Greek ideas that last: philosophy, mathematics, theater and buildings

Grade 6 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Card I (sources, adapted from modern translations). Source 1, Aristotle: "All human beings by nature desire to know." Source 2, Plato's dialogue Apology, in which Socrates speaks: "The unexamined life is not worth living." Note: Plato wrote the dialogue after the events it describes, and Socrates left no writing. Aristotle collected careful observations of animals and plants; Plato often reasoned about ideas and definitions.

2. 1.

   Which claim do Sources 1 and 2 together support, Luz asks?

   • Aristotle thought questions were useless, while Socrates thought they were the key to everything
   • Socrates wrote that the unexamined life is not worth living, so he valued writing
   • Aristotle and Socrates believed the same things about each subject
   • Both Aristotle and Plato's Socrates value seeking knowledge and asking questions
3. 2.

   Source 2 gives words spoken by Socrates in a dialogue by Plato. What should a reader remember, Jun asks?

   • The words are exactly what Socrates said, since Plato was a student who copied them
   • Plato wrote the words, so they may show Plato's view of Socrates as much as his own
   • Socrates wrote the dialogue himself, so the words come straight from him
   • Aristotle collected careful observations of animals and plants
4. 3.

   Aristotle observed animals; Plato often reasoned about ideas. What might that suggest about how they pursued knowledge, Ari asks?

   • Plato looked closely at animals, while Aristotle worked just with ideas
   • Aristotle looked closely at the world, while Plato began from ideas
   • They agreed on method, since both men wanted to know, as Source 1 says
   • Aristotle alone sought knowledge, since Plato's ideas were not about the world

5. Use this

   Card J (two sources, the theater at Epidaurus). Source 1, a travel brochure (invented): "Sit in the top row and you can hear a coin drop on the stage." Source 2, a university acoustics study: the rows of stone seats act like a filter, so they soften low background noise from the crowd and let higher-pitched voices from the stage carry. The study does not say what the builders knew.

6. 4.

   Which source better explains why sound carries at Epidaurus, and why, Esme asks?

   • Source 1, because a brochure is written by people who know the site well
   • Source 1, because stories of a coin drop are more detailed than a study can be
   • Source 2: a study tests how the seats shape sound, while a brochure advertises
   • Source 2, because it tells us what the ancient builders knew about sound
7. 5.

   According to Source 2, how does the shape of the seats help voices reach the top rows, Bo asks?

   • Voices bounce off the crowd, which softens the sound before it reaches the stage
   • The rows of stone work like a filter, softening low crowd noise so voices can carry
   • The seats make the crowd's low noise louder, so voices from the stage are drowned
   • A visitor in the top row can hear a coin drop on the stage, as the brochure says
8. 6.

   A student claims: "The ancient builders must have planned the seats to filter sound." How strong is that, Tala asks?

   • Strong: the brochure says the sound is excellent, so the plan is certain
   • Strong: the seats filter sound, so the builders must have meant them to
   • Weak: the seats do not filter sound, so the builders could not have planned it
   • Weak: the study shows the effect but not what the builders knew or planned

9. Use this

   Card K (a chart of past and present). Euclid's Elements: the method of proving each statement from earlier ones. Modern geometry class: students prove that the angles of a triangle add to 180 degrees by reasoning from earlier rules. Greek theater: outdoors, in daylight, in a hillside, with masks. Modern school play: indoors, at night, with lights and a flat stage. English "theater" comes from Greek theatron.

10. 7.

    What continues from Euclid's time into a modern geometry class, and what changed, Ren asks?

    • Students no longer reason through anything now, but they copy facts from Euclid
    • Proving statements from earlier ones continues, though classes and books have changed
    • Proof is new to modern classes, since Euclid used pictures and not reasoning in his time
    • Nothing has changed, since modern classes use Euclid's book in the same way he wrote it
11. 8.

    Compare a Greek play with a modern school play on Card K. What changed, and what continues, Milo asks?

    • Both use masks and a hillside, so nothing about staging has changed
    • Greek plays were indoors at night and modern plays are outdoors in daylight
    • Modern plays have nothing in common with Greek plays, since the staging is so different
    • Staging changed from outdoor daylight to indoor lights, but plays for seeing continue

12. Use this

    Card L (timeline, BCE: a bigger number is earlier). The Parthenon was finished in 432. Plato's Academy was founded about 387. Aristotle's Lyceum was founded in 335. Euclid worked about 300. Eratosthenes measured Earth about 240.

13. 9.

    How long before Eratosthenes did Aristotle's Lyceum begin, Noah asks?

    • About 575 years earlier
    • About 35 years earlier
    • The Lyceum began about 95 years after Eratosthenes measured Earth
    • About 95 years earlier
14. 10.

    A student lists the events earliest first: Academy, Parthenon, Lyceum, Eratosthenes. How well is that order supported, Pia asks?

    • Well: 387 is a bigger number than 432, so the Academy is earliest
    • Well: the card lists the Academy before the Parthenon, so that is the order
    • Poorly: BCE dates cannot be put in order, since the years are approximate
    • Poorly: the Parthenon (432) came before the Academy (387), so they are out of order