Montessori’s Second Great lesson is the Elementary child’s first introduction to the interconnectedness of life on Earth. It is also their first introduction to the life sciences.
Where the First Great Lesson ended, the Second Great Lesson begins. It starts with how conditions changed on Earth from the planet’s chaotic beginning to just before life appeared. Then, it describes how life first appeared, how it evolved, and how Earth has transformed from being devoid of life, to full of a variety of life.
After you hear the lesson, you will make your own fossils, learn about the interactions between Earth’s spheres, get your mind turning with a question-asking game that will prepare you to explore life on Earth even further, and have a chance to research other topics relating to the beginning of life on Earth.
That’s not all though, the Second Great Lesson is only the beginning of what there is to learn about life. At the end of this lesson, there is a section that will give you some ideas about which life science topics you might want to explore next!
Related topics and things you might want to know already:
What you’ll learn:
- How we think life began on Earth.
- How Earth has changed over time.
- What some of the clues are that we use to help us guess what life on Earth was like a long time ago.
Pre-lesson discussion questions:
- Do you remember how the Universe and Earth came to be?
- Do you remember what happened when Earth’s crust began to cool?
- What do you think Earth was like before there was life on it?
