Rationale

This unit is based off of a gizmo, a project conducted by engineer majors here on Franciscan

University’s campus. The gizmo is designed to inspire us students in our own personal unit project with

the goal of being tied together at the end of our science lesson. The unit theme is Thomas Edison’s

invention of the light bulb and how this crucial invention has placed an impact on our lives and across the

world to this today. The unit will be used in a fourth-grade classroom and all the standards meet the needs

of the required grade. An Ohio standard that applies just right to this unit is the Ohio social studies

standard, “Many technological innovations that originated in Ohio benefited the United States” (Ohio

Department of Education). This not only highlights how Ohio is unique with important historical

information, but also how inventions, like the light bulb, have shaped our world into what it is today.

The language arts lesson main focus is to have the students become familiar with Thomas Alva

Edison, his invention of the lightbulb, and the scientific concepts that underlie Edison’s work. By reading

the biography and studying Edison’s invention, students will develop a broader outlook on technology

and the connections it has through language arts. Students will learn the differences between the goals and

desires of an engineering model of experimentation and a scientific model of experimentation. The lesson

will open the student’s eyes to the different occupations of engineering and industrial design.

The math lesson has a set focus for the students to be able to calculate fractions from a set of

objects, decimals and percentages will be converted into fractions, be able to assemble a graph for the

students individual data collected, compare and contrast this data, and collaborate with others.

The science lesson integrates Thomas Edison and his invention of the phonograph. The students

will be able to describe the success Thomas Edison had and his inventions he created by watching a short
biographical video. The students will also be able to define new vocabulary words, tell others about

Edison’s background history, describe the history of the phonograph, and use thinking skills of their own

to build upon an invention.