CECsci.163


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.