Topic: Age of steam and electricity. Where do inventions come from?

Author of the script: Katarzyna Kuczyńska

Target group

7‑th grade student of the elementary school

Core curriculum

XIX. Europe after the Congress of Vienna:

2) characterizes the most important manifestations of the industrial revolution (inventions and their applications, areas of industrialization, changes in social structures and living conditions).

XXIII. Europe and the world in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries:

4) indicates new political ideas and cultural phenomena, including the beginnings of mass culture and changes in customs.

General aim of education

Students learn about the history of selected inventions of the 19th century.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• learning to learn;

• social and civic competences.

Lesson objectives

Student:

• tells about the history of selected 19th century inventions and their significance;

• indicates, using examples, positive and negative effects of the dissemination of inventions.

• tells about the significance of the industrial revolution and its influence on the world.

• becomes aware of the conditions connected with the creation and dissemination of inventions.

Methods/techniques

• programmed methods: using e‑textbook;

• problematic and activating methods: discussion, developing an invention, brainstorming; practical methods: working with text, text exercises;

• exposing methods: explanations and comments from the teacher.

Forms of work

• collective activity,

• activity in groups

• individual activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/ felt‑tip pens,

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Before classes

Students are given the task to search for information about inventions of the 19th century and their creators. They can use extracts from e‑textbook as well as other sources of knowledge.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher determines the purpose of the classes. He/she gives the students the criteria for success.

2. The teacher discusses with students the information about 19th century inventions and their creators (Task 1). The teacher points out that the 19th century was full of discoveries that changed people's lives.

Realization

1. Students perform Exercise 1 and Exercise 2. There were much fewer inventions in earlier epochs – and if they were, they were not so widely used in industry, economy and other areas of life. Exercise 3 – the teacher shows the students a caricature from the year 1820 and asks them a question for discussion. Why were inventions of that time and their usefulness ridiculed? The teacher explains that many of these inventions had to go a long way from being invented to being disseminated, e.g. railway. The teacher comments on the exercises performed.

2. With the use of brainstorming, students answer the question: “Why do you think inventions are created and disseminated?” The answers are written on the board. The teacher aims to organize knowledge: he/she distinguishes social conditions (e.g. the emergence of social needs, education) from individual conditions (e.g. abilities, innovative thinking of creators) and, together with students, assess the importance of particular situations in terms of their role in the creation and dissemination of inventions.

3. After the discussion, the teacher asks the students to consider whether the progress and rapid development of technology can have any negative aspects. The teacher asks the students to perform Exercise 4 – and then to answer the question of why such events took place. The teacher provides feedback and checks the correctness of completed tasks.

4. The teacher divides the students into groups. Each group:

• chooses one area of life – examples of areas can be found in the e‑textbook;

• thinks of an invention (this may take the form of a competition) which is going to change the area of life chosen by the students and determines the effects of its dissemination. The work result can take the form of a poster or a “body sculpture”. The groups present and discuss ideas with each other, paying attention to the possible effects of dissemination of their inventions. Then – based on this task – the teacher asks if there are any new answers to the question from point 2 – “Why do you think inventions are created and disseminated?”.

Summary

1. As part of the summary, students will see the timeline presenting the greatest inventors of the 19th century.

2. Then the teacher can give the students the evaluation questionnaire prepared by them with the assessment of the lesson, the student's own work and the class's work.

Summary of the most important contents of the lesson

1. Discussion of the history and role of selected inventions of the 19th century and social response to them.

2. Explanation of the conditions for the creation and dissemination of inventions and the accompanying consequences.

3. Raising awareness of different effects of dissemination of inventions.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

How do inventions come about?

The nineteenth century brought many revolutionary inventions that changed human life once and for all. Thanks to the railways and steam vessels it was possible to move faster, more conveniently and safely. The invention of the telegraph made it possible to transfer information over large distances relatively quickly. The nineteenth century is also the age of great minds and ingenious inventors – Thomas Edison, Alexander Bell and Samuel Morse. They have contributed to the development of science and thus made life easier for millions of people around the world.