TEACHER’S GUIDE TEACHER’S GUIDE TEACHER’S GUIDE

• Have the students keep a diary of their activities for one day,noting each Suggested Internet Resources time they use an invention created or developed by Edison. Have them Periodically, Internet Resources are updated on our Web site at explain how their day might have been different if they had lived in a www.LibraryVideo.com time before these inventions were available. • www.nps.gov/edis • Ask the students to reflect on Edison’s claim that his growing deafness This is the National Park Service’s Web page on the Edison National made him a better inventor because it tended to isolate him, thereby Historic Site in West Orange, New Jersey, where Edison maintained his research and development laboratory. making him concentrate more on his work. Obtain or have students get some form of ear protection (headphones, plugs). Designate an appro- • www.tomedison.org priate time that students could wear them for a few minutes within your This site, maintained by the Birthplace Museum in Milan, Ohio, provides a short history and lists Edison’s inventions. classroom.Ask students to report to the class how the loss of hearing affected their ability to concentrate on schoolwork as well as communi- • www.edisonkids.com/heroexb/main.htm cate with others. Professor Kilowatt invites students to learn more about some of the world’s “energy heroes.” • Edison regularly invited newspaper reporters to his Menlo Park labora- tory to demonstrate his new inventions and to reveal his plans for the Suggested Print Resources future. He also sponsored big publicity campaigns to promote his ideas. • Adair, Gene. Thomas Alva Edison: Inventing the Electric Age. Oxford In time, the media came to refer to Edison as “The Wizard of Menlo University Children’s Books, New York, NY; 1997. Park.’’ Arrange students in small groups and ask them to imagine that • Cousins, Margaret. The Story of Thomas Alva Edison. Random THOMAS EDISON they are working for Edison’s advertising department in the 19th House Publishing, New York, NY; 1997. century.Ask each group to write a jingle, commercial or skit, or create a • Dolan, Ellen M. Thomas A. Edison: Inventor. Enslow Publishers poster advertisement to help sell one of Edison’s inventions, like the Inc., Springfield, NJ; 1998. his guide is a supplement designed for teachers or electric light.Ask students to perform or display their T to use when presenting programs in the video ideas for the class. TEACHER’S GUIDE series Inventors of the World. • Remind students that in the late 19th century, many people were Jim Quinn This series focuses on famous inventors who have reluctant to switch from gas to electric lighting because, in many cases, Writer-in-Residence, National Inventors Hall of Fame helped change the course of history with their electricity was misunderstood and feared. Invite an official from your groundbreaking ideas. Programs in this series stress local electric department to visit your class and discuss with students COMPLETE LIST OF TITLES that the process of inventing is much more than a some of the dangers associated with electricity and how to exercise quick “eureka” moment and is more likely the culmi- proper handling of electrical equipment. • ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL • A HISTORY OF INVENTION nation of a great deal of hard work and experimen- • GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER • INVENTING IN TODAY'S WORLD tation.These programs also dispel the notion that • Until the great “Blizzard of 1888,” the view above many American cities • LEONARDO DA VINCI • LOUIS PASTEUR advancements in science occur only due to the in the 19th century was a tangled, dangerous mess of telephone, tele- • THOMAS EDISON • JAMES WATT work of a lone, isolated genius and illustrate how graph and electric wires.To learn more about what it was like to live in • HENRY FORD • ELI WHITNEY the great inventors of history often “stood on the New York City at that time, ask students to read the article located at • BENJAMIN FRANKLIN • THE WRIGHT BROTHERS shoulders of giants” and improved upon the work of www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0303.html. others. In addition to documenting the inventors • Although Thomas Edison is known as “the father of electricity,” his direct and their process of invention, this series also high- current system, or DC, is not the electric system used around the world Teacher’s Guides Included 800-843-3620 lights how new technologies influenced society at today.Ask students to do a research project on a relatively unknown and Available Online at: the time of their inception and how they continue former employee of Edison’s, Nikola Tesla, who disagreed with Edison CHLESSINGE to shape our modern world. and championed the use of alternating current, or AC — the system that MEDIA ® A DIVISION OF LIBRARY VIDEO COMPANY is used today.Also have students research George Westinghouse, who S ® R saw the benefits of an AC system and was influential in its development. CHLESSINGE Copyright 2001 by Schlessinger Media, a division of Library Video Company MEDIA ® A DIVISION OF LIBRARY VIDEO COMPANY P.O. Box 580,Wynnewood, PA 19096 • 800-843-3620 S ® R Executive Producers, Andrew Schlessinger & Tracy Mitchell Programs produced and directed by Issembert Productions, Inc. 5 All rights reserved. Historical Overview research lab — A place where scientists and technicians experiment, design 7.Why is Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan significant? new products as well as improve on existing ones. The years of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were an extremely inven- 8.Who were the Edison Pioneers? tive period in history, with the telephone, automobile, airplane and other draftsman — A person who sketches plans for buildings or machines. 9.Who was Lewis Latimer? groundbreaking technologies all launched during this era. The foremost phonograph — Edison’s invention for recording and playing back sound, 10.What was Edison’s attitude about his hearing impairment? inventor of the time was unquestionably Thomas Alva Edison, the first and, to including music and the human voice. 11. How did many people react to hearing recorded voices for the first date, only person to earn more than 1,000 patents. telegraph — A communication device that uses electricity to send and time? Edison established the world’s first research laboratory in Menlo Park, New receive information in the form of dots and dashes. 12.Who was Eadweard Muybridge? Jersey, assembling a team of specialists who worked with him in creating Morse code — A communication system using dots and dashes developed 13. How did Edison get the information he needed to create his inventions? numerous breakthrough inventions. Menlo Park was a virtual “invention by the inventor of the telegraph, Samuel F.B. Morse. factory,” and it set an example for future research and development — A device that allows an individual to view motion pictures. laboratories. Follow-up Discussion illusion — An image that is false or misleading to the eye. Edison is credited with inventing the phonograph, motion pictures and • Edison claimed when he opened Menlo Park that he would produce a iron-ore separator — A series of machines designed to remove iron ore storage batteries, but his most important contribution was his work with elec- small invention every week and a large one every six months.Ask the from the rock in which it is found. tricity, as he produced the first practical electric light, along with the devices students how they would feel if they had a job that required this much and the system used for generating and distributing electric power. Edison creativity, or “thinking outside the box.”Also, Edison relied on draftsmen, strongly believed that “genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration,”a work ethic Pre-viewing Discussion carpenters, glassblowers, electricians and other specialists to help create that inspired him to develop many inventions that changed the world! • Edison worked in an era in which many fundamental technologies were and improve his inventions, and to develop ways to manufacture them invented. Create a list of these technologies, including the automobile, as products.Ask the students to discuss what it would have been like to Time Line radio, telephone, airplane, mechanical typesetter, photograph, motion be one of these workers. • Review with the students the list of important inventions developed by 1847 — Edison is born in Milan, Ohio. picture, sound recording, internal combustion engine and the electric light. Point out that Edison was involved in the creation of more basic technolo- Edison. Based on this discussion, ask students to list the inventions in 1864 — Edison begins working as a traveling telegrapher. gies than any other inventor in history. Encourage students to discuss order of their importance. Have the students explain their reasons for 1868 — Edison’s first invention, the automatic vote counter is patented. specific ways that these technologies affect their lives, and to imagine each choice. 1874 — Edison invents a quadruplex telegraph, capable of sending four living without them. • Edison brought in truckloads of various materials to his Menlo Park facil- messages at once. • The invention of the phonograph and the motion picture allowed gifted ity and spent thousands of hours experimenting in an attempt to make a 1876 — The Menlo Park research laboratory opens in New Jersey. singers, actors, musicians and other performing artists to create recordings long-lasting filament for his light bulb. In one of his more famous quotes, 1877 — Edison patents the phonograph. of their performances, which could be shared with national and even inter- Edison said,“If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t 1879 — The first public demonstration of electric lighting occurs at national audiences for the first time. Explain to students the meaning of failed. I am not discouraged because every wrong attempt discarded is Menlo Park. “pop” culture, and explore with them the role recorded music and movies another step forward.”Ask students to discuss the meaning of this state- 1882 — The first commercial electric power station for lighting in the have played in creating American popular culture. ment, and ask them to explain how Edison’s philosophy helped make United States opens in New York City. • Obtain a list of the times for sunrise and sunset in your area throughout the him a successful inventor. 1888 — Edison develops a motion picture camera and viewer. year. Share these times with the students, pointing out how much less 1894 — The first kinetoscope motion picture parlor opens in New York City. daylight is available in winter compared with summer. Have students Follow-up Activities 1900 — Edison invents a storage battery. reflect on how much more difficult it must have been to live and work • The telegraph was a powerful invention that dramatically improved 1931 — Edison dies in West Orange, New Jersey. during the winter without electric lighting. communications during the 19th century, and many people were very excited to have access to a technology that could let them obtain infor- Vocabulary Focus Questions mation about faraway places. Obtain the Morse code signals for each filament — A fine, thread-like wire that, when heated, produces light in an 1.What was Edison’s goal for his Menlo Park facility? letter of the alphabet and distribute copies to your students. Have each electric bulb. 2. How did Edison feel about hard work? student select short words or phrases (Hello, Goodbye, Happy Birthday, When is lunch?) and write them out in Morse code. Using a flashlight, arc lighting — An old-fashioned form of electrical lighting that was loud, 3.What was the big problem in developing a practical light bulb? inefficient and smelly. have the students take turns flashing their words on a wall in the class- 4. How did Edison feel about unsuccessful experiments? room while other students decode the messages. Point out that with dynamos — A generator used to produce large amounts of electric current. 5.What did people do for lighting before Edison’s invention? practice, telegraphers like the young Edison could instantly translate Edison Pioneers — The name of a select organization of people who 6. Describe some of the problems associated with arc lighting. words into Morse code and back. (Continued) worked with Edison to develop electric light. (Continued) (Continued) 2 3 4