To kick the year in SciPlay off, we wanted to share with you some of the great scenes our students wrote for their unit on scientists and the controversies they've faced. There's a good summary of the unit below, but the essential assignment is that we asked the kids to write either a scene or a monologue that explored a controversy in the life of one of the seven scientists we asked them to research. The scenes were really terrific. I'm always amazed at how funny, profound and creative our kids can be. Playwriting can be such a freeing way to write.
For example, here's Tyquasia's monologue, inspired by Albert Einstein (I'm correcting for spelling only):
I've heard many stories about this man. Albert Einstein is his name. I hear he's written a letter to our President Roosevelt. In the letter, he states that Germany is creating an atomic bomb and so should we, the U.S. From what I know, an atomic is made up of mass destruction and can kill more than 1 million people. Or a better example, an atomic bomb can kill the entire New York City population. Scary as it sounds, the president is considering this. Now here I stand, guarding the door as the meeting behind me goes on. I hear Mr. Einstein say that he'll create an atomic bomb for a special offer. The offer was to make him an American citizen. This was an offer that Roosevelt could not deny. They spoke more but I was not able to hear what else was being said because I was called out of the room. While making my way out of the room, I hear them say good-bye and thank each other. I just hope Einstein becoming an American and creating the atomic bomb for the U.S. don't result in a bad outcome. Something doesn't feel right...
I love that Tyquasia used a framing device -- a White House guard -- for her monologue. It's also worth knowing that she knew she was changing the facts, but wanted to make her monologue dramatic. It certainly worked!
Here's a scene from Jeanelle, about Isaac Newton:
Child walks into the room and hits his elbow on the desk
Child: Ouch!
Isaac Newton: And what is it that happened to you?
Child: I hit my elbow on the desk.
Newton: You mean the desk hit your elbow?
Child: The desk hit my elbow?
Newton: Yes! My third law of motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction!
Child: I...don't...get...it, Mr. Newton.
Newton: Look! You see here, I have a ballm and what do you do with a ball?
Child: You bounce it?
Newton: Yes, you bounce it! Now when I push this ball to the floor, what is going to happen?
Child: It's gonna bounce?
Newton: It's gonna bounce how?
Child: Up and down?
Newton: No! When I throw this ball to the floor, it bounces back up. But how?
Child: Because balls are supposed to bounce.
Newton: No! For every force there is a reaction force that is equal in size but opposite in direction. That is to say that whenever an object pushes an object, it gets pushed back in the opposite direction, equally hard, so if I throw this ball to the floor...
Child: The floor pushes it back?
Newton: Yes! If I throw the ball to the floor, the floor pushes this ball back with equal force. So now you hit your elbow on the desk...
Child: And the desk hit my elbow back!
Newton: Yes! And that's why you felt pain!
Child: It makes sense now!
End Scene.
What I love about Jeanelle's scene is that it explains a scientific principle so clearly... and I like that the controversy about Newton is not explicitly mentioned, but you get a sense of it from the child's skepticism.
And here's a final one for today, from Troy, about Johannes Kepler. This scene made the class laugh a lot!
This scene takes place in the waiting room of the mental institution.
J1: Can you pass me that newspaper?
J2: No problem. (Passes the newspaper)
J1: Thanks.
J2: Uh-huh.
Doctor: Johannes Keper, Johannes Kepler, we're ready for you.
J1 & J2 (both stand) Coming! (Look at each other) No, I'm sorry. She means me. No No No. You must be mistaken. I'm next.
J1: Hold on. Johannes Kepler is a very unique name, and I'm sure I'm the only one with that name.
J2: I agree with you on that except I'm the only one with that name.
J1: But I'm famous so no, you can't have that name.
J2: Really, because last time I checked, I was famous as well.
J1: When and where were you born, So-Called Kepler?
J2: December 27, 1571 in Germany. What's your field of study, Mr. Johannes?
J1: Astronomy, Astrology, Mathematics, and Natural Philosophy..Name some of my research.
J2: You mean MY research, no problem. I was the founder of "Celestial Mechanics" and believed in the Copernican System.
J1: Wow! Sounds familiar. I'm sure you didn't create the Three Laws of Planetary Motions About the Sun called Kepler's Laws, like I did.
J2: I'm sure I DID!
J1: Really, so you explained how the orbit of a planet around the sun creates an ellipse and the facts explaining why?
J2: Yup, and also why the church disapproved of my research because they believe God created everything.
J1: You must be some kind of mind reader or an extreme fan to have gotten all of MY study right.
J2: Likewise!
They begin to fight until broken up by the doctor who puts them each in a straight jacket.
Doctor: Alex, Troy, you do this all the time. Arguing. Can't you guys get along? Anyway, it's time to take your medication.
End scene.
I wish we had room to share all the scenes and monologues with you. They're just great.
When we created this project, we wanted to find a way to help our students learn about scientists, but without writing a research paper. At the end, we asked our students to evaluate the assignment. The response was very positive. To close this post, I'd like to share with you some of what they said:
In Ms. Reed's/Ms. Buck's sci-play assignment, I choose to do a play about Johannes Kepler. In this assignment, I learned a lot about Mr. Kepler, such as his controversy toward his religion and his Three Laws of Planetary Travel. I enjoyed adding a comedic spin on my play by creating two Keplers and putting them in a mental institution. My audience loved it!
- Troy
When I first got this assignment, I thought it was a great idea to do plays based on famous scientists. At first it seemed like a difficult task because how can you make a play interesting without boring the audience with a million facts? The most interesting thing to me was how we were able to construct amazing, fun plays based on scientists. We were trying to use the facts and create something fun but yet still a learning experience. My best experience from this project was learning so much about scientists without getting bored to death. This experience makes me want to learn more about the lives, discoveries and controversies of these scientists that affect us today.
- Kiara
When I was first assigned to this assignment, I thought, great, we don't have to do essays for Ms. Reed or graphs for Ms. Buck, we get to write a play, which is so much better than working. One part of doing this assignment was watching everyone else's performance. It was educational but still very fun and exciting to see. Watching my classmates perform gave me information about all the scientists, such as Gallileo, who believed and told that the Earth went around the sun, and developed the telescope. I also learned a lot about my famous scientist, Marie Curie, who discovered radioactivity.
- Shaygne
When I first got this assignment, I was a little doubtful on how it'd work, considering the task was to create a scene or monologue based on a scientist and I was worried about how I was going to make it interesting for the audience with all of these scientific facts. I mostly enjoyed the writing process because I got all the information in and I found a way to work in all the facts that would make my monologue fun, more interesting and funny. I do feel I learned as much about my scientist as I would've if I had been assigned a research paper, but I felt that this was a better way of knowing my scientist because I got to be him. I'm the kind of person who learns more by doing than by watching. From my classmates work, I learned about other scientists and other ways to create an interesting scene incorporating all of those facts.
- Ashley
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