Thomas Edison Unit Study

We created moving picture films using the same concepts of the first films.

The Story of Inventions tells the story of several inventors and their inventions which changed the world. The phonograph was one of the first and most important inventions of Thomas Edison. After reading about the phonograph we watched this short video to see how it worked.

Then we watched this 30 minute video biography on the life of Thomas Edison. There are many great stories from the life of Thomas Edison. One of my favorites is about how he pulled a duck off it's nest to try to hatch the eggs himself.

Thomas Edison was the first person to build a business by employing inventors. One of the companies inventions was the moving picture.

After reading about his invention of moving pictures we watched this video and then the kids created their own moving pictures.

Since we are living in the age of computers the kids used the computer to create their moving picture films. Using Paint they created a series of slightly different images. Then the images were loaded into Live Movie Maker and viewed in quick succession to display movement. This activity combined today's technology with concepts of motion to show how movies were first created.

This video show a kid making a great metal detecting discovery.

This movie features a dancer.



To see more of our engineering activities please visit our Science page.

This post is linked to:
Hip Homeschool Hop
We Made That
Mom's Library
WFMW

* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them. 
** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.

The Story of Inventions - Gutenberg Printing Press

The book The Story of Inventions is about several inventions which changed the way we live today. The Gutenberg printing press is just one of the inventions. 

While reading the chapter on the printing press we watched two videos to help us better understand how a printing press works.

 

 

The Gutenberg Bible was the first book produced on the printing press. It was printed with two columns per page and space was left for illustrations and for fancy lettering. The book was printed in Latin and some bibles were never even decorated. The printing press lowered the price of books so dramatically that common people could afford the luxury once only available to the rich.

The Story of Inventions provides an excellent description of the process of inventing the press and how it changed the world. The book Breaking into Print by Stephen Krensky is the perfect companion. It explains the history of printing beginning with the Chinese through Gutenberg's revolutionary printing press. It is written in story format with illustrations and a timeline.

This post is linked to:
Science Sunday

* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them. 
** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.

The Story of Inventions - Making Steel

The Story of Inventions details several inventions from the 1700's to the present which drastically changed the way we live today. The Bessemer Process was a revolutionary way to change pig iron made from iron ore into steel. The book gives plenty of information on the inventors that were responsible for each invention. In many cases the inventors lived difficult lives and received little to no benefit from their hard work.

After reading about the Bessemer Process we watched this video of a modern day steel mill in action.

The Volklingen Steel Factory is on the list of world heritage sights and was the perfect field trip to go with the Story of Inventions.

* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them. 
 ** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.

The Story of Inventions - Cotton

We learned about how cotton is grown and processed.

I think my son will someday become an engineer. My suspicions began when he was two years old and laid on the floor of the kitchen opening and closing the drawers to figure out how they worked. My prediction seems to reaffirm itself each and every day. He has created simple computer games using Scratch - a free tool to teach kids computer programming skills. After I introduced him to Google Sketch-up - a simplified 3-D modeling tool, he created Jeenland, a village with several houses and structures. In fact, he got out of bed 3 hours early to work on his project. When I got up he had an entire village with restaurants, houses, gardens and fences. Somehow he discovered the standards library and even added bathtubs, tables, chairs, people and other furniture to his rooms.

Just yesterday he announced he wanted to be a systems engineer. He entered the kitchen and told me all about Apple's products which is exactly what a systems engineer does. I explained to him that a systems engineer selects computers and technical equipment for complicated systems such as military navigational tools. He knew what had been released, what would be in the near future, what the computers could do, how much memory they could hold and how much they cost. He even knew who Steve Jobs was.

One book I have been reading to encourage him is The Story of Inventions. The book tells the story of several inventors and their inventions which changed the world. When we read about Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin we watched these two videos to help us understand how a cotton gin works.

In this video a volunteer at the Smithsonian demonstrates how the cotton gin works.

After reading the story and watching the first video it was fun to watch The Story of Cotton. It shows how cotton production works today.

 

* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them. 
 ** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.