Time Travel (or a lesson extension for the Shi Huang Di lesson plan)



"Resistance is Futile."
"Earth. Population Nine Billion. All Borg."
"Live long and Prosper"

  Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space, typically using a hypothetical device known as a time machine, in the form of a vehicle or of a portal connecting distant points in time. Time travel is a recognized concept in philosophy and fiction, but traveling to an arbitrary point in time has a very limited support in theoretical physics , and usually only in conjunction with quantum mechanics or Einstein-Rosen bridges. In a more narrow sense, one-way travel into the future via time dilation is a proven phenomenon in relativistic physics, but traveling any significant "distance" requires motion at speeds close to the speed of light, which is not feasible for human travel with current technology. The concept was touched upon in various earlier works of fiction, but was popularized by H. G. Wells' 1895 novel The Time Machine, which moved the concept of time travel into the public imagination, and it remains a popular subject in science fiction.

So, if time travel were possible, where and when would you like to travel? Would you like to go into the past or the future?

 For this lesson, you will need the following texts: THE TOMB ROBBERS by Daniel Cohen and DIGGING UP THE PAST, a magazine article by Helen Wieman Bledsoe.

 Both of these selections explore the excavation of the tomb of Qin Shi Huang. He was China's first emperor. The two selections focus on the emperor's obsession with his own death, the construction of his tomb, and the tomb's contents. The second selection highlights the discovery of 8000 Terracotta Warriors.

Why is it important to remember the past and how the past can affect the present? 

WRITING PROMPT:

Think about a time period you wish you knew more about. It might be when your parents or grandparents were young, or even thousands of years ago. Write down what span of years that you would like to learn more about and why.

Vocabulary for this Unit:

Preservation
Disintegrate
Reconstruction
Ancestor
Surpass
Dedicate
Barbarian
Immortality
Archaeological
Excavation

Vocabulary Worksheet and Test


Have each student write a summary of the two pieces of text. The student will exchange his summary with a classmate. The classmate will critique the adequacy of the writer's supporting details. Did the writer fully support the main ideas in his article. Encourage students to use the following academic vocabulary in their summary and critique:

Adequacy: noun. quality of being enough to meet a need or requirement.
Authority: Noun. Someone who is respected because of his or her knowledge of a subject.
Concept: Noun. An idea of how something is or could be.
Purpose: Noun. the goal or desired outcome of something.
Structural: Adjective. Of or related to the manner of organization.

Vocabulary Strategy: Word Parts

Sometimes you can figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word by breaking the word into parts. For example, the vocabulary word "Reconstruction" has three parts: re, which means again; construct, which means to build; and the suffix -ion, which means action or process.

When you combine the three meanings, you will find that reconstruction means 'the action of building again." Knowing the meaning of one or more parts of a word will help you determine the meaning of the complete word. most word parts come from Greek, Latin, or Old English (OE).

dis- (Latin)...apart
micro- (Greek)...small
un- (OE)...the opposite of
hyper- (Greek)...over, excessive
-ance (Latin)...condition, state
-ate (Latin)...to act upon
-logy (Greek)...study, theory
-ive (Latin)...of, relating to







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