Mock Trial: Galileo Galilei
Preparation for the Trial
After we completed the unit on the Protestant Reformation, the class began learning about the Scientific Revolution. The students completed a Gallery Walk in order to gain exposure to the developments in astronomy from Aristotle until Galileo. Several students then presented about a single astronomer in order to make sure that the class understood what they had seen in the Gallery Walk.
During the first week of the semester, when we first began discussing my inquiry project and ways for students to develop autonomy, Antoinette suggested that we put on a mock trial because she wants to prepare for her future as a lawyer. The students responded positively to this and several of them share Antoinette’s career goal. Others were simply excited at the prospect of preparing a court case. I decided then that I needed to find a way to incorporate a mock trial into one of my units. I knew that in my unit on Europe – Change and Progress, I would teach the class about the trials of Martin Luther and Galileo Galilei. I decided to use Luther’s trial to introduce my students to the concept and then give them the opportunity to complete their own project. We watched a video that re-enacted Luther’s trial and the students began to see the different components of a trial. This way, when we reached the topic of the Scientific Revolution, the students would already have an idea of how they would complete a mock trial for Galileo Galilei.
In this project, the students were nearly completely autonomous, from the very conception of the idea to its completion. The project required a lot of foundational work in order to fully explain all of the intricacies of the case and for the students to understand how a trial functioned. As noted above, we spent some time learning about the historical context in which Galileo’s trial took place. I introduced the mini-unit on the Scientific Revolution by explaining the differences between “old” science and “new” science and how people were beginning to approach these changes. They then spent a few days understanding the major developments in astronomy from Aristotle until Galileo. The first time the students were exposed to Galileo, they learned that he was the first to use the telescope and that he confirmed Copernicus’s heliocentric theory. Once the students had a strong grasp of the basic history of astronomy, I wanted them to understand why there could have been conflicts between scientists and the Church. On their own, the students came to understand that the Church still had faith in the geocentric theory and was not prepared to accept the heliocentric theory as absolutely correct. Moreover, they remembered how the Church reacted to Martin Luther and guessed that the Church was not too pleased with Galileo supporting the heliocentric theory. I confirmed that this was correct and that the Church eventually brought Galileo to court. I told the students that we would be re-enacting that courtroom scene. The students were eager to participate and immediately wanted to pick their roles. However, I told them that we still had to do a little bit of work before they could decide whom they wanted to play.
The lesson plans for the mock trial can be found here and describe the overall objectives, weekly goals, and daily plans. Most of the information for the mock trial was based off of the lesson plans from the Bar/School Partnership Program, which can be found here, and helps teachers put together mock trials. It provides information on both the historical context of Galileo’s trial, as well as the various roles and functions of a trial. Before we could truly delve into the actual trial, I wanted the students to become familiar with what was happening to Galileo in the early 17th century. To give the students a solid background of the timeline of events leading up to Galileo’s trial, we read the “Stipulated Facts” section from the mock trial guide. This gave students an understanding of some of the major players involved in Galileo’s trial and gave them the opportunity to begin forming their own decision about whether Galileo deserved to be put on trial. After the students had a solid background, we formed a list of the different roles that were necessary in the mock trial. This process was completely autonomous. I was really impressed with some of the positions that they came up with and they even came up with things that I didn’t think about, such as a reporter and stenographer. The list can be seen below.
During the first week of the semester, when we first began discussing my inquiry project and ways for students to develop autonomy, Antoinette suggested that we put on a mock trial because she wants to prepare for her future as a lawyer. The students responded positively to this and several of them share Antoinette’s career goal. Others were simply excited at the prospect of preparing a court case. I decided then that I needed to find a way to incorporate a mock trial into one of my units. I knew that in my unit on Europe – Change and Progress, I would teach the class about the trials of Martin Luther and Galileo Galilei. I decided to use Luther’s trial to introduce my students to the concept and then give them the opportunity to complete their own project. We watched a video that re-enacted Luther’s trial and the students began to see the different components of a trial. This way, when we reached the topic of the Scientific Revolution, the students would already have an idea of how they would complete a mock trial for Galileo Galilei.
In this project, the students were nearly completely autonomous, from the very conception of the idea to its completion. The project required a lot of foundational work in order to fully explain all of the intricacies of the case and for the students to understand how a trial functioned. As noted above, we spent some time learning about the historical context in which Galileo’s trial took place. I introduced the mini-unit on the Scientific Revolution by explaining the differences between “old” science and “new” science and how people were beginning to approach these changes. They then spent a few days understanding the major developments in astronomy from Aristotle until Galileo. The first time the students were exposed to Galileo, they learned that he was the first to use the telescope and that he confirmed Copernicus’s heliocentric theory. Once the students had a strong grasp of the basic history of astronomy, I wanted them to understand why there could have been conflicts between scientists and the Church. On their own, the students came to understand that the Church still had faith in the geocentric theory and was not prepared to accept the heliocentric theory as absolutely correct. Moreover, they remembered how the Church reacted to Martin Luther and guessed that the Church was not too pleased with Galileo supporting the heliocentric theory. I confirmed that this was correct and that the Church eventually brought Galileo to court. I told the students that we would be re-enacting that courtroom scene. The students were eager to participate and immediately wanted to pick their roles. However, I told them that we still had to do a little bit of work before they could decide whom they wanted to play.
The lesson plans for the mock trial can be found here and describe the overall objectives, weekly goals, and daily plans. Most of the information for the mock trial was based off of the lesson plans from the Bar/School Partnership Program, which can be found here, and helps teachers put together mock trials. It provides information on both the historical context of Galileo’s trial, as well as the various roles and functions of a trial. Before we could truly delve into the actual trial, I wanted the students to become familiar with what was happening to Galileo in the early 17th century. To give the students a solid background of the timeline of events leading up to Galileo’s trial, we read the “Stipulated Facts” section from the mock trial guide. This gave students an understanding of some of the major players involved in Galileo’s trial and gave them the opportunity to begin forming their own decision about whether Galileo deserved to be put on trial. After the students had a solid background, we formed a list of the different roles that were necessary in the mock trial. This process was completely autonomous. I was really impressed with some of the positions that they came up with and they even came up with things that I didn’t think about, such as a reporter and stenographer. The list can be seen below.
Before we moved on, I explained to the students that because our trial was largely based on the American system of justice, it would differ from Galileo’s in some significant ways. In 1633, the Church was the one bringing Galileo to trial. In our trial, the Church was charging Galileo through a third party – its lawyer. Each lawyer would then have the chance to present their client’s position to a supposedly unbiased jury (which also didn’t exist in 1633). In Galileo’s actual trial, the Church eventually made the verdict and sentenced Galileo to life in prison. In our trial, the jury would be the one to give the verdict and they could decide who would win based on the evidence and information that was presented. The students seemed to grasp these differences and understood why they existed.