Inventions in Everyday Life

Have you ever considered the role rivers play in everyday life? Pupils investigate the Nile River during the days of Ancient Egypt. They use maps, stories, and data to understand how the Nile influenced the Egyptians.

What was life really like in American during the Industrial Revolution? Middle and high schoolers explore tenement living, assembly lines, factory work, and the blossoming world of technology in a series of educational and engaging...

What was life in the Jewish ghetto like? What happened to Polish Jews forced to live behind the wall? View a series of images taken during WWII of the Warsaw Ghetto and discuss the implications of what you see. Everyday life, economy,...

Use this lesson plan to discuss inventions that have changed your class's world and have impacted society. Middle schoolers investigate important inventions of their time and design an invention in a simulated business atmosphere. Modify...

Sitting in a soda parlor, Joseph Freedman notices the difficulty his young daughter has trying to drink from the paper straw in her milkshake. This sparks the invention of a bendy straw. Watch to learn more about this small but widely...

Examine everyday life during the Great Depression, as well as the effects if the Depression on American population, society, and economy. Learners write who, what, where, when, and why summaries of a person who relocated to California...

First instituted in New York City in 2002 and recognized nationwide in 2009, "Poem in Your Pocket Day" is part of National Poetry Month (April) and celebrates poetry in everyday life. A brief news story includes 9 ideas about how to...

After reflecting on jobs people perform in the present day, scholars discuss what they believe jobs would have been like in Colonial Virginia during the American Revolution. Small groups then perform a jigsaw using informational packets....

Sandwich: a delicious meal stacked with meats, cheeses, and veggies, or a parish in England? How about both! The sandwich was invented in—yes, you got it—Sandwich, by John Montagu. Watch this creative and inventive video that gives a...

While a woman didn't invent the parasol, three women received patents for their improvements to the original design of umbrellas. In the first of a two-part series on inventive women, class members investigate the patent system to...