Unit 11: Aristotle and Classification

Preparation

Our goals this week are two-fold: to learn some facts, first about Aristotle's theories and then about vertebrate organisms, and second, to study how we do classification of any set of objects and why it is important to the practice of science. Both the history and science weblectures include web readings, so be sure that your student starts EARLY to complete this work, since servers and routers may go down without warning as winter weather approaches.

• History Web Lecture:

  The two web readings assigned in the history lecture are different from previous readings. The first is a short biography of Aristotle, which is a bit more detailed and interesting than the usual encyclopaedia article. Be sure that the student understands the order of events (Plato was Aristotle's teacher, Aristotle was Theophrastus' teacher and later his partner) and which school each started (Plato founded the Academy, Aristotle the Lyceum).

  The second reading is primary source material: Aristotle's own lecture notes for his teaching on the classification of animals. The history questions on the worksheet require the student to make some judgment calls, so encourage him to read for sense rather than to just look for terms or definitions.

• Science Web Lecture:

  Classification of living things begins with identification: what is life? We will talk about the characteristics we use to distinguish life from non-life. You might want to get the student to think about what happens if all but one characteristic is met.

  If your student has a sibling in biology, have the two compare the classification systems used against an older encyclopaedia article on classification of living things.

  The weblecture includes an exercise in classification. Be sure that the student has a chance to review this site, because we will use it in class. Before we use the tool of classification, we need to understand the purpose of any given system of classification, and the limits that it has.

• Homework:

  Students will need to read the source materials in Aristotle's Parts of Animals fairly carefully to answer Mastery Exercise Questions. For chat preparation exercise in developing a classification system, students may use any criteria they wish as long as they can apply it consistently to every item. This isn't as easy as it may seem.

• Discussion:

  We will spend part of the time using the Classification website to see whether the students can agree on how to classify the thirteen pieces of hardware in the picture. I have done this every year I have taught the course; the classification systems students came up with vary each, and we often can not reach consensus. This exercise helps the student realize that application of classification schemes such as those used through the sciences are not simple or necessarily straightforward.

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