Video: Alice Wilson

﻿Hi everyone, it's Miss Fenner here. Welcome to our lesson. This is our sixth lesson in the topic, where we've been looking at the chemistry of the atmosphere. And in this lesson, we're going to be learning about a famous scientist called Alice Wilson, who I'm sure some of you haven't have heard of before. So this is going to be a really great opportunity for you to learn about someone new. Before we get going, I'd like you to do a couple of things for me, please. First of all, can you make sure that you've turned off your phone and moved it out of the way if you're not accessing today's lesson from it. And then if you're using your computer, can you please make sure that you shut down any tabs that you're not using so that they can't distract you. Then you're ready to learn, let's get going. These are equipment that you're going to need for our lesson. An exercise back or some paper and a pen or pencil. So if you haven't already got that with you, pause the lesson to go and collect it, and then resume the video when you're ready to get started. In this lesson, we're going to be looking at Alice Wilson, and that's our title for the lesson today. So if you haven't already got that written down, can you do so now, please. We're going to start off by looking at the story of Alice Wilson, who she was and why she's famous. Then we're going to look at how we can use fossils to learn about our atmosphere. And finally, we're going to have a look at a couple of other methods used to learn about our atmosphere. The story of Alice Wilson. So I'm going to take you through the story of Alice Wilson now, and who she is and what it was that she actually did. So I'd like you to put your pens down, please, and just listen carefully. Alice Wilson was born in 1881 in Canada. As a child, she was encouraged to be scholarly by her father, a university professor. However, Alice found herself drawn to the outdoors and thoroughly enjoyed spending her summers completing a wide variety of outdoor pursuits. From things like canoeing, to walking, to camping. Alice then started taking an interest in fossils and became an avid collector. Her first job in the scientific industry was in line with Alice's interest in rocks as an assistant at The Museum of Mineralogy. Alice eventually getting to doctorate and worked her way up the ranks, becoming a fellow of The Geological Society of America and the first woman to be selected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a great achievement. Despite all this, there was still a barrier preventing Alice from completing the work she was qualified to do. She was female. She was forbidden from working at remote sites with male colleagues. This didn't faze Alice though, and she fought for the right to work alone in an area that was closer to her home. This was granted and Alice spent the next 50 years examining the area and making numerous fossil discoveries. It's even been said that she managed to complete the work of five men in that time. Let's check how you followed along with the story of Alice Wilson. True or false? Alice Wilson never enjoyed outdoor activities as a child. Say the answer to the screen. Well done, that is false. Alice Wilson really enjoyed outdoor activities as a child. She loved camping and trekking and collecting fossils. True or false? Her father was a university professor and encouraged Alice to be scholarly. That's correct, it's true, well done. He was a university professor and he did encourage Alice to be scholarly. True or false? Wilson's first scientific job was as an expert at The Museum of Mineralogy. That's great, that one was false. She wasn't an expert, she was just an assistant in that job. True or false? Wilson was forbidden from working at remote sites with male colleagues. So far you were listening really well. That was true. And so instead, Wilson fought to be able to work at sites closer to her house and on her own, which was quite unheard of at the time. And she was granted access to be allowed to do this. Wilson worked for 50 years at a site that was easily accessible from her home. Is this true or false? Well done, that is true. Wilson worked on her own for 50 years and made numerous fossil discoveries during that time. So what I'd like you to do now then, please, I'd like you to complete this sentence. Alice Wilson is famous for... And I'd like you to list a few things that you think she's famous for. So, pause the lesson here to complete your task, and then resume once you're finished. And here are the answers. These are just some of the answers, you could have put different answers down too. She was famous for becoming the first woman to be selected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a great achievement. Making numerous fossil discoveries and also for being granted the right to work alone at a site easily accessible from her home. Using fossils to learn about our atmosphere. We're going to have a look now, at how we can use rocks and fossils in order to learn more information about what our atmosphere used to be like. Fossils can provide us with information about past environmental conditions. This includes information on previous climates and atmospheric conditions, even from billions of years ago. We can use information about what organisms were around to better understand the environment present at that time, depending on what sort of environment that organism liked to live in. We can even analyse the proportion of different compounds in a rock or a fossil to add information to the picture. Using information like this has helped us to better understand the Earth's early atmosphere. After all, none of us were around then to document it. A quick check then, true or false? Fossils can provide us with information about past climates on Earth. Well done, that is true. By looking at fossils and seeing what organisms were around at that time period, and what sort of habitats and climates they liked to live in, we can make estimates about what sort of climate would have been on Earth at that time. True or false? Fossils can provide us with information about the Earth's early atmosphere. Great, that one is also true. They can also give us information about what the atmosphere used to be like depending on what sort of compounds were present in those rocks and fossils. True or false? Fossils add to photographic information to help us piece together the Earth's early climate. Simple answer, that is false. The sort of time period that we're getting information on the Earth's atmosphere of, is well before cameras were around to take photographic evidence. Time for you to have a go at a task on your own, some independent practise. You've got three questions here that I'd like you to write down your answers to. So pause the lesson here to have a go at the task and then resume the video when you're ready for the answers. And here are the answers. A fossil is a preserved remain or trace of a dead organism. For example, bones and shells. Question two, three pieces of information fossils can provide us with are, previous organisms that were alive, previous climates, the climates that they lived in and previous atmospheric conditions. And then question three. We can't use diary entries and photographic evidence to support the information provided by fossils because no humans were around at that time. There was no cameras and no diaries. Other methods used to learn about our atmosphere. So, other methods are used to learn about our early atmosphere as well as fossils. So we're going to have a look at two of these now. Another way we can learn about the composition of our very early atmosphere, when the Earth first formed, is by making predictions by studying the atmospheres of Venus and Mars. So you can see in the image here, we've got Venus on the left, Earth in the middle and Mars on the right. And these three planets are all about the same size and they all formed at about the same time point in history. So we can learn a lot from looking at the atmospheres of Venus and Mars to better understand what our atmosphere used to be like. And we can use this information to make predictions. We can also use ice cores. Ice cores have been used for more recent information about the Earth's atmosphere, but still longer ago than when humans were around. So for example, they can provide us with information from up to 1.5 million years ago. Ice cores, of course, could only form once the majority of the volcanic activity on Earth had stopped. Which enabled the Earth to cool down because before that, ice was unable to form, the climate of Earth was to warm. So as the Earth cooled and ice formed, traces at the gases present at the time were often frozen in the ice. Have a look at this image on the screen for a minute. That there is an ice core, which is essentially a piece of ice that has been drilled or cored out of ice caps. And then the further into that ice core we go, the further back the information in the ice states. And we can see here, there is a layer of volcanic ash. That darker ring in the ice core is a volcanic ash layer. So we know that about that time period, there would have been a volcano erupting or perhaps lots of volcanoes erupting. So looking at the traces of gases that are present in the ice, we can learn about the Earth's atmosphere at different time points. Which two planets were used to make predictions about the composition of the Earth's early atmosphere? Say the answer to your screen. That's correct, Venus and Mars were used. What are the two reasons for Venus and Mars being used instead of other planets? Well done. First of all, they are a similar sized Earth and secondly, they formed at a similar time to Earth. What is an ice core? Great answer, a piece of ice that has been drilled or cored out of an iceberg. Ice cores can provide information about the Earth's atmosphere from how long ago? What's the longest time period ago that ice cores could give us information about the Earth on? That's correct, 1.5 million years ago. That's the furthest back that ice cores have been able to give us information about the composition of the atmosphere. Time for you to have a go at a task now then, some independent practise. And this task is called two truths, one lie. So in each of those two blue boxes, there are two true statements and one lie, one false statement. So what I'd like you to do is first of all, have a read of the statements, decide what you think the two truths are and write those down on your paper, and then decide what you think the lie is, the false statement. And what I'd like you to do is try and correct that false statement and make it true. And then also write that down in your paper. So pause the lesson here, write out the truths, identify and correct the lie and then resume the video when you're ready for the answers. And here are the answers. So, the first statement was true. Venus and Mars can be used to predict the composition of the Earth's early atmosphere. That second statement was the lie and that box is false. These planets are used as they contain a similar volume of water as Earth. That is not why those planets are used. Venus and Mars are used because they're a similar size to Earth and they formed at a similar time to Earth. The third statement was correct. This method only allows predictions about the Earth's atmosphere to be made. Okay, and then in the second box, it was the first statement that was the lie, the false statement. Ice cores can be used to predict the atmosphere present when the Earth first formed. Well, they can't tell us about the atmosphere when the Earth first formed, but they can tell us information about the atmosphere up to 1.5 million years ago. And then the next statement was true. Ice cores are created by drilling or coring out cylinders of ice from icebergs. And this method can reveal the gases is present in the air when the ice formed. Great effort there, well done. To summarise what we've looked at in this lesson then, we began by looking at the story of Alice Wilson, who was a famous female geologist. Then we had a look at how fossils can be used in order to learn more about the previous atmosphere of the Earth. And then we had a look at two other methods that we can use to learn about the past atmosphere of the Earth. And that includes comparing our atmosphere to that of Venus and Mars, and also using ice cores. And that's the end of our lesson. Well done, today you've worked really hard and put in lots of effort. Please don't forget to take the exit quiz at the end of this video, so I can see how much you've learned. Next lesson, we're going to be starting our first of two revision lessons going back over this topic. So I look forward to you joining me for that. See you next time.

Worksheet: Alice Wilson

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Completed: Alice Wilson

This lesson looks at the story of Alice Wilson, a famous geologist, how fossils can be used to learn about the Earth's atmosphere and other techniques used to learn about the Earth's atmosphere.

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Alice Wilson

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