History of Science: How to Teach Science Through History

In this long post, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know to ensure your children get more than enough science instruction, even if you consider yourself a history-based homeschool! This is the History of Science.

The History of Science

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I primarily teach my children through history-based unit studies.

For us, history has never been a subject that sits neatly inside one little box labelled History. Instead, it has become the framework around which we can build almost every other subject.

Study Ancient Egypt, and suddenly you have geography, architecture, engineering, mathematics, art, writing, religion, agriculture and astronomy to explore.

Alternatively, study the Romans, and you can investigate roads, aqueducts, medicine, warfare, architecture, sanitation, materials and engineering.

Or study the Industrial Revolution, and you can explore steam power, electricity, chemistry, factories, engineering, transportation, and the beginnings of modern technology.

That’s exactly why I love incorporating the history of science into our homeschool.

Science becomes more meaningful when children can see it developing alongside the people, places and problems of the past.

Rather than presenting science as a collection of facts that children need to memorise, history allows us to ask much more interesting questions:

What did people believe before this discovery?

What problem were they trying to solve?

How did they find out the answer?

What evidence did they have?

What happened when someone challenged the accepted idea?

How did one discovery lead to another?

These questions turn science into a story.

And children tend to remember stories.

Why Teach the History of Science?

Science is often taught as though today’s understanding has always been known.

We know the Earth orbits the Sun. And we know that germs can cause disease. We know that electricity can be generated and used to power machines. And we know that living things change over time.

But children can easily miss the enormous human story behind those discoveries.

Someone had to ask the question or make the observation.

Someone had to design the experiment, or build a machine that didn’t work the first time.

And someone had to challenge an established idea.

But most importantly, someone had to communicate the discovery to other people.

That makes the history of science a wonderful way of developing a scientific mindset.

Instead of simply learning what scientists discovered, children can explore how they create knowledge.

They can learn about:

• observation
• questioning
• prediction
• experimentation
• evidence
• measurement
• classification
• problem-solving
• mathematical thinking
• critical thinking
• scientific communication
• technological development
• collaboration
• perseverance
• changing scientific ideas

These are skills that remain valuable long after a particular science fact has been forgotten.

Science Fits Naturally Into a History-Based Homeschool

One of the biggest advantages of history-based learning is that you don’t need to teach subjects separately.

You don’t have to study Ancient Greece for history at 9 am, stop for lunch, and then suddenly announce:

“Now we’re doing science!”

Instead, you can follow the questions that naturally arise from the historical period you’re studying.

For example, if you’re studying Ancient Greece, you might discover Archimedes.

That could lead to:

• forces and buoyancy
• levers
• pulleys
• density
• volume
• measurement
• engineering
• simple machines
• mathematics
• the scientific method
• the history of inventions

One person can therefore become the doorway into an entire collection of subjects.

The same thing happens throughout history.

Ancient Civilisations and the Beginnings of Science

Before we even reach the famous scientists of the Scientific Revolution, there is a great deal of science to discover.

Ancient people needed to understand the world around them because their survival depended upon it.

They studied the seasons and the skies; measured land, learned how water moved, developed calendars and experimented with agriculture.

They learned about materials, built structures, developed measurement systems and created tools.

And they observed animals and plants and created medicines.

This gives us a wonderful opportunity to show children that science didn’t suddenly appear with modern laboratories.

Ancient Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is particularly rich for science study.

Children can investigate:

• irrigation
• agriculture
• astronomy
• calendars
• mathematics
• measurement
• engineering
• construction
• materials
• medicine

The Babylonian number system also provides a fascinating introduction to the history of mathematics.

You can even connect your history and science activities by building a working shaduf and investigating levers, balance and mechanical advantage.

Suddenly an ancient irrigation device becomes a physics lesson.

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt offers opportunities to investigate:

• engineering
• architecture
• medicine
• anatomy
• astronomy
• agriculture
• embalming
• materials science
• mathematics

Ask your children:

How did the Egyptians move enormous blocks of stone?

That one question could lead to an investigation into friction, ramps, levers and mechanical advantage.

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece opens the door to some of the earliest scientific thinkers whose work is still discussed today.

Study:

• Thales
• Pythagoras
• Hippocrates
• Aristotle
• Archimedes
• Eratosthenes
• Hipparchus

You can explore mathematics, astronomy, medicine, physics, biology, geography and engineering.

The Medieval World: Science Doesn’t Stop…More History of Science

It can be tempting to jump from Ancient Greece directly to Galileo and Newton.

But science did not disappear during the Middle Ages.

This is an excellent opportunity to challenge the simplistic idea that history moves neatly from “ancient clever people” to “modern clever people”.

During the medieval period, knowledge continued to develop across Europe, the Islamic world, Asia and elsewhere.

Children can explore:

• astronomy
• medicine
• optics
• mathematics
• chemistry/alchemy
• engineering
• agriculture
• navigation
• mechanical technology

The medieval world is also a wonderful opportunity to investigate how knowledge travels.

Books, scholars, trade routes, translations and universities all helped ideas move between cultures.

That gives you a fascinating intersection between history and science.

The Scientific Revolution

This is where the history of science becomes particularly exciting.

During the Scientific Revolution, European thinkers increasingly challenged established explanations about the natural world.

This period gives children opportunities to study figures such as:

• Nicolaus Copernicus
• Johannes Kepler
• Galileo Galilei
• William Harvey
• Robert Hooke
• Isaac Newton

Rather than simply memorising their names, investigate the problems they were trying to solve.

Galileo

Explore:

• motion
• falling objects
• telescopes
• astronomy
• observation
• evidence

Kepler

Explore:

• planetary motion
• orbits
• mathematics
• astronomy

William Harvey

Explore:

• anatomy
• circulation
• the heart
• observation
• dissection
• evidence

Newton

Explore:

• gravity
• forces
• motion
• light
• prisms
• mathematics

A scientist’s study therefore becomes a springboard into an entire branch of science.

The Enlightenment and the Classification of Nature

As scientific thinking developed, people became increasingly interested in collecting, observing and classifying the natural world.

This is a wonderful opportunity to take science outdoors.

Study naturalists and children can:

• collect observations
• draw specimens
• identify plants
• classify animals
• keep nature journals
• compare characteristics
• develop their own classification systems

This can eventually lead to Carl Linnaeus and the development of biological classification.

You don’t need expensive equipment.

A notebook, pencil and magnifying glass can turn a walk into a scientific investigation.

The Industrial Revolution: When Science Meets Technology

The Industrial Revolution is one of my favourite periods for combining history, science and technology.

Children can investigate what happens when scientific knowledge is applied to real-world problems.

Study:

• steam engines
• coal
• iron
• steel
• textiles
• factories
• mechanical power
• transportation
• engineering
• chemistry
• electricity

James Watt can lead to investigations into steam power.

The development of the steam engine can lead to an investigation into energy and heat.

Learning about the textile industry can lead to investigations into machines, materials, and engineering.

The development of railways can lead to investigations into forces, friction, motion, and engineering.

This is also a wonderful period for design challenges.

Instead of telling children how a machine works, give them a problem and let them attempt to solve it.

Science and the Victorian Era

The Victorian period provides an enormous amount of material.

You could study:

• Charles Darwin
• Michael Faraday
• James Clerk Maxwell
• Charles Babbage
• Ada Lovelace
• Joseph Lister
• Louis Pasteur
• Florence Nightingale
• Alexander Graham Bell
• Thomas Edison

The wonderful thing about this period is how interconnected everything becomes.

Medicine, electricity, engineering, biology, chemistry and communication are all changing rapidly.

Medicine

Investigate:

• germs
• sanitation
• infection
• antiseptics
• hospitals
• public health

Electricity

Investigate:

• circuits
• magnets
• electromagnetism
• generators
• motors

Biology

Investigate:

• evolution
• natural selection
• classification
• adaptation
• fossils

Computing

Investigate:

• mechanical calculation
• algorithms
• punched cards
• early computers
• Ada Lovelace

The Twentieth Century: Science Changes the World

The twentieth century allows children to see how rapidly scientific knowledge can develop.

There are almost too many possibilities to choose from.

You could explore:

• Albert Einstein
• Marie Curie
• Ernest Rutherford
• Niels Bohr
• Alexander Fleming
• Rosalind Franklin
• Alan Turing
• Katherine Johnson
• Dorothy Hodgkin
• Rachel Carson

And then investigate:

• relativity
• radioactivity
• atomic structure
• genetics
• antibiotics
• DNA
• computing
• space exploration
• environmental science
• medicine

This is also where you can begin discussing the ethical side of science.

Scientific knowledge can help people, but it can also be used destructively.

This opens up fascinating discussions about responsibility, technology and scientific ethics.

Don’t Forget the Scientists Who Were Overlooked: The Little Known History of Science

A history-of-science study is also a wonderful opportunity to broaden the stories children hear.

Traditional science history has often focused heavily on a relatively small group of famous European men.

Many other stories are worth exploring.

Look for scientists and inventors from different cultures, countries and backgrounds.

Study women such as:

• Marie Curie
• Ada Lovelace
• Rosalind Franklin
• Dorothy Hodgkin
• Katherine Johnson
• Mary Anning
• Caroline Herschel

And investigate scientists whose contributions were overlooked, disputed or only properly recognised later.

This makes the history of science richer and also gives children more opportunities to find scientists with whom they can identify.

Science Doesn’t Have to Mean a Science Textbook

This is my favourite part of teaching science through history.

You don’t necessarily need to begin with a science textbook.

Begin with a question.

If you’re studying the Romans:

How did Roman aqueducts move water?

If you’re studying Mesopotamia:

How did farmers lift water from a river?

If you’re studying the Vikings:

How did Viking ships stay afloat?

If you’re studying the Industrial Revolution:

How does a steam engine work?

If you’re studying Galileo:

How can we investigate falling objects?

If you’re studying Darwin:

How do scientists collect evidence for evolution?

If you’re studying Marie Curie:

What is radioactivity?

If you’re studying the Space Race:

How do rockets escape Earth’s gravity?

The historical question becomes the science lesson.

Ways to Incorporate Science Into History

Here are some ways to weave science naturally into a history-based homeschool.

1. Follow a Scientist

Choose one scientist connected to the historical period you’re studying.

Read a biography, investigate their discoveries and recreate one of their experiments.

2. Recreate a Historical Experiment

Instead of simply reading about an experiment, see whether you can recreate a safe version.

Children can record:

• the question
• their prediction
• equipment
• method
• observations
• results
• conclusion

This introduces the structure of scientific investigation.

3. Investigate Historical Technology

Choose one technology from your historical period.

Ask:

What problem did it solve?

How did it work?

What materials were needed?

What scientific principles were involved?

Then design your own version.

4. Create a Science Timeline

A science timeline is an excellent visual resource.

Include:

• discoveries
• inventions
• scientists
• important experiments
• technological developments

Then place it alongside your normal history timeline.

This helps children see that scientific discoveries happened within history, not outside it.

5. Keep a Scientist Notebook

Give each child a notebook specifically for the history of science.

For every scientist they study, record:

Name

Date

Country

Historical period

What they investigated

What they discovered

How they discovered it

Why it mattered

Something surprising

Younger children can draw pictures.

Older children can write detailed biographies and evaluate historical evidence.

6. Make Scientific Instruments

Children can investigate historical scientific equipment and then make simple models.

Ideas include:

• sundials
• astrolabes
• balances
• water clocks
• telescopes
• simple microscopes
• compasses
• pulleys
• levers

This combines history, science, engineering and craft.

7. Take Science Outdoors

History does not have to happen at the kitchen table.

If you’re studying…

Naturalists? Go outside.

Agriculture? Grow something.

Astronomy? Observe the Moon.

Geology? Examine rocks.

Navigation? Use a compass.

If you’re studying medicine, investigate historical plants and remedies, and discuss the difference between historical beliefs and modern medical evidence… You get the picture!

Ten History of Science Activities for Your Homeschool

You can adapt the following activities for children ages 5–16 by simplifying them for younger children and making them more analytical for older students.

Activity 1: Build a History of Science Timeline

Ages: 5–16

Create a long timeline showing how scientific knowledge developed.

Begin with ancient observations of the sky and continue to modern discoveries.

Add:

• scientist portraits
• inventions
• discoveries
• experiments
• dates
• historical events

Younger children

Give them prepared scientist cards to place on the timeline.

Older children

Ask them to research scientists and decide where each belongs.

Extension

Add your normal history timeline underneath.

Look for connections between scientific developments and historical events.

Activity 2: Become a Historical Scientist

Ages: 6–16

Choose a scientist from the historical period you’re studying.

Imagine you are that scientist.

Write:

What do I know?

What don’t I know?

What question am I trying to answer?

What do I predict?

How could I investigate it?

Younger children can draw their answers.

Older children can write a detailed scientific investigation.

Extension

Carry out a safe modern version of an experiment connected to the scientist.

Activity 3: What Did They Believe?

Ages: 8–16

Choose a scientific idea from history that has changed.

Examples include:

• the shape of the Earth
• the movement of the planets
• the causes of disease
• the nature of matter
• how species change
• what causes earthquakes

Create two columns:

What people believed then

What we understand now

Then ask:

Why might people have believed the older explanation?

This teaches children not to laugh at historical ideas simply because we now know more.

Activity 4: The Historical Experiment Challenge

Ages: 7–16

Choose a famous scientific experiment and investigate whether you can recreate it safely.

Your child must record:

Question

Prediction

Equipment

Method

Observations

Results

Conclusion

Then add:

What would the historical scientist have known that I know?

and

What do I know that the scientist didn’t?

This creates a wonderful bridge between historical knowledge and modern scientific knowledge.

Activity 5: Invent It!

Ages: 5–16

Choose a historical problem.

For example:

You live in ancient Mesopotamia. Your crops need water.

Or:

You are a medieval engineer. You need to move a heavy object.

Or:

You are an Industrial Revolution engineer. You need to move something using mechanical power.

Your child must design a solution.

They should:

1. Draw the invention.
2. Label its parts.
3. Explain how it works.
4. Identify the science involved.
5. Build a model if possible.

Older children can test and improve their design.

Activity 6: Science Detective

Ages: 7–16

Give your child a historical object or invention.

It could be:

• a compass
• an old camera
• a telescope
• a pulley
• a water wheel
• a steam engine
• an early telephone

Ask them to become a Science Detective.

They need to discover:

What is it?

Who used it?

When was it used?

What problem did it solve?

How does it work?

What scientific principles does it use?

How has it changed?

Finish by drawing the object and labelling it.

Activity 7: Scientist Trading Cards

Ages: 5–16

Create a collection of scientist cards.

Each card should contain:

• name
• portrait
• dates
• country
• scientific field
• important discovery
• interesting fact

Younger children can draw the scientist.

Older children can include a quotation, primary source or short explanation of the scientific discovery.

Extension

Sort the cards by:

• historical period
• scientific field
• country
• type of discovery
• gender
• ancient and modern

This becomes a reusable resource for future studies.

Activity 8: Science Through the Ages Museum

Ages: 5–16

Turn part of your home into a temporary History of Science Museum.

Each child chooses an invention, scientist or discovery.

They create:

• an information card
• a model
• a drawing
• an experiment
• a timeline
• a demonstration

Invite family members to walk through the museum.

Older children can act as museum guides and explain the science behind their exhibits.

This is particularly useful as an end-of-unit project because it allows children to demonstrate what they have learned without simply completing a test.

Activity 9: The Scientific Problem-Solving Challenge

Ages: 8–16

Give your child a historical problem.

For example:

Your crops aren’t getting enough water.

Your ship needs to travel farther.

You need to measure time accurately.

Or you need to move a huge stone.

Perhaps you need to communicate over a long distance.

Or learn to preserve food.

You could even need to reduce infection in a hospital.

Your child must develop a solution using the knowledge and materials available during that historical period.

The important rule is:

You cannot use modern technology.

This forces children to think creatively and historically.

Activity 10: The Science Newspaper

Ages: 7–16

Pretend you are a newspaper reporter living during a major scientific development.

Write a newspaper containing:

• headline
• scientist interview
• explanation of the discovery
• public reaction
• illustration
• advertisement for the new invention
• opposing viewpoint

For example:

“GALILEO CLAIMS THE EARTH IS MOVING!”

Or:

“NEW STEAM ENGINE PROMISES TO CHANGE INDUSTRY!”

Older children can research the actual historical controversy and include competing viewpoints.

Activity 11: Build a Historical Laboratory

Ages: 5–16

Create a pretend scientist’s laboratory.

You don’t need expensive equipment.

Collect:

• jars
• notebooks
• measuring containers
• magnifying glasses
• rulers
• string
• cardboard
• paper
• pencils
• safe household materials

Give the children a historical scientist identity and allow them to investigate a question.

The goal isn’t to create a scientifically accurate nineteenth-century laboratory.

The goal is to encourage children to think like investigators.

Activity 12: Discovery or Invention?

Ages: 8–16

Create cards containing examples such as:

• gravity
• telephone
• electricity
• microscope
• DNA
• steam engine
• vaccination
• radio

Sort them into:

Discovery

Invention

Both/It’s complicated.

Then discuss why.

This is a surprisingly useful activity because it encourages children to think about the difference between understanding something that already exists and creating something new.

Activity 13: The Science Debate

Ages: 10–16

Choose a historical scientific controversy.

Assign different viewpoints to different children.

They must research their position and debate it.

Possible topics include:

• Should people accept the heliocentric model?
• Should evolution be accepted?
• Should factories use new machines?
• Should nuclear energy be developed?
• Should scientists experiment on animals?
• Should new technologies be used before their long-term effects are understood?

The purpose isn’t simply to “win”.

Children should learn how to:

• evaluate evidence
• distinguish evidence from opinion
• explain reasoning
• listen to opposing arguments
• change their minds when evidence warrants it

Activity 14: My History of Science Museum Box

Ages: 5–16

Give each child a box.

Over the course of your history studies, they collect or create miniature representations of scientific developments.

For example:

• a clay tablet
• a model lever
• a paper telescope
• a sundial
• a wheel
• a plant specimen drawing
• a circuit diagram
• a DNA model
• a rocket

At the end of the year, they have created their own History of Science Collection.

Activity 15: Follow the Discovery

Ages: 8–16

Choose one scientific discovery and follow its journey through history.

Start with:

What was known before?

Then investigate:

Who asked a new question?

What evidence did they collect?

What did they discover?

Who challenged it?

Who built upon it?

What did it eventually lead to?

This creates a chain from one scientific idea to another.

For example:

Early observations → astronomy → telescope → improved observations → new theories → modern space science

Children begin to understand that science isn’t a list of isolated discoveries.

It is a conversation across generations.

Creating a History of Science Adventure Box

If your children enjoy hands-on learning, take it a step further by creating a History of Science Adventure Box.

Fill it with things they can investigate, build and experiment with.

You might include:

• magnifying glasses
• notebooks
• rulers
• string
• cardboard
• magnets
• mirrors
• simple pulleys
• paper
• clay
• measuring cups
• craft sticks
• wheels
• gears
• old electronic components
• toy fossils
• natural objects
• scientist cards
• timeline cards
• experiment cards

You can then change the contents according to the historical period you are studying.

Studying Ancient Mesopotamia?

Add clay, string, water and materials for building a shaduf.

Studying Ancient Greece?

Add mirrors, measuring equipment, levers and geometry challenges.

Studying the Scientific Revolution?

Add prisms, lenses and astronomy activities.

Studying the Industrial Revolution?

Add gears, wheels and engineering challenges.

Studying Victorian science?

Add magnets, circuits and natural history activities.

Studying the Space Race?

Add rockets, astronomy resources and engineering challenges.

Let Children Follow Their Own Interests

One reason I particularly enjoy teaching through history is that I can watch for those moments when a child’s eyes light up.

Perhaps one child becomes fascinated by astronomy.

Another wants to know how machines work.

Yet another wants to investigate dinosaurs.

Another becomes obsessed with the human body.

Another wants to know how computers work.

This is where history-based learning really comes into its own.

You can start with the same historical period but let each child follow a different scientific pathway.

For example, while studying the Industrial Revolution:

A Child: steam engines and engineering

B Child: textile machinery

C Child: electricity

D Child: medicine and public health

E Child: chemistry and materials

They are all studying the same period.

But they aren’t all required to learn the same thing.

That flexibility is one of homeschooling’s great strengths.

A Simple History of Science Study Formula

If you’re wondering where to begin, I like to keep it simple.

Choose:

1. A Historical Period

Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Medieval Europe, the Scientific Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the Victorian era, the twentieth century, etc.

2. A Scientist

Choose someone connected to that period.

3. A Question

What were they trying to understand?

4. A Book

Find an engaging biography, living book or illustrated reference.

5. An Experiment

Recreate something connected to their work.

6. A Project

Build, draw, design, write or demonstrate something.

7. A Timeline Entry

Add the scientist and discovery to your history-of-science timeline.

8. A Discussion

Ask what changed because of this discovery.

That is enough to create a meaningful science lesson.

History of Science: General Resources

I have hoarded quite a few general resources over the years that are particularly useful when beginning a history-of-science study.

I love resources that give children an overview first.

Once they see the bigger picture, you can choose individual scientists, discoveries, or branches of science to investigate in much greater depth.

The Story of Science

This is a set of three books and, among homeschoolers, they’re generally described as living books.

By that I mean they don’t simply present a collection of dry facts. They tell the story of scientific ideas and the people behind them in a way that encourages children to keep asking questions.

The series takes readers through an enormous span of scientific history, beginning with ancient thinkers such as Thales and moving through figures including Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, before continuing into Faraday, Maxwell, and the electromagnetic revolution, and eventually to Einstein, Bohr, Feynman, and modern science.

For a history-loving homeschooler, this sort of resource is particularly valuable because it keeps science connected to the historical narrative.

Rather than thinking:

“Now we have to do science.”

you can ask:

“What was happening in science during the period we are studying?”

That small change in approach can make a tremendous difference.

Historia Time-Line of Science

A large science timeline can be an incredibly useful visual resource.

One thing I particularly like about a timeline is that it lets children see when things happened.

Hang it somewhere your children regularly pass.

And yes, visual resources are much more effective when children see them repeatedly without being formally instructed to study them!

I’m not saying you need to hang your history poster in the bathroom…

We’ve discovered that the bathroom is surprisingly effective for posters that need to be noticed.

The important thing is to put your timeline somewhere your children will naturally encounter it.

Over time, names and dates begin to become familiar.

Milestones in Science – Thames & Kosmos

This is a particularly lovely resource for families who enjoy hands-on science.

The kit contains experiments connected to significant discoveries in the history of science and introduces children to scientists and inventors, including Archimedes, Copernicus, Einstein, Watt and Darwin.

One strength of a resource like this is that children aren’t simply reading about a discovery.

They are doing something.

That is exactly the approach I love in a history-based homeschool.

Read about a scientist.

Investigate the historical context.

Try the experiment.

Ask questions.

Record the results.

Then place the discovery into its historical setting.

And if you want to make the whole experience feel a little more exciting, add a lab coat and a pair of science goggles!

The Adventure of Discoveries and Inventions

These are wonderful resources for dipping in and out of.

They cover a huge span of history, from prehistory to the modern world, and the photographs make them particularly useful for browsing.

A large illustrated reference book can be more useful than one you have to read from beginning to end.

Children can look at a picture, notice something interesting and ask a question.

And that question becomes the beginning of your next rabbit trail.

Those rabbit trails are often where the best learning happens.

Eyewitness Great Scientists

The Eyewitness series can be a useful starting point for a scientist study.

The visual presentation makes the information accessible to a wide range of ages, and these sorts of books work particularly well when you want to introduce a scientist before deciding whether to pursue a much deeper study.

Use the book as a starting point, not a finishing point.

Read the overview.

Choose the scientist who grabs your child’s attention.

Then follow the trail.

The Story of Science DVD

Sometimes you need a less intense study day.

A documentary or educational DVD can provide a change of pace while still keeping the learning connected to your current history studies.

I don’t think every homeschool day needs to involve a complicated project.

Sometimes watching, discussing and asking questions is enough.

You can always return to the topic later.

You Don’t Have to Do Everything!

This is the most important thing about creating a history-of-science homeschool.

You don’t have to do everything.

There are an astonishing number of scientists, inventions, discoveries and experiments that you could study.

You couldn’t possibly cover them all.

And you don’t need to.

Start with your history.

Notice the science that naturally emerges.

Choose one or two fascinating questions.

Follow your children’s interests.

Read a good book.

Try something practical.

Ask questions.

Make connections.

Then move on.

The purpose isn’t to produce children who can recite hundreds of scientists and their dates.

The purpose is to raise children who understand that knowledge is something humans have worked incredibly hard to discover.

Science is a story of curiosity.

It is a story of mistakes and persistence, of observation and imagination.

It is a story of people asking questions that sometimes took generations to answer.

And when we teach science alongside history, our children get to see the whole story.

They see the ancient farmer looking at the sky.

The Greek mathematician puzzling over a problem.

The medieval scholar studying an ancient text.

Or the Renaissance astronomer questioning what everyone thought they knew.

Understanding why the Victorian engineer was building a machine.

The scientist peering through a microscope.

And the mathematician calculating a trajectory.

The modern scientist using technology that would have seemed like magic only a few generations earlier.

That is the history of science.

And it is a wonderful story to explore together.

Scientist Studies We Have Done

Islamic Scientist Study: Alhazan

Watson and Crick Scientist Study

Gregor Mendel and the Theory of Heredity

Charles Darwin

Aristarchus Homeschool Lesson

Ancient Times Scientist Study: Pythagorus

Ancient Times Scientist Study: Thales

I have a YouTube channel, AngelicscalliwagsHomeschool, which has some of the activities I’ve done with my children over the years.