"Not knowing it, we might kill an important animal, a small bird, a roach, a flower even, thus destroying an important link in a growing species" (74).
To understand how “chaos theory” is initially presented in “A Sound of Thunder” – which is through Travis’s foreshadowing rant about time travel’s potential consequences – we close read a text excerpt twice. First, we navigated its text structure (“sequence”) to map out the food chain Travis presents. Then we applied the key idea of "chaos theory" onto Travis's proposed societal ripple effects of a disruption in that food chain. By concretely mapping out the food chain Travis presents (the realistic “cause” of Travis’s more theoretical “effect”) and identifying the consumer levels (primary, secondary, etc.), the highest energy level, and the predatory relationships embedded in it, we reinforced what you are learning in your science class...and we revealed that "A Sound of Thunder" accurately portrays a food chain. To further the interdisciplinary connection, in a whole class activity, we designed a construction paper food chain for Travis’s example just as you did in groups during biology to identify species - and their interactions - in different biomes. After a second reading of the passage, we analyzed a linoleum cut painting by Steve A. Prince - "I Pray that Generations..." Linking it to the text as a premade visual summary of Travis's rant, we discussed how it relates to Travis's point about the mouse and caveman being the key to "future families" of their species.
Reading Strategy Mini-Lesson: Text Structure Sequence "Signal Words" During this interdisciplinary unit, we will be focusing on two main text structures to help us navigate prose: "sequence" and "cause/effect." When we - as readers - know the text structure of what we are reading, we know what parts in the text will be important. Present in both fiction and nonfiction texts, text structures make text easier to read, understand, and remember. Therefore, being able to recognize and diagram them is a useful reading strategy. Today, we developed an anchor chart for the "sequence" text structure, and immediately used our knowledge by superimposing it onto our close reading of Travis's speech in "A Sound of Thunder." To recognize text structure, there are often key words and phrases that signal when each type is present. When dealing with "sequence" text structure, we can circle the signal words in order to isolate each event for later input into a flow chart timeline. We practiced this process in our close reading of the text except below (signal words are highlighted in orange), since both the food chain and chaos theory followed the "sequence" text structure. The completed anchor chart is provided below for reference. |
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Ecological Cause & Social Effect:
Mapping Travis's "Chaos Theory"
To understand Travis's rant to Eckels about the danger of Time Safari's prehistoric hunts, we read the associated text excerpt twice. First, we mapped out its sequence text structure (highlighted in yellow and green on the excerpt below) on two parallel flow charts, applying our biology knowledge of food chains to the first and a new concept, "chaos theory," to the second. However, be careful - is the fourth species Travis cites a quaternary consumer or apex predator? Color in the food chain trophic level labels with the corresponding construction paper colors you worked with in science class. Afterwards, we took a class poll about whether Travis's proposed societal ripple effect of a disrupted food chain is a possibility or paranoia based on "chaos theory." |
TEXT EXCERPT
"All right," Travis continued, "say we accidentally kill one mouse here. That means all the future families of this one particular mouse are destroyed, right? And all the families of the families of the families of that one mouse! With a stamp of your foot, you annihilate first one, then a dozen, then a thousand, a million, a billion possible mice!
"So what?" Travis snorted quietly. "Well, what about the foxes that'll need those mice to survive? For want of ten mice, a fox dies. For want of ten foxes a lion starves. For want of a lion, all manner of insects, vultures, infinite billions of life forms are thrown into chaos and destruction. Eventually it all boils down to this: fifty-nine million years later, a caveman, one of a dozen on the entire world, goes hunting wild boar or saber-toothed tiger for food. But you, friend, have stepped on all the tigers in that region. By stepping on one single mouse. So the caveman starves. And the caveman, please note, is not just any expendable man, no! He is an entire future nation. From his loins would have sprung ten sons. From their loins one hundred sons, and thus onward to a civilization. Destroy this one man, and you destroy a race, a people, an entire history of life. It is comparable to slaying some of Adam's grandchildren. The stomp of your foot, on one mouse, could start an earthquake, the effects of which could shake our earth and destinies down through Time, to their very foundations. With the death of that one caveman, a billion others yet unborn are throttled in the womb...
"Correct. Crushing certain plants could add up infinitesimally. A little error here would multiply in sixty million years, all out of proportion. Of course maybe our theory is wrong. Maybe Time can't be changed by us. Or maybe it can be changed only in little subtle ways. A dead mouse here makes an insect imbalance there, a population disproportion later, a bad harvest further on, a depression, mass starvation, and finally, a change in social temperament in far-flung countries."
"So what?" Travis snorted quietly. "Well, what about the foxes that'll need those mice to survive? For want of ten mice, a fox dies. For want of ten foxes a lion starves. For want of a lion, all manner of insects, vultures, infinite billions of life forms are thrown into chaos and destruction. Eventually it all boils down to this: fifty-nine million years later, a caveman, one of a dozen on the entire world, goes hunting wild boar or saber-toothed tiger for food. But you, friend, have stepped on all the tigers in that region. By stepping on one single mouse. So the caveman starves. And the caveman, please note, is not just any expendable man, no! He is an entire future nation. From his loins would have sprung ten sons. From their loins one hundred sons, and thus onward to a civilization. Destroy this one man, and you destroy a race, a people, an entire history of life. It is comparable to slaying some of Adam's grandchildren. The stomp of your foot, on one mouse, could start an earthquake, the effects of which could shake our earth and destinies down through Time, to their very foundations. With the death of that one caveman, a billion others yet unborn are throttled in the womb...
"Correct. Crushing certain plants could add up infinitesimally. A little error here would multiply in sixty million years, all out of proportion. Of course maybe our theory is wrong. Maybe Time can't be changed by us. Or maybe it can be changed only in little subtle ways. A dead mouse here makes an insect imbalance there, a population disproportion later, a bad harvest further on, a depression, mass starvation, and finally, a change in social temperament in far-flung countries."
Chaos Theory: Given a very small difference in initial conditions, the same system will behave – after a very short time – totally differently. Therefore, due to extreme sensitivity in a system, a seemingly insignificant event can spur a chain of events with unpredictable outcomes.
Food Chain: A series of predator-prey relationships in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten.
Interconnectedness: the quality or condition of people or things being meaningfully and/or complexly related or connected.
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Cross-Curricular Activity: Scientific Accuracy in Fiction
"Nesting Cup" Food Chain Just like you, in groups of four, created styrofoam "nesting cup" food chains for several of the main biomes in science class, we designed a class food chain for Travis's mouse food chain in "A Sound of Thunder." As a whole-class activity, several student volunteers stood in front of the class to match the animals with the appropriate color construction paper strip (which corresponds to the ecological classification of the animal), write the animal name on the strip, and glue together the mouse food chain. As several students worked to assemble the food chain, their peers offered suggestions and ideas on how to put it together. Travis's scientifically accurate food chain is now hanging on the front wall in our English classroom! |
Second Reading: Visual Literacy An "Entire History of Life" in a Mouse & Caveman After organizing the text excerpt into two parallel flow charts for a student-generated visual summary, we looked at a linoleum cut painting by Steve A. Prince, "I Pray that Generations..." from the perspective that it is a premade visual summary for one of Travis's key points. First, we circled and/or colored in with different colors all the faces we could find in the painting. Then, we reread Travis's rant for a second time, and in a Think-Pair-Share activity, we discussed how the painting actually provides a visual for Travis's argument explaining why the mouse and caveman are individually valuable (which is highlighted in pink on the excerpt above) and his key idea of "interconnectedness." Travis points out that we, as individuals, are all the people in our lineage before and after us so we are all "an important link." |
"'Things that happen before you are born still affect you," [Ruby] said. 'And people who come before your time affect you as well'" - Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven