Scientific Revolution Quiz

Which answer choice BEST supports the idea that the Scientific Revolution questioned the established ways that Europeans understood the world around them?

• During this time, philosophers and thinkers in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe developed ideas and theories about how the Universe functioned and then used mathematics to support their ideas.

• This revolution was, in part, a response to the flood of new ideas pouring into Europe as a result of its expanded contacts with the rest of the world.

• Europeans were able to collect and form new knowledge, and this led to Europe's unmatched power in the centuries that followed.

• This way of thinking challenged the idea that the Bible was the source of all human knowledge, both historical and scientific.

Which of these sentences describing Francisco Redi's work on decaying matter and worms BEST reflects Redi's use of the scientific method?

• He had three snakes killed and placed them in an open box to decay.

• When the meat was all consumed, the worms tried to leave, but he closed the opening.

• He continued similar experiments with the raw and cooked flesh of ox, deer, buffalo, lion, tiger, dog, lamb, goat, rabbit; and sometimes with the flesh of ducks, geese, hens, swallows, etc.

• He almost always saw that the decaying flesh was not just covered with worms, but with the eggs where the worms came from.

Read the paragraph below from the section "The scientific method explained".

He then decided to read the writings of all the philosophers on the subject. Copernicus discovered that Nicetas, a bishop who wrote about religious topics, had thought that the Earth moves.

How does the paragraph above contribute to the development of the MAIN idea in the article?

• It provides an example of a scientist doing one of the steps of the scientific method.

• It shows how scientists used to rely on religious people for answers to scientific questions.

• It suggests that religious people had similar thoughts as scientists about the universe.

• It emphasizes how one scientist got all of his ideas from philosophers.

According to the article, Enlightenment thinkers valued drawing one's own conclusions based on objective observations of the world around them.

Which selection from the article BEST supports the idea outlined above?

• The changes that came about were part of a movement called the Age of Reason, or simply the Enlightenment. Enlightenment thinkers in Britain, France and the rest of Europe questioned traditional authority and embraced the notion that humanity could be improved through change based on reason.

• This period also saw many discoveries in astronomy and mathematics thanks to the leaders of the Scientific Revolution, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Gottfried Leibniz. The Scientific Revolution was a period that started before the Enlightenment and laid the groundwork for modern science.

• In the span of three years, the physicist Isaac Newton published his "Principia Mathematica" (1686) and the philosopher John Locke published his "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" (1689). These two works provided the scientific, mathematical and philosophical toolkit for the Enlightenment's major advances.

• Locke argued that human nature was changeable. He also argued that knowledge was gained through accumulated experience rather than by accessing some sort of outside truth. Newton's calculus and optical (the science of light and seeing) theories provided the powerful Enlightenment metaphors for precisely measured change and illumination.

Read the paragraph from the section "The early Enlightenment: 1685-1730."

Then, the Enlightenment really got going in England in the 1680s. One important British thinker was John Locke. He said that knowledge is learned through experience. Truth doesn't sit inside the mind. It can only be found by looking at how the world is. Isaac Newton from England created new types of math.

Which sentence from the paragraph explains HOW Locke believed people can discover new ideas?

• One important British thinker was John Locke.

• He said that knowledge is learned through experience

• Isaac Newton from England created new types of math.

• Then, the Enlightenment really got going in England in the 1680s.

How did the work of Newton and Locke become the foundation for Enlightenment thought?

• Because Newton and Locke were influenced by earlier scientists, they stressed the importance of established facts.

• Although Newton and Locke worked in different subjects, both reflected new ideas about how humans understand the world.

• Since Newton and Locke were both English, their ideas advanced more quickly across Europe and North America.

• When Newton and Locke worked together, they were able to develop an encyclopedia of all human knowledge.

Which of the following ideas did the author develop the LEAST in this article about the Enlightenment?

• the influence of earlier thinkers on its philosophers

• the influence of Isaac Newton's ideas on science

• the role of its philosophies in the leadership of various countries

• the role of John Locke in emerging ideas about human nature