Back to the future!

In this lesson plan, students research the history of an important invention and present what they've learned through an annotated timeline, historical fiction journal accounts, and VoiceThread technology.

A lesson plan for grades 6 and 8 Information Skills and Social Studies

By Diane Ruby

Author’s note

As a media specialist, I was asked to co-teach an elective with an 8th grade social studies teacher. Her theme was “inventions that shaped history.” I created this unit lesson around that theme to focus the students’ research. I wanted the students to see how inventions and innovations have influenced our lives throughout time.

The timeline is a very integral part to this lesson. It is the “glue” that keeps the students focused as they work with their partner to narrow their identified points in history to six dates.

The journal entries provided additional opportunities for the students to collaborate and help each other “see” what was happening around them at each point in time. Students used the watermark feature in Word 2007 to put the year in the background on each journal entry. Students created a works cited page to give credit to their sources.

Learn more

• VoiceThread 4 Education wiki This wiki provides a space for educators to share examples of how they use Voicethread in their classrooms or for professional development.

Related pages

• The not-so-famous person report: Instead of teaching the history of the famous, use research in primary sources to teach students that the past and present were made by people like them.
• Tools of the trade for information seekers: A guide to understanding and using search engines, directories, and the invisible web.
• The invention of the telegraph: After Samuel Morse developed a means of transmitting messages using electricity in the 1830s, it took several years for the technology to become commercially practical. The first telegraph wires, between Baltimore and Washington, were strung in the 1840s.

Related topics

• Learn more about VoiceThread, history, information literacy, inventions, research, and technology integration.

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Imagine traveling back in time. No cell phones, no computers, no internet, no modern conveniences. How will you cope?! This lesson takes students on a trip through time as they make their way back to the future.

Students will work in pairs to select an invention or innovation that shaped history and will identify important dates in the development of the invention. They will create an annotated timeline and write journal entries to explain the importance of the dates they have chosen. Finally, students will use interactive voice technology to share their time travel experiences with their classmates.

This lesson plan is well-suited for an elective class or an interdisciplinary collaboration.

Learning outcomes

Students will:

• learn how an invention shaped history
• gain an understanding of chronological history through the creation of an annotated timeline
• write journal entries as first-person historical fiction
• use interactive technology (VoiceThread) to document what they’ve learned

Teacher preparation

Time required for lesson

Time will vary. The lesson could take 5 weeks, with classes meeting daily for 40 minutes. It could also be adapted for a shorter period of time by having students identify fewer dates, write fewer journal entries, and produce a shorter multimedia presentation.

This lesson plan is best suited for an elective class.

Materials needed

• student handout (rubric included)
• student computers with internet access, and access to the VoiceThread website

Optional materials

• computer with LCD projector and speakers to introduce lesson
• books from the library media center
• small hand-held video camera (e.g. Flip) or web cam
• microphone
• alternatives to VoiceThread — PowerPoint or Microsoft Photo Story 3

Pre-activities

• If you have never used it before, familiarize yourself with VoiceThread before the lesson. VoiceThread is a free, collaborative online resource that provides a way to have a “one-way” discussion responding to a multimedia presentation. Some suggestions for becoming more familiar with VoiceThread:
  • View a VoiceThread example created for the lesson plan “Laugh and Learn with Satire and Technology.”
  • Read the directions for setting up a VoiceThread on the Reading Queens website.
  • Use the directions above to set up and create your own VoiceThread example. (The author strongly recommends doing this.)
• Setting up an educator account with VoiceThread is optimal. It allows for more flexibility when working with several groups of students.
• If you plan to show a clip from the movie Back to the Future to introduce the lesson plan, identify and prepare the clip before the lesson.

Activities

1. Introduce the lesson by telling students they will travel through time to investigate the history of an important invention. You may choose to show them a short clip from the movie Back to the Future, either found online or from a DVD. If you show a clip, you can tell students that, just like Marty McFly, they should not change history during their time travels — otherwise they may not be able to return to the present time. Their role is to observe and then to share their time-travel experiences with their classmates upon their return.
2. Have students work in pairs to select an invention or innovation that shaped history. The invention can be limited to the following categories: communication, transportation, agriculture, science, technology, and medicine.
3. Have the students conduct research to find important dates in the history of the invention. Specifically, students should identify:
   • three dates prior to the invention that led to or influenced its development (If students struggle with this, instruct them to use the invention’s category as a guide.)
   • the date of the invention
   • two dates identifying how the invention has evolved since it was introduced

   For example, if the identified invention is the automobile, the category would be transportation. The identified dates could be:

   • 3500 B.C. — Wheeled carts in Mesopotamia (transportation history)
   • 1730 — Stagecoaches in American colonies (transportation history)
   • 1807 — Steamboat service in U.S. (transportation history)
   • 1885/1886 — Germany’s Karl Benz creates the first gasoline automobile powered by an internal combustion engine. [Note: This point is debatable, but many experts credit Benz with the invention of the automobile. See the Library of Congress Everyday Mysteries article “Who Invented the Automobile?“] (invention)
   • 1908 — Henry Ford used the assembly line to make automobile manufacturing more efficient (invention evolved)
   • 1932 — Model T with V8 engine created (invention evolved)

   Tell students to be sure to keep track of their sources — they will need them to create their journal entries and a works cited page.

4. Have the students create an annotated timeline incorporating the identified dates.
5. Have the students work in their pairs to write journal entries for each date. The journal entries should be written as historical fiction accounts: They should be written in first person (”I,” “we”), and should incorporate how the students interacted when they traveled back to the chosen time periods. These journal entries should reflect what the students have learned through their research about how inventions have shaped history, where the inventions or innovations took place, and how people of the relevant time period were affected.
6. Instruct the students to create a works cited page to cite images and research sources. You may choose to let students use the free online bibliography maker Bib Me to create their works cited pages.

VoiceThread activity

Students will use VoiceThread, an interactive web-based multimedia program, to share their time-travel experiences with their classmates. Students can incorporate flip video cameras, web cams, microphones, cell phones, and type text.

If you don’t have access to VoiceThread, you may have the students use other multimedia software, such as Microsoft Photo Story 3, which is available on the web as a free download. PowerPoint could also be used for this project. Students could use a microphone and add voice narration.

1. If you’re using VoiceThread, spend one class period introducing the students to VoiceThread and allowing each student to create and save an avatar. Avatars are images created online to represent themselves. The avatars are used in the VoiceThread project. If you’ve created a VoiceThread example, share it with the class. If not, show some examples from the VoiceThread website. Suggested examples include “What Could It Mean?” in which students respond to photographs by interpreting them, and an example about Black History Month.
2. Give each student his/her login and password information and have the students upload their avatars. If you’ve created a VoiceThread example, have the students practice using VoiceThread by responding to your example.
3. Have the students work in their pairs to create their multimedia presentations. Remind them that to present their travels as first-person accounts.

Assessment

The assessment rubric also appears on page two of the student handout.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
VoiceThread	Confusing and unstructured.	At times the presentation loses focus.	Presentation is acceptable.	Presentation is seamless.
Timeline	Identifies few dates/annotations.	Demonstrates some knowledge of the criteria.	Demonstrates considerable knowledge.	Demonstrates thorough knowledge.
Journal	Students make few connections linking relevance in dates/places.	Students make some connections linking relevance in dates/places.	Students link places/dates.	Students proficient in making connections linking relevance in dates/places.
Works cited	Works cited includes websites.	Works cited entries incomplete, lack citations for images used, or include fewer than four reference sources.	Works cited entries reflect all images used and include at least four reference sources.	Works cited page conforms to preferred format (e.g. MLA, APA); images and reference sources included.
Overall visual appeal	Few or no graphic elements.	Graphic elements contribute to the understanding of the concept.	Appropriate and thematic graphic elements.	Creativity in use of graphic elements.

Modifications

This lesson can be modified in many different ways:

• The lesson could be adapted for a shorter period of time by having students identify fewer dates, write fewer journal entries, and/or produce a shorter multimedia presentation.
• Gifted and talented students may incorporate more technology into their multimedia presentation.
• Students with learning disabilities may identify only three dates to research (before, during, after)

Websites

• BibMe — free online bibliography maker
• VoiceThread — free online tool for creating collaborative multimedia presentations

Critical vocabulary

annotated timeline

a graphic representation of chronological events that includes a summary of the importance of each date identified.

avatar

a graphic representation of a computer user. In the case of VoiceThread, an avatar is an icon that represents the user.

VoiceThread

a free, collaborative online resource that provides a way to have a “one-way” discussion responding to a multimedia presentation.