Activity 3

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An Example

Bridging questions

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On April 10th 1912, the Titanic embarked on its maiden voyage, sailing from Southhampton, England, to New York CIty. Four days later the luxury liner struck an iceberg, and early the next day it sank, killing 1,500 people. This activity will ask you to explore the question 'Why did the Titanic sink?'. It will ask you to do this from the viewpoint of different disciplines...

The titanic story

April 15:

Hover over each marker below to identify key events of the Titanic story

Titanic timeline April 1912

3.30am

2.20am

12.45am

12.15am

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11.40pm

11.39pm

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April 14:

April 10

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A question like 'Why did the Titanic sink?' is a bridging question, which means that it requires knowledge from a range of disciplines in which to find an adequate answer. As such, it is a cross-disciplnary question. Cross-disciplinary simply means more than one discipline. Many questions require a cross-discpilinary approach and require the viewpoints from Science, History, Geography, Maths, English, Art (amongst many others)

Bridging Questions

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We will be looking through the lens of two disciplines to address the question 'Why did the Titanic sink?', these will be Science and History. Let us now look at how we can look at the question through these two disciplines.

Bridging Questions

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Science produces knowledge through observations of the world around us - these can be measured and repeated to give us scientific facts. Let us observe and investigate some materials and concepts to generate a scientific understanding of why the Titanic sank.

using the lens of science

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The key scientific concepts relevant to our question are:

• buoyancy
• density
• displacement
• upthrust

These concepts will help explain why ships float and why they might sink.

scientific concepts

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Let's now be scientists. Get a container of water (a bowl or cup will do) and collect a range of objects. Observe the objects and compare the properties each one has - consider the size, weight, shape, colour... Investigate which properties seem to affect each objects ability to float. Write down and record their observations.

Task:

add your thoughts here

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BUOYANCY, DENSITY & DISPLACEMENT

Watch the video to gain an understanding of the concepts of buoyancy, density and displacement. How do these concepts relate to your observations with different materials?

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Click on each of the circles below.

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Buoyancy and Upthrust

Upthrust is the pressure water exerts on an object it comes into contact with. To understand the idea of upthrust, think about what happens as you load a ship.

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How might the scientific concepts of buoyancy, density, displacement and upthrust help explain why the Titanic sank? Add your thoughts by clicking on the pink '+' button.

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Task:

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History produces knowledge by reflecting on documentation and testimony from the past. Such a reflection helps explain WHY particular events happened. Watch the video in which to consider a historical explanation for why the Titanic sank.

using the lens of HISTORY

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After watching the previous video, examine the following historical characters and facts:

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Based on the historical information you have explored, what factors were to blame for the sinking of the Titanic? Add your thoughts by clicking on the pink '+' button.

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By looking at the bridging question 'Why did the Titanic sink?' through the lens of two disciplines, we have discovered that each provides different questions, methods and norms of thought. Let us now explore what we mean by different questions, methods and norms of thought.

What have we learnt?

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Questions, methods and norms of thought

Each discipline looks at the world through a different lens in which to generate knowledge. This lens is made up of different types of questions, methods and norms of thought. As an example, let us look at the questions, methods and norms of thought appropriate to Science: Questions: A question that is amenable to science is one where we can test our ideas about the natural world by analysing observations and measurements. Methods: Science involves gathering and analysing observations to test predictions Norms of thought: A good answer in science has lots of evidence (observations) to support it and is reproducible by other researchers.

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Why did the Titanic sink?

During this session we have used the lens of Science and History to answer the bridging question: 'Why did the Titanic sink?' As we have seen, these disciplines use different questions, methods and norms of thought. We have just looked at the questions, methods and norms of thought relevant to Science. Let us now consider the questions, methods and norms appropriate to History.

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Why did the Titanic sink?

When we examined the question from the point of view of History, we also asked questions about the past: whose decisions and actions affected events? What social and technical factors contributed to the sinking of the ship? If the questions asked are about the past, then the methods used by History are the examination and analysis of objects, documents and records from the past, as well as the testimony of people who lived through past events. The norms of thought then for historical knowledge are to understand events from the viewpoint of past causal factors. Such factors cannot be explained through scientific methods.

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Summary

During this session we have discovered that bridging questions that draw upon more than one discipline allow us to understand a topic more deeply. Such questions allow us to:

• Develop more scholarly thinking
• Generate a sense of curiosity
• Recognise the strengths / limitations of a discipline's methods and norms of thought

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Thank you!

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