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Website
Open Door Team

Open Door Web Site: The Second Industrial Revolution

For Students 9th - 10th
An overview of the achievements that occurred during the second Industrial Revolution are found on this site. It includes information on gas and electric power, communications, public transportation, the motor and flight industries, and...
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Handout
PBS

Who Made America? Alexander Graham Bell

For Students 9th - 10th
From a PBS series, They Made America, comes this biography of Alexander Graham Bell and his invention of the telephone. Read about his development of the telephone and research into the sound.
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Handout
Other

Black Inventor Online Museum: Lewis Latimer

For Students 9th - 10th
The biography of the fascinating African-American inventor, Lewis Latimer. In addition to finding out about his development of the carbon filament for the incandescent lamp, you can read about his expertise in patent law, his association...
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Handout
Other

History of Telephone Sets: Graham Bell Invents the Telephone

For Students 9th - 10th
A short summary of how Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) came to invent the telephone.
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Handout
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mit: Inventor of the Week: Granville T. Woods: The Multiplex Telegraph

For Students 9th - 10th
A description of Granville Woods' successful invention, the multiplex telegraph, which greatly improved railroad safety. From the Lemelson-MIT Project.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Life and Death in the White House: James A. Garfield

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Read a brief account of the assassination of President James Garfield by Charles Guiteau in July, 1881. Included are photographs and information about Alexander Graham Bell's attempts to find the bullet lodged in Garfield's body.
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Handout
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Timeline of Electricity and Magnetism: 1870 1879

For Students 9th - 10th
The telephone and first practical incandescent light bulb are invented while the word "electron" enters the scientific lexicon.
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Article
Famous Scientists

Famous Scientists: Alexander Graham Bell

For Students 9th - 10th
Get to know Alexander Graham Bell, the scientist, inventor, engineer, and innovator who is credited with patenting the first telephone.
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Sound Extenders

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
In this lesson, young scholars 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...
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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.
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Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Famous Inventors Alexander Graham Bell: You Rang?

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage shares brief biographical information about Alexander Graham Bell and his role in inventing the telephone. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that reinforces essential reading...
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Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Alexander Graham Bell

For Teachers 5th - 7th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This site includes a biography of Alexander Graham Bell. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that reinforces essential reading skills and strategies and establishes scaffolding for vocabulary...
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Handout
Library of Congress

Loc: America's Story: Guiteau Shot President Garfield

For Students 3rd - 8th
President James Garfield was shot, but it wasn't the bullet that killed him. Go to this Library of Congress to get more facts.
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: America's Story: Gilded Age (1878 1889)

For Students 5th - 8th Standards
After a brief description of the economy in the Gilded Age, find links to stories about many cultural events of the age. Read about Jim Thorpe, the Johnstown flood, and the first Coca-Cola, among other stories.
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Everyday Mysteries: Who Is Credited as Inventing the Telephone?

For Students 9th - 10th
Find out who is credited for the invention of the telephone in this brief history.
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Handout
Wonderville Media

Wonderville: Alexander Graham Bell

For Students 2nd - 5th
After you talk on the telephone, you might want to thank Alexander Graham Bell, the man who made it all possible. He built the first telephone over 100 years ago. Learn more about Alexander Graham Bell in this well-constructed overview...
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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...
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Handout
Science Struck

Science Struck: Invention of the Telephone: History and Timeline

For Students 4th - 8th
While the invention of the telephone is usually attributed to Alexander Graham Bell, credit must also be given to others who were working on the concept around the same time. Read about the history of the telephone here. Includes a...
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Primary
Other

Lemelson Center's Invention at Play: Sketch From Bell's Notebook

For Students 9th - 10th
View a sketch from Bell's notebook from 1876. From a collection Bell's papers at the Library of Congress.
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Handout
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mit: Invention of the Week: Alexander Graham Bell

For Students 3rd - 8th
This site provides a biographical sketch of Alexander Graham Bell and his inventions. Find out about Bell's patents in addition to the telephone.
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Website
Great Idea Finder

Fascinating Facts About Alexander Graham Bell

For Students 3rd - 8th
Fascinating facts about Alexander Graham Bell, the Canadian inventor of the telephone. Incorporated into the site include and 'at a glance' summary of his life, a 'milestones' timeline and a brief summary of his life story. In addition,...
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Website
Other

Earliest Voices: Recording the Early Voices

For Students 9th - 10th
Here's an interesting look at the development of the phonograph by Thomas Edison and other inventors.
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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.
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Lesson Plan
Ohio State University

Osu History Teaching Institute: Alexander Graham Bell Primary Source Activity

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders will critically examine primary sources to gain a better understanding of Alexander Graham Bell and the impact of his inventions.