Title: Manufacturer and Builder review of a historical document

Type of teaching unit: LESSON PLAN
Grade Level(s): 9 -12
Time frame: 2 days
Subject matter: Physics/Physical Science

Teacher information:

Cliff Parker 
Edwardsville High School
AAM affiliation: Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
cparker@ecusd7.org

Lesson plan description and Rationale:  

Students will each be assigned a different monthly issue of Manufacturer and Builder from 1869 to 1894 to browse.  Three articles from this periodical will be chosen to read.  A brief written report on these articles will be produced and an oral presentation to the class will be given about one of the three.  Students need to appreciate the use of technology in a historical context and understand the physical laws that guide the application and development of that technology.

State Standard/s:

11.B. Know and apply the concepts, principles and processes of technological design.

11.B.4a Identify a technological design problem inherent in a commonly used product.

12.D. Know and apply concepts that describe force and motion and the principles that explain them.

12.D.5a Analyze factors that influence the relative motion of an object (e.g., friction, wind shear, cross currents, potential differences).

13.B. Know and apply concepts that describe the interaction between science, technology and society.

13.B.4c Analyze ways that resource management and technology can be used to accommodate population trends.

13.B.5e Assess how scientific and technological progress has affected other fields of study, careers and job markets and aspects of everyday life.

Objectives:

The students will read and think about three articles found in the 19th century periodical Manufacturer and Builder.  They will write article reviews on these readings and prepare to share what they learned from one article with the class in an oral presentation.  

Resources:

Image of the page

Manufacturer and Builder (1869-1894) The Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpcoop/moahtml/title/manu_vols.html] (03/04)

Methods:

Day 1

Anticipatory Set:  Instructor will share three articles that he or she found to be interesting from the 19th century periodical Manufacturer and Builder with the class.

Students will then be randomly assigned a monthly issue of Manufacturer and Builder (a 19th century periodical) via the American Memories website.  They will browse through that issue and find three articles that they find interesting.  One of these articles must be a major article (more than one page).  These articles should be thoroughly read. 

Day 2

After choosing and reading three articles students will prepare a brief report on each.  The report should include the following.

  1. Title and date of periodical
  2. Title of article
  3. Physics/Physical Science connection
  4. Brief synopsis of the article.
  5. At least one question the student would ask the author if that were possible.

Evaluation:

Students will submit their written and oral article reports for evaluation.

Keywords for this lesson:

physics, physical science, technology,

 

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