TITLE: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TIMELINE
AUTHOR: Sharon A. Freeman, Union Elementary
School; Union, Oregon
GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT: Appropriate for grades 3-12
Science, Social Studies, Language Arts and Art.
OVERVIEW: Students need to be aware of how Science and
Technology have affected their immediate lives. Often in
our Science classes we focus on content that has been around
for a long time (ie. magnets, electricity, weather, rocks
and minerals, etc.)
PURPOSE: By having the students develop a time line of
discoveries that have occurred in their lifetime, they
become more aware that Science is an ongoing process and
that there is a future for them in Science and technology.
OBJECTIVE(s): Student will be able to:
1. Identify the time frame he/she can use - date of
birth to current year.
2. Research events of interest to the student that have
occurred in a given year and are scientifically or
technologically related.
3. Select two events for the year of his/her choice and
write a brief description on a 4x6" index card.
4. Create a poster that describes the group's favorite
scientific or technological event that has occurred
in their selected year.
5. Write a story about discoveries of the future.
RESOURCES/MATERIALS:
Any of the scientific periodicals available, computer access
ERIC, scientific journals listing events of that particular
year.
A good resource is The Timetables of Science by Alexander
Helleman and Bryan Bunch Touchstone Book, Simon & Schuster
Inc. 1991
ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
1. The class will divide into groups of 2-4 students per
group and draw a year from the timeline time frame ( if
it is a class of 4th graders the years 1981-1992 will
be used. The groups will be divided so that each group
has one of the years as its responsibility).
2. The students will use the resources in the library,
such as Scientific magazines, computer and scientific
encyclopedias to discover what scientific and
technological discoveries occurred in that year. Each
student will select two events of interest to him/her
and write a brief description of the event. The card
will include the year, what the event or discovery was,
and a few descriptive sentences. Each group will
select 1 event from their 4x6" cards and create a
poster. The poster will include the year, the title of
the event or discovery, a drawn picture, collage, etc.
of the event and a poem about the event using the
following format: title, 3 adjectives, 1 sentence, and
a synonym or adjective.
Example:
CD
shiny, round, convenient
a new way to store information
quality
3. The students can display their timeline in the hallway
and their poster can call attention to their favorite
event. Once the timeline is posted the students can
write stories about discoveries in the future ( ie.
cures for diseases, new technology, environmental
issues, etc.)
TYING IT ALL TOGETHER:
This lesson ties in well with Science and Technology week.
It also allows students to become aware that science is
ongoing. Current events could be added to the timeline as
1992 or the current year's events occur. We found students
in other classes really enjoyed reading the timelines , so
as a continuation we could ask other classes to contribute
scientific or technological discoveries of interest to them.
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