Curated OER
Alexander Graham Bell's Patent for the Telephone and Thomas Edison's Patent for the Electric Lamp
Students read a short biographical account about Bell and student B about Edison. Ask each pair to exchange information and determine what qualities these inventors shared. Ask students if they think all inventors share these qualities.
Curated OER
Great Moments, Great Messages
For this telephone worksheet, students read about Alexander Graham Bell and the invention of the telephone. Students write a great message and then write a speech about an invention they created that will change lives. Students then read...
Curated OER
Alexander Graham Bell: Voice of Invention
Students watch a Biography episode about Alexander Graham Bell -- his remarkable inventions, family life, and the individuals who influenced his work.
University of Virginia
University of Virginia: Alexander Graham Bell's Path to the Telephone
A detailed survey of the invention and evolution of the telephone. This scholarly article includes a Master Map that shows Bell's thought processes as he developed the telephone, with each step linked to more in-depth information. The...
Rutgers University
Blueprint for Change: The Life and Times of Lewis H. Latimer
An extensive look at the inventor, Lewis Latimer, from the Thomas Edison Papers at Rutgers University. Read essays about his life and inventions, the culture in Boston which encouraged his work, and his life outside his inventions. A...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Education: Spotlight Biography Inventors
This site provides information on American inventors Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, Eli Whitney, Thomas Jefferson, Isaac Singer, Wilbur Wright, Thomas Alva Edison, Elias Howe, and Alexander Graham Bell. It offers pictures from and...
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: More About Bell
Part of the larger site about Alexander Graham Bell from the series, American Experience, this biography focuses mainly on his education and experimentation which resulted in his development of the telephone. Included is information...
The Franklin Institute
Franklin Institute: The Case Files: History of Communications
Look back in time at some of the people who invented the first technologies for communicating across time and distance that form the foundations of today's information society.
National Library of Scotland
National Library of Scotland: Digital Archive: Scottish Science Hall of Fame
Biographical and scientific information about discoveries and technological advances credited to ten Scots, Lord Kelvin (Kelvin scale), Alexander Graham Bell (telephone), James Watt (steam engine), and Alexander Fleming (penicillin),...
Smithsonian Institution
Lemelson Center: Thomas Edison's Inventive Life
This site is a complete resource for learning about Edison's life, his inventions, and electricity. If you like experimenting, there are instructions included for how to make your own light bulb. Good photos.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Industrialization and Big Business, 1870 1900: Inventors of the Age
In the Industrial Revolution, new products and inventions spurred the growth of big business. Learn about some of these inventions and the people who created them, for example, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison.
Other
Lemelson Center's Invention at Play: Alexander Graham Bell
A summary of Alexander Graham Bell's telephone invention.
Library of Congress
Loc: Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers
All the primary source documents of the Graham Bell Family can be found at this Library of Congress site. An exhaustive site that is interesting to peruse.
Other
History of Recording Technology: Edison's Invention of the Phonograph
Click through the pages on this site to read about Edison's development of the phonograph as well as a discussion of Edison's rivals who were seeking to develop a similar product. Read about the changes in the ways to record sound as the...
Library of Congress
Loc: Bell's Photophone
Learn about the very first telephone call, placed by Alexander Graham Bell on June 3rd, 1880.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Primary Source Set: Telephone Invention
This collection uses primary sources to explore the invention of the telephone.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Alexander Graham Bell: Scientist, Inventor, and Teacher
Using a short video and two primary sources, students will learn about Bell's inventions and his work with the deaf community.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies: Alexander Graham Bell
This biography is a great resource for information on Alexander Graham Bell. Includes links for additional information also.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies: Alexander Graham Bell
An interesting description of the career of the man who invented the telephone. Learn more of his adventurous life as you read. (In Spanish)
Great Idea Finder
Great Idea Finder: Lewis Howard Latimer
An extensive biography of the life of African-American inventor, Lewis Latimer. Find out about his primary claim to fame in the development of an incandescent light bulb, but be sure to read about his many patents, and his importance to...
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Telephone and Light Patent Drawings
A lesson plan about Alexander Graham Bell's patent for the telephone and Thomas Edison's patent for the electric lamp. Contains good background information and historically pertinent documents. It also discusses the role corporations...
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: People and Events: Alexander Graham Bell
This PBS American Experience page provides a biographical survey of Alexander Graham Bell's life and inventions.
Then Again
Then Again: Web Chron: Alexander Graham Bell Invents the Telephone
This site describes how Bell started out by seeking to help the deaf and ended up with a telephone. It gives brief information about his family and how he came to invent the telephone.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: The Telephone
The home page to the PBS feature film on the invention of the telephone. The People and Events section has biographies and commentary on the invention of the telephone and its subsequent success. Be sure to click on Gallery for pictures...