Can You Hear Me?

1. Introduce the class to the life and work of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor, scientist, and engineer who invented the telephone. Both his mother and his wife were deaf, and this greatly influenced his life's work. Display images of early telephones. Talk about the parts needed to make a phone work - transmitter, receiver, hook switch, interconnected phone lines, etc.
2. Have students create a replica of an early telephone from recycled materials such as a foam tray, paper towel rolls, craft sticks, and construction paper for the components. Pipe cleaners are great to represent telephone lines/communication wires.
3. When the models are complete encourage students to discuss how this early communication device helped connect people all over the world and how it has evolved over the years.

SS: Time, Continuity, and Change: Read, reconstruct, and interpret the past. Imagine the future. Place oneself in various times and spaces and reflect on change.

SS: Science, Technology, and Society: Identify how technologies such as communication and transportation have evolved and how people have employed advances in technology to modify daily lives including in health and economics. Explore historical examples and imagine future technologies.

What else did Alexander Graham Bell invent? Have students write a brief description of some of his inventions such as the photophone (precursor of the cell phone), an electromagnetic machine that acted as a metal detector, the audiometer (used to detect hearing problems) and others.

Remind students that Bell's mother and wife were deaf. Have them learn how to sign the alphabet in American Sign Language (ASL) and learn some signs for common words or phrases such as "hello," "thank you," "I love you," etc.