A Centennial Celebration of Technology and Innovation

Grades: 6-10

Subjects: History, Language Arts, Geography, Technology, science

Time needed for lesson: 3-5 class periods (approximate).

Introduction and background:

In this lesson, students investigate the impact of technology in two “watershed” periods, the year 1903, as well as the period of the late 20^th and early 21^st Century (during the period of students’ lifetime). Students will work as a “organization committee” for a “traveling museum exhibit” to research inventions and innovations from both periods to select for inclusion in the museum exhibit.

Standards:

This lesson addresses national content standards established by the Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL). (http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks/)

Technology:

Knows that new inventions often lead to other new inventions and ways of doing things
Knows that new inventions reflect people's needs and wants, and when these change, technology changes to reflect the new needs and wants.
Knows ways in which technology and society influence one another (e.g., new products and processes for society are developed through technology; technological changes are often accompanied by social, political, and economic changes; technology is influenced by social needs, attitudes, values, and limitations, and cultural backgrounds and beliefs)

Method:

In preparation for this lesson, the teacher should consider several factors:

Whether the teacher wishes to have the class work as one single group or to form cooperative groups to complete the task.
The number of inventions and/or innovations the teacher wishes the students to research as a class or in groups. Also, whether the teacher wishes the students to debate which inventions/innovations will be included, or whether they all should be.
How the teacher wishes the students to present their findings… discussion group, poster presentations, multimedia presentation, etc.

In most instances, each individual teacher would need to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the class in terms of research skills, computer skills, and ability to work together.

Prior to beginning this lesson, the teacher may wish to introduce it by asking students to speculate on what invention or innovation has had the greatest impact on society, technology, and culture in their lifetime. Students may note, in their view, that the computer, for example, has had the greatest impact because of the Internet, or the ability of people to complete complex tasks more easily or more accurately.

The teacher may also wish to note that, while Horatio Nelson Jackson’s trip seemed to be “prehistoric” by modern technology standards, Jackson and Crocker did utilize the most up-to-date technology of the early 20^th Century… the roads that were available, devices to determine speed and distance traveled, communication devices, and of course, the automobile itself.

The teacher should next announce to the class to “imagine” that they have been selected to be the “organization committee” for a traveling exhibit that will highlight some of the more important inventions and innovations from 1903, and a comparison set of inventions from the late 20^th and early 21^st Century. As the “committee” it will be their job to develop “position statements” about which invention(s) they believe should be included in the traveling exhibit.

Next, the teacher may wish to distribute a list of inventions/innovations from the 1903 era that students may wish to consider for inclusion. The teacher may also wish to have the students “brainstorm” either as a whole group, or within their groups, to suggest other events or inventions not included in the list.

It is recommended that the teacher have students brainstorm and come up with a list of inventions and innovations from the late 20^th and early 21^st Century.

Events from 1903 include (note, most of these suggestions were collected from the Assembly Magazine web site: )http://www.assemblymag.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP__Features__Item/0,6493,100415,00.html, as well as the USA Today web site: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2003-05-01-1903_x.htm):

Horatio Nelson Jackson’s cross-country road trip.
The Ford Motor Company was formed.
Guglielmo Marconi completed the first two-way wireless message — a 54-word greeting to England's King Edward VII, who then replied.
Charles Curtis developed the steam turbine generator, which for the first time allowed electricity to be produced inexpensively.
The first Harley-Davidson motorcycle was built in Milwaukee by brothers Walter and Arthur Davidson and William Harley.
David Dunbar Buick formed Buick Motor Co. in Detroit.
Clarence Spicer received a U.S. patent for an "encased universal joint," which quickly became the industry standard for automotive power transmission.
The air conditioner was considered to be a new-fangled device. Willis Carrier had just installed the first mechanical cooling system at a printing plant in Brooklyn, NY.
Stanton Allen and Lynde Bradley received a U.S. patent for a crane controller and formed the Compression Rheostat Co., which eventually became the Allen-Bradley Co.
Companies listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average included American Car & Foundry (a large railroad car builder), Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co. and U.S. Leather (one of the largest shoe makers in the world).
Two obscure bicycle mechanics from Dayton, OH, tinkered with a "flying machine." On Dec. 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved the world's first heavier-than-air powered flight.
Marie Curie and her husband, Pierre, received the Nobel Prize in physics for their discovery of radioactivity. It was the first time the Nobel Prize was awarded to a woman.
Albert Hanson filed a patent for a "printed" wire. Although not a true printed circuit, Hanson's method produced conductive metal patterns on a dielectric by cutting or stamping copper or brass foil patterns and adhesively bonding them to paraffin paper. It was a forerunner of double-sided through-hole circuitry. The technology was developed for the burgeoning telephone industry, which needed a way to improve exchange equipment.
Dutch physiologist Willem Einthoven invented the electrocardiogram.
Michael Owens designed the first commercially successful, fully automatic bottle-making machine.
In Germany, Reinhold Burger filed a patent for a "vacuum flask for keeping liquids hot or cold," which was marketed under the Thermos trademark.
The Williamsburg Bridge opened in New York City. It was the world's longest suspension bridge until the 1920s.
The United States and Panama signed a treaty to build the Panama Canal. Construction on the massive project began the following year.
On July 4, President Theodore Roosevelt sent a message around the world and back in 1 minutes through the use of the newly unveiled underwater Pacific communications cable.
The U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor was established.
The Crayola crayon debuted in 1903. The first box of crayons sold for 5 cents and contained eight colors: black, blue, brown, green, orange, purple, red and yellow.
A North Carolina pharmacist named Caleb Bradham was peddling a carbonated soft drink called "Pepsi Cola" that had just received a trademark from the U.S. Patent Office.
General Electric began marketing strings of electric Christmas tree lights.
Sanka decaffeinated coffee was introduced.
The Gillette Co. began to manufacture and advertise a "safety razor" that reduced the imminent danger of cuts. The revolutionary blades cost $5 apiece and only 168 were sold. But, in 1904, more than 123,000 were mass-produced thanks to new equipment for sharpening steel. It reduced the popularity of beards and changed the face of American men.
A U.S. patent (#730,918) was issued for "glasses for chickens."
The first World Series took place. The Boston Pilgrims—later the Red Sox—beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5 games to 3 in the best-of-nine series. Pittsburgh was heavily favored, but Boston's pitching staff, led by the legendary Cy Young, was too much for the Pirates.
The big spectator sport other than baseball was college football. The 1903 national champion was the University of Michigan, with an 11-0-1 record.
The Milwaukee Mile opened at the Wisconsin State Fair Park. The oldest motor speedway in the world is still used for stock car and Indy car racing.
Harvard Bowl, the nation's first concrete sports stadium, opened.
One of the first international automotive competitions, the Gordon Bennett Trophy race, was held in the Irish countryside. Some historians argue that it was the most famous auto race in history. A 60-hp Mercedes won the 327.5-mile road race with an average speed of 49.2 mph. For better recognition, the cars of individual nations appeared in national racing colors for the first time. The British cars were painted green, German cars white and French cars light blue.
The first Tour de France bicycle race was held.
The Great Train Robbery debuted as the first feature film. The 10-minute silent movie had a plot—bandits rob a train and are chased by a posse—and was made by editing together scenes to create a coherent narrative. It also included one of the most famous scenes in the early history of movies—a man firing a gun straight into the camera.
Regular radio service between New York and London was established.
Ragtime music was at the height of its popularity.
In Chicago, 602 people were killed in the deadliest fire in U.S. history, when the "fire proof" Iroquois Theatre erupted during a matinee performance of a popular musical called Mr. Blue Bird. In the aftermath, sweeping changes were made to national safety standards. For instance, all public buildings had to display "exit" signs and install outward-swinging doors.

The teacher should allot enough time for students to gather information about inventions and innovations, develop “position papers” or multimedia presentations, and either present them to the class or develop museum exhibits, dependent on the teacher’s expectations regarding the lesson.

The teacher should develop some sort of assessment rubric in line with the goals and objectives of the lesson.

Resources:

The teacher should encourage students to conduct their own web searches to research for information, especially in light of the number of events and inventions that occurred during the year 1903. The teacher may wish to direct students to use a search engine such as Google (http://www.google.com), or a “meta-search engine” such as “All The Web” (http://www.alltheweb.com). The teacher should also encourage students to use traditional forms of research (books, magazines, encyclopedias, other primary sources) as well as online resources.

Although the number of inventions and innovations of the 1903 era is large, some representative online resources are included:

Wright Brothers and early flight:

http://www.aviationnow.com/content/publication/awst/20021216/avi_stor.htm (Aviation Week story on the Wright Brothers and centennial of flight)

http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/whats_new/science/may03.shtm (PBS TeacherSource Centennial of Flight information page)

http://www.nasm.si.edu/galleries/gal209/wrights.htm (Smithsonian Page on the Wright Brothers)

Automobiles:

http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1338700.html is an National Public Radio (NPR) interview with Dayton Duncan, producer of the film Horatio’s Drive.

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/films/horatio.html is the PBS web site for Horatio’s Drive.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/technology/2132168.stm includes small blurb about a woman inventor who invented windshield wipers in 1903.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/automatic-transmission.htm is an explanatory site about automatic transmissions (rather technical in nature)

http://www.spicerdriveshaft.com/about/background.html is a site that gives background information into the “universal joint” which eventually became the automatic transmission, and Clarence Spicer.

http://www.ford.com/en/heritage/centennial/default.htm is a link to the Ford Motor Company site that commemorates the 100^th anniversary of the founding of the company. The entire Ford site is located at http://www.ford.com.

http://www.buick.com/centennial/ is a link to the Buick site that commemorates the 100^th anniversary of the founding of the company, now part of General Motors. The entire Buick site is located at http://www.buick.com.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/progress/autos/autos.html (Learning Page (Library of Congress) feature on the automobile during the Progressive and New Eras.)

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winton_automobile is a online history of the Winton automobile, which Horatio Nelson Jackson drove in his cross-country trip.

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Nelson_Jackson is an online history of Horatio Nelson Jackson.

Other various inventions and noteworthy events:

http://www.gillette.com/company/historicaltimeline.asp is the site commemorating the 100^th anniversary of the Gillette safety razor. The Gillette site is located at http://www.gillette.com.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/yr1903ws.shtml includes statistics and information about the 1903 World Series, the first in history.

http://www.torelli.com/raceinfo/tdf/tdf1903.html includes statistical information on the 1903 Tour de France.

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcrayon.htm includes a short history of the development of the Crayola Crayon as well as other Crayola links.

http://www.harley-davidson.com is the home page for Harley-Davidson motorcycles, including 100^th anniversary information.

http://www.global.carrier.com/details/0,,CLI1_DIV28_ETI23,00.html is the Carrier Air Conditioning Company “history” page. Also included is a link to the “100 Years of Innovation” page (Carrier centennial celebration).

http://www.hawaiianhistory.org/moments/cable.html includes historical information on the Pacific Cable, which President Theodore Roosevelt used for his message.

http://www.mfiles.co.uk/other-ragtime.htm is a history and information page on “ragtime” music.