A STEM/STEAM program for Grades 6-12

Watch a descriptive video:

 

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Long ago, without the aid of science, the ancient Greeks looked at the mountains, sea and sky. With questing minds that demanded explanations, they did what all we humans do. They created a story to explain where they came from, and where Nature came from. Hesiod, a poet in Homer’s day, left us with that ancient tale. It is called The Theogony. The Birth of the Gods.

In this fossil story born of the Bronze Age imagination, the first being, Gaia, from her womb of Tartarus, creates Titans––powerful child creators who add salt to the sea, create rivers and streams and bring prophecy into the world. Sometimes they take the form of giants, at other times the natural elements. But Gaia also gives birth to monsters, and so her downfall begins. In the end, her grandson Zeus and his Olympian siblings overthrow the Titans, imprisoning them forever.

In some ways, this outdated story is stunningly accurate. In other ways, it speaks of a world without microscopes, telescopes and powerful technologies that allow us to peer into and out from our very real Earth, afloat in a mysterious universe.

StoryScience is part storytelling, part science education. In the first half of this 90 minute presentation, Odds Bodkin performs his version of The Theogony–– Fall of the Titans––with voices, narrative and music on 12-string guitar. The tale taps a young audience’s built-in ability to experience myth via the spoken word. Lights then go down and Mr. Bodkin tells another story, this one with photos, videos, diagrams, live Earth science sites and explanations that scan across modern science’s new story about where we think we came from, and our latest insights into what Nature is.

Importantly, it examines climate change and our role in causing it.

Requirements: auditorium capable of lights out, an armless chair, projection screen and lectern with wi-fi.