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?

   • Socrates wrote that the unexamined life is not worth living, so he valued writing
   • Aristotle thought questions were useless, while Socrates thought they were the key to everything
   • 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?

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

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

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

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.

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

   • 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
   • The rows of stone work like a filter, softening low crowd noise so voices can carry
   • Voices bounce off the crowd, which softens the sound before it reaches the stage
7. 5.

   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
   • 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
   • Strong: the seats filter sound, so the builders must have meant them to

8. 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.

9. 6.

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

   • 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
   • Proving statements from earlier ones continues, though classes and books have changed
   • Students no longer reason through anything now, but they copy facts from Euclid
10. 7.

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

    • Modern plays have nothing in common with Greek plays, since the staging is so different
    • Greek plays were indoors at night and modern plays are outdoors in daylight
    • Staging changed from outdoor daylight to indoor lights, but plays for seeing continue
    • Both use masks and a hillside, so nothing about staging has changed
11. 8.

    A student claims: "Nothing from ancient Greece affects school today." How does Card K bear on that, Zee asks?

    • It supports the claim: the modern school play is indoors, unlike Greek theater
    • It weakens the claim: school geometry uses proof, and the word theater is Greek
    • It weakens the claim: Greek schools took proof from modern geometry classes
    • It supports the claim: the Greek theater is gone, so nothing from Greece remains

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

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

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