With its introduction to algebra and phi, human physiology and life cycles, study skills and chemistry, this year and its History blocks can be summarised as preparing to meet the world.
The Seventh Year – Exploring New Horizons
More independent writing is to be done now, and so it is useful to begin the year with a look at the art of writing and poetry.
A wide range of creative exercises and classical poems shows how a conscious choice of words calls the intended images to the reader’s mind.
Metaphor and simile are employed, poems are analysed for the first time, and a more personal writer’s voice develops.
Christian Europe
After the Fall of Rome and the Dark Ages of the Great Migration, the Christian Middle Ages introduce Class 7 to the ideal of knighthood and the code of chivalry.
Learning about the virtues of valour, honesty, loyalty, fairness, courtesy and kindness also helps the young people to resolve rare instances of bullying.
While drawing a jousting tournament, they hear stories of King Arthur, whose knights were likewise striving to improve imperfect behaviour.
An individual research project on one particular aspect of medieval life results in two pages of colourful bookwork that are appealing and successful on all levels of ability.
The Rise of Islam
A study of Early Islam centres on the life of Mohammed the Prophet and the five pillars of faith, the mosque, trade routes and merchant caravans, Oriental carpets and Muslim culture.
And the central role of Arabic calligraphy links back to the Christian monks who wrote each book by hand in this era before the printing press.
Alongside, the class may be working on their first big theatrical production – in this case a musical based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
The Study of Number
In an arithmetic and geometry block, Algebra is introduced, a branch of mathematics which developed in Islam’s Golden Age.
Recalling the previous history topic, it is fitting to learn how and why the numerals we use travelled along Arab caravan trails from India.
The sequence of Fibonacci numbers leads to the golden ratio and mysterious phi, representing the harmony of the heavens and therefore widely used in the sacred architecture of old.
The Human Body
A first look at human physiology shows how the body’s organ systems work together to keep it alive.
How to care for its health is of great interest to Class 7, and so are diverse aspects of personal hygiene and nutrition.
Basic techniques of First Aid build self-confidence, and the effects of alcohol, smoking, sugar and junk food lead to many questions and animated discussions.
Weekly homework of illustrating a summary that describes the reproductive cycle of a range of lower animals forms a picture of the ingenious ways in which life propagates itself through the mysteries of sperm and egg.
Class 7 Experiments
Introduced to chemistry, the class learn safety rules of the lab, and how to handle a Bunsen burner.
Working with crucibles, indicator scales and distillation, they study the process of combustion and the properties of acids and alkalis, then make copper sulphate crystals and tiny hydrogen explosions.
They also hear of Arab scientists in Islam’s Golden Age who developed chemistry from Egypt’s alchemy, and begin to understand how experiments have been used ever since to prove or disprove theories.
This makes it clear that scientific progress can only be established through an ongoing process of trial and error.
The Face of the Earth
World geography places the continents on the map with their main deserts, mountains, rivers, lakes, rainforests and islands.
It also explains the global reference grid and the need for time zones, setting the scene for the year’s final block of history.
EUROPEAN EXPLORERS
The rivalry, competition and perpetual conflict of Christianity and Islam which arose in the Middle Ages became the driving force of subsequent history.
It moved men to undertake extraordinary journeys for the sake of religion, trade and conquest in the new age of the Renaissance.
Its thirst for world exploration made Rubruck and the three Polos set out across Asia, bringing news of a rich eastern culture to Europe.
As a result, the brave captains Dias, Columbus, Da Gama and Magellan were sent out by their monarchs to cross oceans and trace shorelines in a race to reach Africa’s and the Far East’s fabled lands of gold, jewels, spices … and slaves.
In the course of their quest, these navigators proved Pythagoras and Eratosthenes right – the earth is indeed a sphere – and began to chart its lands and seas, dividing them between Spain and Portugal.
