Grade 1

Social Studies

Unit: 11 Lesson: 01

Lesson Synopsis:

This lesson focuses on the life of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. The impact of the telephone on communication and society will be explored.

TEKS:

1.2 / History. The student understands how historical figures, patriots, and good citizens helped to shape the community, state, and nation. The student is expected to:
1.2B / Identify historical figures including Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Garrett Morgan and Richard Allen and other individuals who have exhibited individualism and inventiveness.
1.3 / History. The student understands the concepts of time and chronology. The student is expected to:
1.3A / Distinguish among past, present, and future.
1.3B / Describe and measure calendar time by days, weeks, months, and years.
1.13 / Citizenship. The student understands characteristics of good citizenship as exemplified by historical figures and other individuals. The student is expected to:
1.13C / Identify other individuals who exemplify good citizenship.
1.16 / Science, technology, and society. The student understands how technology affects daily life, past and present. The student is expected to:
1.16B / Describe how technology changes communication, transportation, and recreation.
1.16C / Describe how technology changes the way people work.

Social Studies SkillsTEKS:

1.17 / Social studies skills. The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of valid sources including electronic technology. The student is expected to:
1.17B / Obtain information about a topic using a variety of valid visual sources such as pictures, symbols, electronic media, maps, literature, and artifacts.
1.18 / Social studies skills. The student communicates in oral, visual, and written forms. The student is expected to:
1.18B / Create and interpret visual and written material.
Getting Ready for Instruction
Performance Indicator(s):
  • Create a booklet (accordion book) with three pages showing events from Alexander Graham Bell’s life and two pages depicting the impact of the invention of the telephone. (1.2B, 1.3B, 1.16B, 1.16C; 1.17B; 1.18B)
  • 1E

Key Understandings and Guiding Questions:
  • Las contribuciones de una persona pueden cambiar una sociedad.

—¿Cómo ayudaron a las personas los inventos de Alexander Graham Bell?

—¿Cómo impactaron a la sociedad los inventos de Bell?

—¿Qué impacto ha tenido el teléfono en nuestras vidas?

Vocabulary of Instruction:

© 2012, TESCCC 05/12/11page 1 of 6

Grade 1

Social Studies

Unit: 11 Lesson: 01

  • creatividad
  • cambio
  • contribución

© 2012, TESCCC 05/12/11page 1 of 6

Grade/Course

Social Studies

Unit: Lesson:

Materials:

© 2010, TESCCC 07/26/10page 1 of 6

Grade 1

Social Studies

Unit: 11 Lesson: 01

  • Refer to Notes for Teacher section for materials.

(Appropriate materials may be substituted as needed to incorporate district resources and availability.)

Attachments:

  • Handout: TelephonePictures(1 per group)
  • Teacher Resource: PowerPoint: Alexander Graham Bell
  • Teacher Resource: PowerPoint SummaryKEY
  • Handout: Bell’s Timeline(1 per student)
  • Handout: What if? Scenarios(1 per group)
  • Teacher Resource: Accordion BookletKEY
  • Teacher Resource: Performance Indicator Instructions - PI

©2012, TESCCC05/17/13page 1 of 5

Grade 1

Social Studies

Unit: 11 Lesson: 02

Resources and References:
  • None identified

Advance Preparation:
  1. Become familiar with content and procedures for the lesson, including the idea that Alexander Graham Bell was an inventor whose inventions made a profound impact on the lives of people.
  2. Refer to the Instructional Focus Document for specific content to include in the lesson.
  3. Select appropriate sections of the textbook and other classroom materials that support the learning for this lesson.
  4. Gather teacher-selected books to read aloud.
  5. Print the Handout: Telephone Pictures.
  6. PrepareTeacher Resource: PowerPoint: Alexander Graham Bell for display.
  7. Draw the Teacher Resource: PowerPoint SummaryKEY on board or prepare to display electronically.
  8. Make copies of the Handout: Bell’s Timeline, one per student. Cut yarn in 36” lengths.
  9. Copy the Handout: What If? Scenarios.

Background Information:

Technology – anything invented by humans to solve a problem. Technology is the application of processes, methods, or knowledge to achieve a specific purpose. Scientists and engineers develop technology with positive outcomes in mind such as increasing production and improving communication. Products of technology including computers, telephones, radios, and scientific equipment affect human conditions. Many believe the influences are positive, but some consider the negative ramifications of technology. For example, citizens differ in their viewpoints of nuclear energy. Does it provide safe fuel, or do the risks of disaster override its potential?

Invention – a new device, process, or item, something new that a person makes or thinks of to solve a problem

Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Born in Scotland, Bell sought a greater understanding of deafness by studying sound and the mechanics of speech. He was influenced by his father who invented visible speech, a code of symbols used to teach deaf people to speak. The younger Bell moved to Boston, Massachusetts, to work at the Boston School for the Deaf in 1871, but he quickly opened his own school. By 1873, he was teaching vocal physiology at Boston University. Bell understood the concept of the telephone by 1874, but was not successful in transmitting a voice message until March 10, 1876, three days after the patent for his invention was issued. He and partners formed Bell Telephone Company in 1877. He helped develop Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He assisted in founding the National Geographic Society and supported experiments in aviation.

Definitions courtesy of the Social Studies Center [defunct]. (2000). Glossary. Austin: Texas Education Agency.

Biography courtesy of the Social Studies Center [defunct]. (2000). Biographies. Austin: Texas Education Agency.

Getting Ready for Instruction Supplemental Planning Document

Instructors are encouraged to supplement and substitute resources, materials, and activities to differentiate instruction to address the needs of learners. The Exemplar Lessons are one approach to teaching and reaching the Performance Indicators and Specificity in the Instructional Focus Document for this unit. Instructors are encouraged to create original lessons using the Content Creator in the Tools Tab located at the top of the page. All originally authored lessons can be saved in the “My CSCOPE” Tab within the “My Content” area.

Instructional Procedures
Instructional Procedures / Notes for Teacher
ENGAGE– Telephone Pictures / NOTE: 1 Day = 30 minutes
Suggested Day 1– 10 minutes
  1. Divide students into five groups. Distribute a picture from the Handout: Telephone Picturesto each group. Students talk about the picture in their groups. Instruct students to:
  • Describe the picture.
  • Tell how they think it was used.
  • Compare it to a current telephone. How are they the same? How are they different?
  1. Allow groups time to discuss their picture. Students think of a question they have about the telephones. Distribute a 12” x 18” sheet of white or yellow construction paper to each group on which to write their question. Each group shares their question and posts them around the room.
/ Materials:
  • White or yellow construction paper, 12 x 18, one sheet per group
Attachments:
  • Handout: Telephone Pictures (1 per group)
Purpose:
  • The purpose for this section of the lesson is to introduce pictures of telephones from the past to incite curiosity about telephones and communication from the past.
TEKS: 1.3A, 1.3B; 1.16B; 1.17B; 1.18B
Instructional Note:
  • If available, show students old telephones.

EXPLORE–Teacher Resource: PowerPoint: Alexander Graham Bell / Suggested Day 1 (continued) – 10 minutes
  1. Read a teacher-selected book about the life of Alexander Graham Bell or information about Bell from the textbook. Facilitate a discussion about the man who invented the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell (optional).
  1. Display the PowerPoint: Alexander Graham Bell.
  1. Facilitate a discussion during and after the PowerPoint. Focus on using chronology words to describe events in Bell’s life.
Ask these or similar questions:
  • Did Alexander Graham Bell live in the past or present?Past (review meaning of past, present, and future).
  • Why did he become interested in speech, sound, and communication? His father taught deaf students and his mother began losing her hearing when he was twelve.
  • What was his most famous invention? The telephone.
  • What were some of his other inventions? A machine that would remove the husk from wheat, a metal detector, a breathing machine, etc.
  • How did Alexander Graham Bell’s inventions help people?Answers may vary.
  • How did Bell’s inventions impact society?Answers may vary.
  • What impact has the telephone had on our lives?Answers may vary.
  1. At the end of this discussion, focus attention on the dates on in the Teacher Resource: PowerPoint: Alexander Graham Bell
  • If we want to know about the year Alexander Graham Bell was born, where do we look on the date?
  • If we want to know the month he was born, where do we look?
  • If we want to know the day, where do we look?
  • If we know his family moved to Canada in 1870, how old was he? How do we find that out?
/ Materials:
Information about Alexander Graham Bell
Attachments:
  • Teacher Resource:PowerPoint: Alexander Graham Bell
  • Teacher Resource: PowerPoint SummaryKEY
Purpose:
  • The purpose for this section of the lesson is to learn about the life of Alexander Graham Bell and the impact his inventions have had on technology.
TEKS: 1.2B; 1.3A, 1.3B; 1.16B; 1.17B; 1.18B
.
EXPLAIN–Bell’s Timeline / Suggested Day 1 (continued) – 10 minutes
  1. Distribute the Handout: Bell’s Timeline (1 per student). Students cut out the telephones and the speech bubbles. Punch holes on either side of the speech bubbles using circles for guides. Distribute yarn. Assist students in stapling the early telephone on the left end of the yarn. Place speech bubbles in order and then thread the bubbles onto the yarn. Staple the cell phone on the other end of the yarn.
  1. With a partner, students compare their timelines and discuss any discrepancies.
/ Materials:
  • Yarn, one 36” length for each student
Attachments:
  • Handout: Bell’s Timeline (1 per student)
Purpose:
  • The purpose for this section of the lesson is to place events from the PowerPoint in chronological order to help students assimilate the information.
TEKS: 1.2B; 1.18B
Instructional Note:
  • Keep the Teacher Resource: PowerPoint: Alexander Graham Bell available to students who need to use it as a reference.

ENGAGE–How Has the Phone Changed? / Suggested Day 2 – 5 minutes
  1. Display an actual mobile phone. Ask students to brainstorm different uses of cell phones. When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone the sole purpose was to talk to others who were a distance away. Ask:
  • What can we do with our phones today?Answers may vary, butwith today’s smart phones, there are a wide variety of uses for phones.
  • Is a phone an example of technology?Yes
  • How do mobile phones help people work?Answers may vary.
/ Materials:
  • Mobilephone
Purpose:
  • The purpose for this section of the lesson is to understand the many uses of the telephone and how dependent we have become on the phone as a tool.
TEKS: 1.16B, 1.16C
Instructional Note:
  • Most first grade students have always had telephones in their lives. Many have only experienced mobile phones, cell phones, or cordless phones. It is important for students to understand that telephones have changed and have greatly impacted our lives. This concept will be more fully explored in Unit 12.

EXPLORE –What If? scenarios / Suggested Day 2 (continued) – 10 minutes
  1. Continue the discussion by asking these or similar questions about technology:
  • Has technology changed the way we communicate with one another? If so, how?Because of technology we can instantly communicate with people all over the world using audio and video communication tools as well as written communication.
  • Has technology changed the way we work? Tasks that took a great deal of time in the past can be accomplished more easily and more quickly because of technology.
  • Has technology made our work easier? If so, how is it easier? It has made work easier because we are able to communicate; we can get answers from other people more quickly
  1. Divide students into four groups.
  1. Distribute the Handout: What If?Scenarios (1 per group).
  1. Students read their scenario and discuss with their group. Groups answer the questions on the cards.
/ Attachments:
  • Handout: What If?Scenarios(1 per group)
Purpose:
  • The purpose for this section of the lesson is to understand the role of technology in the way we communicate and the way we work. In the What If? Scenarios, students think about how life might be different without the technology of the telephone.
TEKS:1.3A; 1.3B; 1.13C; 1.16B; 1.16C; 1.17B; 1.18B
EXPLAIN–Share answers with the class / Suggested Day 2 (continued) – 10 minutes
  1. Each group selects a speaker to share their answers. Each speaker reads the What If? Scenario to the class.
  1. Each group tells the situation on their card and what they would have done.
  1. Write “Impact of the Telephone” on the board or chart paper. Students think about how life would be if we did not have telephones. Brainstorm how telephones help us. Write ideas on the board.
/ Purpose:
  • The purpose for this section of the lesson is to share the ideas from each group’s What If? Scenarios with the class.
TEKS: 1.2B; 1.16B; 1.16C; 1.18B
ELABORATE –Comparing Inventors / Suggested Day 2 (continued) – 5 minutes
  1. Remind students what they have learned about two inventors whose inventions greatly impacted the world: Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell.
Ask and discuss the following questions to compare the two inventors:
  • How were they alike?
  • How were they different?
  • What inventions or ideas did each man contribute to society?
  • As inventors, how did they display good citizenship?
/ Purpose:
  • The purpose for this section of the lesson is to compare and contrast the contributions and lives of Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell.
TEKS: 1.2B; 1.13C; 1.16B; 1.16C
EVALUATE–Performance Indicator / Suggested Day 3 (continued) – 25 minutes
  • Create a booklet (accordion book) with three pages showing events from Alexander Graham Bell’s life and two pages depicting the impact of the invention of the telephone. (1.2B, 1.3B, 1.16B, 1.16C; 1.17B; 1.18B)
1E
  1. Use Teacher Resource: Performance Indicator Instructions - PI to help students achieve the Performance Indicator.
/ Materials:
  • 12 x 18 construction paper, any color, enough for each student to have ½ of a sheet
Attachments:
  • Teacher Resource: Accordion BookletKEY
  • Teacher Resource: Performance Indicator Instructions - PI
TEKS: 1.2B; 1.3B; 1.16B, 1.16C; 1.17B; 1.18B

©2012, TESCCC05/17/13page 1 of 5