Project:
Biography of a Scientist
Overview
Science is both a body of knowledge about the world and a
method for creating new knowledge. Both of these facts about
science are very general and philosophical. Science is also very
specific and practical. Science is a human endeavor carried out
by real people. It moves forward in great leaps only after many
individuals contribute thousands of incremental steps.
In science classes you learn about the facts discovered by
science and about how to discover new facts and build
theories. Less time is spent on exploring the human side of
science. In this project you will take some time to learn about
individual scientists and their discoveries. You will choose a
biography about the life of the scientist both in and out of the
lab. You will read about the person: their family, their career,
their successes, their failures. You will also read about the
scientist’s contributions to the body of knowledge called
science.
Objectives:
1. To learn about the successes, failures, and “grit” of
one person significant in the development of
science.
2. To collect specific information necessary to a
biographical understanding of your scientist.
3. To recognize and summarize that person’s
contributions to science and to history.
4. To create a product in order to demonstrate what
you have read and learned about your scientist.
Time Line:
 Choose your book by December 14th!
You will be receiving credit for this assignment
in your humanities classes. (IRQ’s)
The book should be reading level appropriate!
Your humanities teacher can help you with this
decision.
 Read your book December 14th through IRQ
due date January 08, 2016.
 Choose your projects and complete your work
by January 13th. Projects will displayed
during conferences!
Project Requirements:
You may choose to create ONE of the following:
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Newspaper
Children’s book
Poster
Lap Book (collection of foldables)
Power Point/Prezi or other electronic
presentation mode
Criteria for your project regardless of the type of
presentation you decide to create are:
III.
 How did their work affect scientists who came
after them?
 What does their work mean for us today? Did
their work lead to new technology that changes
how people work?
 Did their work lead to a deeper understanding
of the world?
 Does their work have any implications for
everyday life? Explain.
 Creative title
I.
Personal Biography:
 First and last name of your scientist
 Date of birth and date of death, if scientist is no
longer living
 Country/state where he/she was born
 Family life: facts about the person or events from
his or her life
 How did this person demonstrate grit? Was the
person successful? Did they struggle to make
ends meet?
 An event (war, discovery, invention, etc.) that
happened in history while each scientist lived.
II.
Scientific Biography
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Education (location)
Name the type or types of science this person
studied. Examples: astronomy, chemistry,
genetics, physics, etc.
 Major contributions (new ideas, discoveries, or
new understandings of the natural world) the
Scientist has made to benefit Science or
Mathematics (must provide dates if applicable)
 Significance (must explain why this individual is
worthy of note in their field of expertise, why is
this person famous)
Personal and Scientific Legacy
IV.
Additional Project criteria
 Picture/photos of your scientist, drawn and
colored, or if from the Internet it should be
cited (Web site). Be sure to include captions!
 At least one quotes attributed to the scientist
or about the scientist (and the source)
 A graphic time-line with a minimum of 7
entries