INQUIRY 5

WHAT MAKES IT TICK?

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INQUIRY PROBLEM:

Tom is determined to build his own museum exhibit of clocks and watches, but he needs your help to find examples of clocks that have digital numbers, pendulums, battery power, electrical power, wristbands, springs, and even radio wave receivers. Can you locate clocks with these characteristics and more? The exhibit depends on you, because each kind of clock tells a different story of time.

DESCRIPTION

Replication Activity:
Students learn object analysis, then apply this observation system to clocks brought from home. Final class activity is the assembly of your own class "Timeline of Timepieces" exhibit.

History Lab Exhibit:
Timeline of Timepieces

TOPIC AREAS

• Chronology
• Technological innovation
• Interpretive writing

MATERIALS NEEDED

• Internet access
• Wall space in class or other area
• Paper and board for creating and mounting labels
• Student clocks
• Artifact Detective Worksheets "Time Resource Kit"

IMPLEMENTATION

1. Present the Inquiry Problem to students a day or two before starting the project. This will give students time to search for different kinds of clocks and timekeepers.
   TIME: 10 minutes
2. Print out and make copies of the "Artifact Detective" worksheet from the Time Resource Kit at www.historylab.org. Have students use these for the analysis that will take place in Step 3.
   TIME: 15 minutes
3. Have students find a timekeeping object at home to analyze. Students analyze their object using the steps outlined in the Artifact Detective worksheet. If students are unable to bring their objects to school for the final exhibit, they may photograph or draw them.
   TIME: 1-2 nights' homework
4. Students write a label for their timekeeping object to be used in the exhibit. The labels must be typed, using a specified typeface and point size, then mounted. Label copy should not exceed 50 words.
   NOTE: Use the information in the Artifact Finder Database or in the "Time Exhibit" online at www.msichicago.org as examples.
   TIME: 1-2 hours writing time; 1 hour typeset and mounting
5. Class creates a "Timeline of Timepieces" using the timekeepers selected by each student. Objects should be organized chronologically by date. Date should have been successfully obtained by students through artifact analysis.
   TIME: 2-6 hours
6. Invite other classes, parents, and/or the school principal and staff to your classroom to view the exhibit and participate in an "opening celebration."

REFERENCES

WEBSITES:

www.historylab.org
   "Time Resource Kit"
   Artifact Finder Database

www.msichicago.org
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL;
    "Time Exhibit"

BOOKS

Smithsonian Visual Timeline of Inventions. Richard Platt. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1994.

The Illustrated Longitude. Dava Sobel & William Andrews. New York: Walker and Company, 1998.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITY

Locate a couple of clocks that students can disassemble to determine just what does make them tick (i.e. power source, materials, critical parts, etc.).

Author: SL
Last Modified: