Connecting to the World Saskatchewan Achievements in Communications Grade Seven Social Studies CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS Grade 7: Social Studies DR7.3 English Language Arts CR7.4, CR7.7, CC7.5, CC7.9 Historical Thinking Concepts: Historical Significance LESSON PLAN ONE: CLASSROOMCLASSROOM INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION TOTO THETHE THEME LESSON OVERVIEW Students will learn about how communications, or a lack thereof, affected the lives of people in the past, challenges which im- peded communication with others, and how communications continue to play a major role in the lives of people today. RESOURCES AND MATERIALS • Fast Facts information (at the end of the resource package) Postmaster carrying mail from the train at Marchwell, circa 1920. Saskatchewan Archives Board S-A358 PROCEDURE 1. Prepare to teach the lessons on communication by reading the Fast Facts section at the end of the resource package. isolated from others and the outside world. It would be 2. Introduce the topic of communication by asking students many years before radios, telephones or televisions were what communication means to them. (Communication is available. There were only sporadic trips to the nearest the transmission of information.) Ask students what types settlement for supplies and a newspaper, and if they were of communication they use on a regular or daily basis. lucky, a letter from a friend or relative would be waiting Students will likely offer answers like television, radio, for them. Visits from neighbors and social gatherings were telephone, Internet, email, cell phones and one-on-one important to offset loneliness, which often accompanied personal communication. Discuss how communications the isolation. are entwined in our daily lives. Ask students to estimate 4. Explain that in the early years, many barriers existed which how much of their day is taken up by sending and affected how people communicated. Discuss the following receiving information from others, electronic devices and factors with students so that they may gain a better print materials. How would they feel if they were suddenly appreciation for the communication challenges faced by disconnected from other people and the outside world? people a relatively short time ago. 3. Explain to students that in 1905 when Saskatchewan became a province, the population was spread very thinly across a large area. The homesteads of new settlers were interspersed with railway lands, school lands and Hudson’s Bay Company lands. Newcomers often found themselves 143 Connecting to the World Saskatchewan Achievements in Communications Grade Seven Social Studies • Poor roads, especially in winter, were an impediment 5. Introduce the topic of how developments in communication to travel. During winter, roads often became affected people’s lives, by reading the following refl ection impassable. How would this have affected how people of Saskatchewan homesteader George Shepherd in his communicated? Would loneliness have been felt more book, West of Yesterday: “The automobile, the telephone acutely in winter for those isolated on homesteads? and later the radio dispelled the feeling of isolation that (Yes, during the warmer seasons, the homesteader’s weighed on the fi rst settlers of the distant frontier.” Ask days were fi lled with work, and time would have students how they think these developments would have passed by more quickly.) closed the gap between the perceived quality of life for • Communication beyond the homestead was rural and urban people. dependent on distance and the stamina of a 6. Distribute copies of the Fast Facts information found homesteader’s horse(s). Horse-drawn vehicles were near the end of the resource package. Have students the mode of transportation used by most settlers. select telephone, radio or television, and design a poster How would the illness or loss of a horse have affected to herald the coming of one of these inventions using a settler’s psyche? For one woman, whose family’s either the theme of “bringing the world into your home” horse died on a trip to town, the loss of a horse caused or “bringing people closer together.” In developing their her great anguish according to her son: “She realized posters, students should consider how each development in her far-seeing mind what it would mean to us living might have impacted people’s lives. one hundred and more miles from the nearest source 7. Students should review the entire set of Fast Facts to of supplies and now deprived of the only means of prepare them for their Western Development Museum reaching the outer world.” visit. • Immigrants came to Saskatchewan from many different countries. Neighbours, including local First Nations people, often spoke different languages. How could people communicate with others who did not speak their language? (Music, dancing, food, “sign” language and games may have been methods used to overcome language barriers.) ADAPTATION AND EXTENSION 1. Conduct an in-class simulation to give students a mild taste of what it would be like to be cut off from contact with others. For an afternoon, instruct students not to speak with other students, not to use any electronic communication devices including telephones, radio, television, or computers, and not to read any newspapers or magazines. Students may want to wear signs to say that they are participating in an experiment, and asking people not to initiate conversation with them. At the conclusion of the experiment, have students write a brief journal entry to chronicle their experience of being unable to communicate. How did they feel? Were they frustrated by being unable to communicate? Did they feel lonely or isolated? 144 Connecting to the World Saskatchewan Achievements in Communications Grade Seven Social Studies LESSON PLAN TWO: AT THE MUSEUM LESSON OVERVIEW Students will explore the content of a discovery box and tour exhibits in the Museum. RESOURCES AND MATERIALS • Materials and information sent to you in your Museum tour confi rmation package Students will explore the evolution of communications in Saskatchewan, and how home-grown development and exploitation of new technology has closed the gap between people living in urban, rural and remote areas in the Connecting to the World – Saskatchewan Achievements in Communications discovery box. PROCEDURE 1. Prepare to teach and to tour the Museum by reviewing the resources listed. Divide your class into groups before the visit. Discuss the required number of groups with Museum Programmer when you book your visit. Select other staff members or parents to lead the groups. Advise the group leadesr about what they will have to do. 2. Students will visit a Western Development Museum in Moose Jaw, North Battleford, Saskatoon or Yorkton. The entire class will assemble for a welcome and orientation. 3. The class will be divided into two, three or more groups depending on the class size. Students will interact with artifacts, replicas and photographs located in a discovery box. A leader’s script included in the discovery box will spearhead discussion. 4. The class will tour pertinent exhibits in the Museum using a tour handout to guide their exploration. This handout may be a question-and-answer sheet or scavenger hunt. A tour script for the group leader will be sent to you with confi rmation of your Museum tour booking. 145 Connecting to the World Saskatchewan Achievements in Communications Grade Seven Social Studies LESSON PLAN THREE: WHENWHEN AA MUSEUMMUSEUM VISITVISIT ISN’TISN’T POSSIBLEPOSSIBLE LESSON OVERVIEW Students will write a short story from the perspective of someone who witnessed the adoption of the telephone, and the coming of radio and television. Instructions for developing a simple telegraph system are offered here to introduce a hands- on component to the lesson, and to develop an appreciation for the limitations and challenges of using an early communication system like telegraphy. RESOURCES AND MATERIALS • Fast Facts information (at the end of the resource package) • Morse code reference sheet gathered by the teacher (Internet search or other source) Advertisement by Northern Electric Telephone as it appeared • Blank telegrams (appendix one) in the May 1, 1926 issue of the Grain Growers’ Guide. Western Development Museum Collection PROCEDURE 1. Using the Fast Facts information as a reference, have • “Talk By Lighting Telegraph” from the Yes Mag: The students write a short story from the perspective of Science Magazine For Adventurous Minds website at someone who experienced the coming of telephone, radio http://playpen.icomtek.csir.co.za/~acdc/club%20ideas/ telegraph/telegraph.html or television. In their stories, students should consider how 3. Prior to conducting the telegraphy activity, review the the availability of these three modes of communication telegraphy information from the Communications Fast would affect their personal and professional lives and their Facts section with students. communities as a whole? Students must provide a short 4. Using Morse code, practice sending and deciphering the paragraph describing the fi ctional character they have students’ names and simple messages with the homemade chosen, and include information about whether they were telegraph. A Morse code reference sheet can easily be urban or rural, and what their occupation was. located by using an Internet search engine. A blank telegram 2. Construct a homemade telegraph system using instructions can be printed off and copied from appendix one for use from one of the following sources, or consult books in your during the exercise. To add an air of authenticity, utilize a school or local library. manual typewriter (if available) to type out the messages. • “Tap, Tap, Tap: Telegraphs and Morse Code” from The Case of the Electrical Mystery: 2000-2001 Series – a 5. Once the activity has been concluded, discuss the idea children’s science series produced by NASA’s Centre that want stimulates invention. What were the limitations for Distance Learning, Langley Research Centre. The of the telegraph? Why was it not frequently used by the educational guide can be accessed online at general population? The telephone was the next step in the communications timeline to impact Saskatchewan people.