write a speech where you explain the material for your character and argue why your side is correct. To get full credit, you must:
a. Explain all the material that I ask you to cover well.
b. Explain the material in your own words and logically.
20 Points – Draw a Poster to present during your speech where you illustrate some of your main points.
20 Points – Participate during the trial and respond to judge’s questions.
Judges: 35 Points – You will be assigned 2 witnesses. Write out a summary of each witness’s viewpoints.
35 Points - Write out at least 2-3 questions and arguments to ask the witnesses (each) you’ve been assigned.
30 Points – During the Judgment phase, you need to participate during the discussion to explain who you are ruling for and why.
Galileo’s Side
The Church is putting Galileo on trial for saying that they are wrong about how the universe works. They say that the Earth is the center of the cosmos and no one may disagree with them. Galileo is arguing that, using science and not scripture, he has proved that the Earth really revolves around the sun! You need to prove that he is right and should not be punished by the Church.
Ptolemaic, or Geocentric, Model Galileo’s Heliocentric Model
Galileo Witness: Galileo
You are Galileo, a 17th-century astronomer and mathematician, on trial for your life! Do your best because a guilty verdict would not be great for your retirement plans.
Your Views:
You read about Kepler’s heliocentric model of the universe, and immediately began to support it. Setting out to prove the heliocentric theory, you built your own telescope and became the first European to use it to make detailed and systematic observations of the sky. Using your observations, you made several discoveries: