LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Social Studies — Grade 5

Goal 6: The learner will recognize how technology has influenced change within the United States and other countries in North America.

Objective 6.02. Relate how certain technological discoveries have changed the course of history and reflect on the broader social and environmental changes that can occur from the discovery of such technologies.

Additional related resources

We’re in the process of aligning our content for students to the Standard Course of Study. As we do, you’ll find it here.

General resources

Aligned lesson plans

Tobacco bag stringing: Elementary activity four
In this activity for grades 3–5, students will read and evaluate a primary source letter from the Tobacco Bag Stringing collection. This should be done after Activity one, which is the introductory activity about tobacco bag stringing. Students will investigate the influence of technology, and its lack, on the tobacco bag stringers. They will do a role play/debate in which they will assume the roles of owners of companies and other people that were involved in the issue.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.

Resources on the web

Technology and Inequality
In this lesson from Science NetLinks, students study briefly the history, evolution, and social benefits of the automobile (as a general model for the kinds of technologies that were once enjoyed only by those who could afford them). (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 Social Studies)
Provided by: American Association for the Advancement of Science
I hear the locomotives: The impact of the Transcontinental Railroad
In this lesson, found on the EDSITEment website, students analyze archival material in order to make connections between the arrival of the railroads and many of the changes that occurred subsequently in the United States and its territories. They learn... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
Provided by: EDSITEment
Great American inventors: Using nonfiction to learn about technology inventions
Students read, gather, and present information about famous American inventors including Alexander Graham Bell, George Washington Carver, and Stephanie Kwolek in this lesson. After the teacher introduces three famous inventors, students work in groups to... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
Provided by: ReadWriteThink
Fueling the fires of American industrialization
In this lesson from the Forest History Society in Durham, North Carolina, students examine the role wood played in the American Industrial Revolution. By calculating how much wood was consumed by U.S. railroads before and after the invention of wood preservatives,... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 and 8 Social Studies)
Provided by: Forest History Society
An entreduction
This lesson illustrates the differences between inventions and innovations. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Social Studies)
Provided by: National Council on Economic Education
Behind the scenes: Forest & forest product research
This lesson from the Forest History Society examines research conducted to help us utilize forest resources while managing our forestlands in a sustainable manner. Students will learn about key forest research conducted since the early 1900s, as well as key... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 Social Studies)
Provided by: The Forest History Society