University of Virginia
University of Virginia: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Read an online version of a 1909 Harvard Classics edition of "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin," including the front matter, illustrations, and an introductory note.
PBS
Pbs: Benjamin Franklin: An Extraordinary Life: World of Influence
Read a five-part synopsis of Franklin's engagement with the world beyond America's borders, beginning with his celebrity status as a world-renown scientist. Includes write-ups of his time in London and Paris and of his extensive...
PBS
Pbs: Benjamin Franklin: An Extraordinary Life: First Silence Dogood Letter
Read the text of the first letter Franklin wrote to the "New England Courant," in 1772, under the Silence Dogood pseudonym.
PBS
Pbs: Benjamin Franklin: An Extraordinary Life: Franklin's Thirteen Virtues
Understand the virtues valued by Franklin, and other eighteenth-century men and women, by perusing this list.
![Berkeleyan: Infotainment Traced to Historical Figure [Ben Franklin] Website](https://content.lessonplanet.com/knovation/original/129968-d4e8dcaccdab5c0edc04971a9910ff57.jpg?1661500779 "Berkeleyan: Infotainment Traced to Historical Figure [Ben Franklin] Website")
University of California
Berkeleyan: Infotainment Traced to Historical Figure [Ben Franklin]
Newsletter article offers a glimpse into Franklin's early journalistic career.
University of Groningen
American History: Documents: Albany Plan of Union (1754)
Read the original text of Benjamin Franklin's early proposal for unification of the colonies in common defense against the French. Proposed in 1754, Franklin's framework is considered one of the founding documents of the American republic.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Benjamin Franklin's Rising Sun
Franklin, as the oldest delegate to the Constitutional Convention, recognized the arguments against the proposed new government and the strength of the Federalists. The essay gives insight into Franklin's views on the drafted...
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Scientific American: The Art of Science: Ben Franklin's Harmonica
Investigate the science behind the glass harmonica, and try Ben Franklin's version. Explore the world of sound with hearing and other senses, and find out how different length straws influence sound by modifying frequency.
Yale University
Ynhti: My Place in Time, by Michael Conte, Jr.
This lesson site from the Yale University provides narrative, notes, and teacher and student bibliographies. Investigates the "Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin."
Yale University
Ynhti: The Humor of America, Ruth Schwartz
This site includes a summary of these lesson plans about humor, and a narrative on humor in writing to precede them. Discusses writings by Benjamin Franklin.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: History Comes Alive: Developing Fluency and Comprehension
Let the power of imagination and inference serve as a "time machine" to bring Benjamin Franklin into the classroom! History and science come to life in a dialogue with Franklin the inventor, developed through instructional activity...
Florida State University
Florida State University: Magnet Lab: Timeline of Electricity and Magnetism: 1750 1774
With his famous kite experiment and other forays into science, Benjamin Franklin advances knowledge of electricity, inspiring his English friend Joseph Priestley to do the same.
Read Works
Read Works: The First American
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage contains information on Benjamin Franklin and his earning of the title "First American" nickname. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that reinforces essential reading skills and...
Read Works
Read Works: The Shocking Truth
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about Ben Franklin's discovery of electricity. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Poor Richard's Almanack
As part of a unit on Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack, this classroom activity provides a brief classroom project and includes lesson plan ideas, web links, and additional texts.
Daily Teaching Tools
Daily Teaching Tools: Test 9: Ben's Harmonica
This Daily Teaching Tools resource provides a reading assessment passage. This passage contains a brief biography about Ben Franklin and a few of his inventions.
Learning to Give
Learning to Give: Active Citizenship Through Spectacles of Ben Franklin
This detailed lesson plan has students investigating and participating in their communities.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Benjamin Franklin Timeline
[Free Registration/Login Required] This is a timeline of Benjamin Franklin's life. Each flipchart page highlights a high point in Franklin's life.
My Hero Project
My Hero: Science Hero: Benjamin Franklin
This brief article overviews some of Benjamin Franklin's accomplishments as a scientist and a political diplomat, whose efforts not only made him "one of the most famous scientists of his day," but also a hero to early American Colonists.
University of Houston
University of Houston: Engines of Our Ingenuity: Franklin's Electricity
Some research puts Franklin's electrical work in the scientific and political context of his day. An interesting point of view, one not usually found in comments of Franklin and electrostatics. Done by a professor from University of...
Hanover College
Hanover College: The Rights of the Colonists
The original text of "The Report of the Committee of Correspondence to the Boston Town Meeting, Nov. 20, 1772", written by Samuel Adams and including the preface by Benjamin Franklin written for the edition printed in England.
Curated OER
Benjamin Franklin
Using historically significantly documents and photos from the collection this exhibit probes the various interests of Franklin and the influential friends that shared his interests.
Library of Congress
Loc: Journals of the Continental Congress
These journals from the Continental Congress of the United States will provide students with a greater understanding of the foundations of American government as established in the late 18th century. Includes handwritten documents by...
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...
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