Primary
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Primary Source Set: Telephone Invention

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This collection uses primary sources to explore the invention of the telephone.
Activity
Other

Centervention: Body Language Activities Using Telephone Game

For Students 2nd - 5th Standards
In this activity, students will play the game of "Telephone" in two different ways. Students will first play "Telephone" with the traditional version of the the game and then only communicate via their body language.
Handout
PBS

Pbs: American Experience: The Telephone Goes National

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides information about the birth of the telephone. The site also discusses AT&T, the first long distance phone call, and the people involved.
Primary
Yale University

Yale: Avalon Project: Telephone Communication From Robert Coulondre

For Students 9th - 10th
Communications between the French ambassador to Germany and the French minister of Foreign Affairs concerning the German invasion of Poland.
Primary
Digital Public Library of America

Dpla: The Invention of the Telephone

For Students 9th - 10th
This primary source set uses physical objects, documents, photographs, and drawings to tell the story of the invention of the telephone and its transformative impact on modern-day communication. Includes a teaching guide.
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "Today's Telephone" by Barbara Radner

For Students 5th - 6th Standards
A learning module that begins with "Today's Telephone" by Barbara Radner, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free teacher...
Article
Other

Effectively Using the Telephone

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This resource contains an article about using the telephone to its maximum potential. It gives basic advice on improving your communication over the phone.
Website
Great Idea Finder

The Great Idea Finder: Invention of the Telephone

For Students 9th - 10th
The Great Idea Finder provides information on the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell and its history throughout the years. Links to other sites with information are provided.
Article
Mocomi & Anibrain Digital Technologies

Mocomi: Invention of Telephone

For Students 2nd - 8th
Explores the history of the telephone invention.
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Hello, Are You Listening?

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students gain a basic understanding of the engineering components behind telecommunications, in particular, the way telephone communication works to link one phone to another for conventional landline and cellular telephones. During this...
Website
National Academy of Engineering

Greatest Achievements: Telephone

For Students 9th - 10th
This resources features an overview of the history behind the technological development of the telephone today and a timeline showing the important dates.
Website
Other

Federal Communications Commission: Major Initiatives

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from the FCC gives information on the main focus of the Federal Communication Commission. They are responsible for most forms of communication.
Website
Other

Alexander Graham Bell

For Students 9th - 10th
This biographical site includes a link to a United States House of Representatives resolution recognizing Antonio Meucci as the inventor of the telephone. It also includes information on Bell's (1847-1922) later scientific work.
Graphic
Library of Congress

Loc: Map Collections 1500 2002

For Students 9th - 10th
This collection provides maps dating back to 1500 up to the present. The collection includes: cities, towns, discovery and exploration, conservation and environment, military battles, cultural landscapes, transportation, communication,...
Handout
Other

Dj Zone: What to Say When Someone Calls

For Students 9th - 10th
This site gives great tips for answering the phone in the most efficient and polite manner possible. Pretty good overview of basic telephone skills.
Article
Famous Scientists

Famous Scientists: Antonio Meucci

For Students 9th - 10th
A short biography about Antonio Meucci, best known for developing a voice communication apparatus that several sources credit as the first telephone.
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Tale of Text Messages: A Character Study of a Tale of Two Cities

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students engage in a character study of the numerous figures created by Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities. They compare and contrast several forms of communication: email, text message, and telephone; complete a character study...
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Sound Extenders

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
In this lesson, students are introduced to communications engineers as people who enable long-range communication. In the lesson demonstration, students discuss the tendency of sound to diminish with distance and model this phenomenon...
Handout
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: Technology of the 1800s

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Article considers the inventions and innovations in communication, transportation, and manufacturing that drove America forward in the nineteenth century. Includes a link to an interactive history of...
Article
OpenStax

Open Stax: Catherine Schmidt Jones: Message Drums

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
How did various cultures communicate before the invention of the telephone, email or telegraph? Discover the use of message drums in this lesson plan.
Handout
Geographyiq

Geography Iq: Argentina Communications

For Students 9th - 10th
This chart summarizes communication facts of Argentina including data on telephones, televisions, radios and internet usage.
Activity
Other

Federal Communications Commission: Organizational Charts of the Fcc

For Students 9th - 10th
Federal Communications Commission provides a chart to show how the FCC is organized.
Activity
Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments: Numb3 Rs: Close Encounters

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Based off of the hit television show NUMB3RS, this lesson has students explore how "closely connected" a network structure is. Framed in the context of a terrorist cell, students must find which setups would allow organizations to still...
Unit Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Sound

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students learn the connections between the science of sound waves and engineering design for sound environments. Through three lessons, students come to better understand sound waves, including how they change with distance, travel...