Journey to the Center of the Earth


LESSON PLAN

Prepared by
HEURISTIX
Laurie Blass and Pam Elder,
Instructional Designers
Corte Madera, CA


Film Summary
Journey to the Center of the Earth is the story of a single-minded professor and his nephew who venture the impossible to explore the fantastic world of the Earth's core. Like the Jules Verne classic from which it was adapted, the story features technology and scientific knowledge of the era in which it is set, creating at once both a fantastic yet realistic adventure. With added twists of romance, cultural conflict, and scientific conjecture, this new television version captures the imagination in the same way as the original.

Jules Verne's Life and Times
Jules Verne was born in 1828 in Nantes, France, then a prosperous seafaring city along Brittany's Atlantic coast. Though as young boys, Jules and his younger brother Paul had access only to small rowboats, they were surrounded by tall sailing ships. Verne once wrote, "In my imagination I climbed into their riggings, raised myself to their crow's nests, gripped the tops of their masts."

Verne's parents influenced him greatly. His father was a solicitor and amateur poet who shared with him his fascination with the many scientific discoveries of the day. His mother possessed musical talent and a fine mind and imagination. Following the tradition of the times, Verne studied law in Paris with the aim of someday succeeding his father. Though he passed the bar and briefly took a seat on the Paris Bourse (stock exchange), he ultimately chose to follow his lifelong passion for writing, beginning by crafting scripts for theatrical productions in Paris.

An immensely successful twenty-year association with an enterprising magazine publisher followed. Verne's stories were serialized and later published as books. They were fantastic tales, but well-grounded in realism, with scientific discoveries of the day interwoven (or occasionally embellished) in believable ways. A renaissance in science marked his era and fueled the Industrial Revolution. People throughout the world hungered for understanding of the wonders of the day. Many of Verne's books, close to 100 titles in all, helped translate the present and forecast the future.

One "lost novel," Paris in the Twentieth Century, was found and published for the first time only recently. In it, Verne predicts the general use of automobiles, stock tickers, rapid transit systems, mechanical elevators, and facsimile printing-none of which had been invented in 1863, the year in which he wrote it.

Many consider Jules Verne, along with H.G. Wells, among the founders of science fiction.

Jules Verne died of old age in 1905, after twenty years of pain from a bullet wound to his leg that was inflicted by a demented nephew.

The Science of Science Fiction
Science fiction is a genre that has science as an anchoring theme, or that deals with the impact that actual or imagined science has on society or individuals. The "science" of science fiction derives from fields such as physics, biology, geology, technology, and discovery and invention. While much science fiction addresses real scientific facts (actual science), it can also include scientific errors (erroneous science), in which the author intentionally or unintentionally makes mistakes. An example of erroneous science is Jules Verne's use of a cannon to shoot travelers to the moon in his novel From the Earth to the Moon. This is a mistake-the travelers wouldn't have survived because the forces of acceleration and impact would have crushed them.

Discussion
1. Do you like science fiction? Why or why not? If you do, what is your favorite work of science fiction? Why is it your favorite?

2. According to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, the science of science fiction is much more accurate today than it was in the past. To what do you attribute this fact?

3. How do you think a science fiction writer might get ideas? Think of the key scientific concepts of a science fiction movie you have seen and try to describe the process the writer may have gone through in order to weave them into a believable story.

4. Brainstorm for branches of science and major scientific principles (e.g., physics, gravity). Write them on the board so everyone can see them. You may want to use these in the following activity.

Activity
Think of three works of science fiction. They can be movies, books, or episodes of a TV program. In each, find two examples of scientific principles and decide to which branch of science they belong and/or which principles they reflect. Determine if the examples are actual or erroneous. If they are erroneous, explain how or why they are incorrect. Record your ideas in the following charts, and share your findings with a classmate.

Work #1 Title: __________________________
Example Branch of Science/Principle Accurate of Erroneous? If Erroneous, How or Why?

Work #2 Title: __________________________
Example Branch of Science/Principle Accurate of Erroneous? If Erroneous, How or Why?

Work #3 Title: __________________________
Example Branch of Science/Principle Accurate of Erroneous? If Erroneous, How or Why?


Journal
Write about a scientific fact, principle, or theory that you have never seen represented in science fiction, but that you think would be a good basis for a science fiction story.

The Science of Journey to the Center of the Earth: The TV Movie
Discussion
Before you watch the TV movie, discuss these questions in small groups:

1. Have you read Verne's original novel Journey to the Center of the Earth? If so, discuss how the TV movie might be the same or different from the novel.

2. Do you expect the science of the TV movie that you are about to watch to be mostly accurate or mostly erroneous? Explain your answer.

3. Compare how a story about a journey to the center of the earth might be told in three different eras: a hundred years ago (in Jules Verne's times), today, and a hundred years from now. In your comparison, think about the past, present, and possible future technology and scientific discoveries that would influence the story.

Activity
While you watch Journey to the Center of the Earth, look for examples both accurate and erroneous science. For each example of erroneous science, try to give an explanation as to why or how it is incorrect. Record your observations in the following charts, and compare your findings with those of a classmate when the movie is over.

Examples of Accurate Science in Journey to the Center of the Earth


Examples of Erroneous Science in Journey to the Center of the Earth
Example How or Why is it incorrect?


Journal
Write a review of the movie you just watched. Summarize the plot and then give your opinion. Discuss some or all of the following in your review:
or anything else you feel is worth mentioning.

The Science of Jules Verne's Works

Discussion
1. Jules Verne wrote most of his works in France during the mid- to late 19th century. This was a revolutionary time for science and scientific discoveries. These include developments in electromagnetism (Faraday, 1831), mechanical engineering steam power, railroads, evolutionary theory (Darwin, 1858), and geography (Ross, the magnetic pole, 1831). Talk about how these inventions and discoveries might have affected people's everyday lives and how people might have felt about the rapid changes occurring around them.

2. How do you think Jules Verne might have gained access to scientific information?

3. What else was happening in Europe and the United States during Verne's life? What was happening in politics? In the arts and in entertainment? What were the social issues of the day?

Activity
If you haven't already done so, read Verne's original novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth. Then read another of Verne's novels (see Resources). In addition, do Web or library research on the inventions and scientific discoveries of Verne's era. Then write a paper (or give a presentation) on one of the following topics:

Journal
Rent the 1959 movie version of Journey to the Center of the Earth (see Resources) and compare it to the current movie version.

Writing Science Fiction

Discussion
1. Make a list of some current scientific theories and discoveries and cutting edge technologies. For example, what are the latest findings in astrophysics or genetic engineering? What new computer technologies are being developed? Talk about the advantages and disadvantages of each, the effect of each on our lives today, and how they might change life on earth in the future.

2. Where can you find good sources of current, accurate scientific information? Think of magazines, TV programs, and websites. (If you're not sure, check the list in Resources. How many of these are you familiar with?)



Activity
Choose one or more current scientific theories or discoveries or technological developments that interest you and find out more about them. (See Resources). Use them to create an outline for a work of science fiction. Your outline can be for a book, a short story, a movie script, or an episode of a television program. Exchange outlines with classmates. Evaluate each other's and give feedback on your plans. Pay particular attention to how your classmate's story idea uses science and technology.

Journal
Generate three different versions of the plot you outlined for the activity in the following ways:

Resources
A Sampling of Jules Verne's Novels
Paris in the Twentieth Century, 1863
A Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1864
From the Earth to the Moon, 1866
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, 1870
Around the World in Eighty Days, 1873
Mysterious Island, 1874
Master of the World, 1904
You can read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea online in its entirety at The University of Virginia's Electronic Text Center at http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/.

Movie Versions of Jules Verne Novels
Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1959
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 1954
From the Earth to the Moon, 1958
Around the World in 80 Days, 1956
Around the World in 80 Days, 1989

Information about Jules Verne

Websites:
North American Jules Verne Society at http://www.interlog.com/~anash/najvs.html.
Garmt de Vries' Jules Verne Collection at http://www.phys.uu.nl/~gdevries/verne/verne.html.
Zvi Har'El's Jules Verne Collection at http://www.math.technion.ac.il/~rl/JulesVerne/.

Video:
Jules Verne, Biography, A&E Home Video, 1995.

Books:
Jules Verne: An Exploratory Biography, by Herbert R. Lottman. St. Martin's Press, 1996.
The Jules Verne Encyclopedia, by Brian Taves, Stephen Michaluk, Edward Baxter, Ray Cartier. Scarecrow Press, 1996.
Jules Verne Rediscovered, by Arthur B. Evans. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1988.
Jules Verne: The Man Who Invented Tomorrow, by Peggy Teeters. Walker and Company, 1993.

Books and Websites about Science Fiction

Books:
Predicting the Future: From Jules Verne to Bill Gates, by John Williams Malone, 1997.
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, by John Clute (Editor), Peter Nicholls (Editor), 1995.

Websites:
The Science Fiction Resource Guide at http://sflovers.rutgers.edu/Web/SFRG/.
Asimov's Science Fiction at http://www.sfsite.com/asimovs/.
The Sci-Fi Channel at http://www.scifi.com/.
Resources for 19th Century Science

Books:
Physics in the Nineteenth Century, by Robert D. Purrington, 1997.
Before Big Science: The Pursuit of Modern Chemistry and Physics 1800-1940 (Twayne's History of Science and Society Series, 1), by Mary Jo Nye , 1996.
The Culture of Time and Space, 1880-1918, by Stephen Kern, 1986.
Websites:
For books, web indexes, and chronologies on the history of science in the 19th century, go to the University of California San Diego's History of Science/Science Studies Reference Sources list at http://gort.ucsd.edu/ds/initial.html.

Visit the WWW Virtual Library for the History of Science, Technology & Medicine at http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/hstm/hstm_ove.htm . Click on "Scientific Fields" and choose any of particular interest. Then click on any chronologies available; for example, in the Biology list see the "Chronology of Significant Historical Developments in the Biological Sciences."

The Museum of the History of Science at Oxford University provides on-line exhibitions as well as a newsletter and image library. See http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/.

An overview of Science and the Industrial Revolution is available at http://www.lucknow.com/horus/guide/si101.html.

Sources of Current Scientific Information

Websites such as:
The National Academy of Sciences at http://www.nas.edu/.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at http://www.nasa.gov/.

Radio and TV programs such as:
Science Friday (National Public Radio)
Nova (Public Broadcasting System)

Magazines and journals such as:
Science
Nature
Scientific American
Popular Science
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