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Does anyone else confuse Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein in their heads? I know they’re two completely separate people, but I keep confusing their names. I have no clue why, which can make for some very confusing history lessons for the poor kids I’m teaching. And I would be remiss if I didn’t add this was also a science lesson AND part of our New Jersey Unit, so it was a geography lesson.

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Before we get into our Thomas Edison lesson, a few Thomas Edison books
Sadly, as Future Ticia 2022 is updating this, our library is closed to moved into a new building, so I can double check exactly which books we used for the original lesson.
- Time for Kids: Thomas Edison– I like this style of nonfiction book
- Thomas Edison: lighting the way– great if you’re having a kid run the lesson since it’s written in a slightly easier style
- Thomas Edison: inventor with a lot of bright ideas– I like this book series, it’s best for upper elementary
- A picture book of Thomas Alva Edison– This is great for the largest age range, because it’s complex enough for older kids to enjoy it, but not so complex your preschooler will be lost
Thomas Edison videos
Future Ticia 2022, the Thomas Edison lesson I did with my high schoolers last year, included several YouTube videos for our First and Second Industrial Revolution Unit.
And then because Thomas Edison is now a controversial figure, I wanted to cover a bit of that controversy.
Thomas Edison lesson run by middle school student

I did something a little different for this exercise. I gave complete control to one of the older kids, and she taught the entire lesson on Edison. She pulled out things I wouldn’t have thought of, and she copied pictures of the different things he invented and then cut out one for each kiddo to have.
Next she said, “Thomas Edison never looked at something without trying to improve it.” Then she split them up into groups and gave them each a common item to improve.
The items were: a jar, a spoon, a teacup, and an eraser.
So, they brainstormed for a while and then presented their improvements. I was amused by all of them, but for your sake am only going to show you two of the pairings, the one that includes Batman, and the one that includes Princess (mainly because Princess cracks me up as Boy E is trying to talk).
So, all in all it was a very amusing Thomas Edison lesson, and one that I think all of the kids enjoyed and hopefully remember.

More history fun
We have lots of fun history lessons to try out.
- Hinduism lesson
- Design an irrigation system
- Timeline tips
- Jacques Cousteau lesson
- Immigration booklist
“Teen today as Thomas Edison apprentice” by judy_breck is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Comments
9 responses to “Thomas Edison lesson”
What a great idea to have your older kids teach! That's one of the best ways to learn.
And I'm always thinking things like that are too advanced for the younger kids- but obviously not!
When I taught 8th grade, one of our favorite activities was to have a student teach the class on a specific topic – kids love that.
Princess is just too cute.
What a fun activity! I love that the older child got to have full control and did such a great job with it 🙂
Glad you're back home safely…I've been reading your posts all week…sounds like a good trip overall.
That is so cool that this older girl ran the entire class!
And your kids have seriously gorgeous smiles. Loved Princess's smiles in that video!
How neat that your kids get to interact and learn from older kids. I am sure they pick up a lot from these classes even though some of the material goes over their heads.
PS – too funny that both of the girls were twiddling with their clothes and hair – they probably knew they are on camera 🙂
Looks like a really fun time!
I love this idea! I'm sure it will be memorable for all the kids.
I love the idea of having the older kids teach the lesson. Teaching really is the best way to learn!
I am joining up a bit late- missed Sunday by a bit. I have enjoyed reading some of the other contributions though!
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