Students watched a film about Galileo's "Dialogue" and his trial. After taking notes from the film there were four questions to answer about Galileo.
1. Explain the significance of Galileo’s observations of Jupiter and its moons, and evaluate Galileo’s contributions to science and history.
2. Discuss how the Copernican system threatened Church doctrine, and why the Dialogue of Galileo—a devout Catholic—offended the Church.
3. Debate Galileo’s decision to recant his heliocentric views. Do you consider this cowardice, or did Galileo have no choice? What would you have done in his situation?
4. Discuss why students of world history need to study Galileo, the Catholic Church and its Inquisition in order to understand the Scientific Revolution, the Protestant Reformation, and the subsequent Enlightenment (Age of Reason).
