Cosmology
Who Am I?

Cosmology is the story of the universe. According to the Green Studies Curriculum, cosmology is “the study of the origin, processes, structure, and/or dynamics of the universe.”

For the purposes of these activities, it is the science-based story of the universe. Personal cosmologies may differ according to culture and background and providing a basis for much discussion, they are not the definitions we use.

 

Objectives

Green (Earth Literacy Goals)

  1. Students will identify what internally lets them know who they are.

  2. Students will identify what cultural aspects contribute to their identity.

  3. Students will identify what how much is enculturation verses connection to the natural world.

 

ESL

  1. Students will review present tense written statements with variant terminations for the same stem.

  2. Students will increase their creativity by using the same stem for initial stimulus and will have to find variant predicate nouns and adjectives, and phrases.

 

Materials

  • Students need paper and pen.

 

Time

2-3 hours.  If the writing is done outside, then discussion is one class period, 1 hour.

 

Steps/procedures

  • Students draw two vertical lines on their paper to create three columns. The first column should be the largest area, as that will contain the sentences.

  • Over column one they write,     “I am.”

  • Over column two they write,     “What”

  • Over column three they write,   “Significance”

  •  Students are given the following stem and are instructed to finish it a minimum of 20 times:

    •  I am …

  •  After writing the 20 statements, they will fill in columns two and three.

Example:
I am What Significance

1.  I am Brad.  

First or given name.

Identifies me in the family

2.  I am Mr. Stocker 

Family name

distinguishes me from other families.

   

Vocabulary

identity enculturation culture  familial 

significance

 gender  impose             column
self-esteem distinguish nationality         linguistic                       
roots                personality        behavior  

 

Resources

Web Articles of Related Interest