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The Henry Ford

The Henry Ford: Thomas A. Edison and the Menlo Park Laboratory

For Students 9th - 10th
This site, presented by the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, offers a peek into the life and inventions of Thomas Edison. Content is focused mainly on Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory and his invention of the first practical...
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Other

History of Recording Technology: Edison's Invention of the Phonograph

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
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Rutgers University

Rutgers: The Thomas Edison Papers

For Students 9th - 10th
Links to copies of papers written by Thomas Edison. Also includes biographical information and copies of his patents and companies.
Handout
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Kidcyber: Thomas Alva Edison

For Students 3rd - 8th
A biographical overview of the life and many inventions of Thomas Alva Edison.
Handout
Rutgers University

Thomas Edison Papers: Motion Pictures

For Students 9th - 10th
From the collection of Thomas Edison's papers at Rutgers University is this description of Edison's involvement in the development of motion pictures in conjunction with his assistant, W.K.L. Dickson.
Handout
Science Struck

Science Struck: Timeline of Thomas Edison's Inventions

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes Thomas Edison's inventions in chronological order from 1868 to 1915, with mention of his contribution to World War I.
Handout
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mit: Invention of the Week: Thomas Alva Edison

For Students 9th - 10th
As the inventor of the lightbulb, phonograph, and the printing telegraph, Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), improved the daily lives of everyday people.
Handout
Science4Fun

Science4 Fun: Thomas Edison

For Students K - 1st
Brief biographical sketch of Thomas Alva Edison, inventor of the light bulb and phonograph.
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Smithsonian Institution

Lemelson Center: Thomas Edison

For Students 9th - 10th
Read a brief biography of Thomas Edison.
Handout
Mocomi & Anibrain Digital Technologies

Mocomi: Thomas Edison Biography

For Students 1st - 8th
Interesting biographical information, famous inventions, and quotes of Thomas Edison, one of America's greatest inventors.
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Other

Creative Thinking With Thomas Edison

For Students 9th - 10th
As a master inventor Thomas Edison used many techniques that helped him with his creative ideas. Learn how you can apply some of his techniques to yourself to aid you in your own creative inventiveness.
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Digital History

Digital History: The Wizard of Menlo Park

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource provides information about the famous American inventor, Thomas Edison. Find out about his childhood, some of his famous inventions, and even some of his mistakes.
Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Nara: Teaching With Documents: Telephone and Light Patent Drawings

For Teachers 9th - 10th
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...
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Woods, Granville T.

For Students 9th - 10th
A fascinating encyclopedia article about Granville Woods, a black inventor,often referred to as the "black Edison."
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Other

Edison Phonograph Museum

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses the history of the Edison phonograph and provides photos.
Handout
PBS

Pbs: Who Made America?: Innovators: Thomas Edison

For Students 9th - 10th
The "Wizard of Menlo Park" brought the world electric light, recorded music, and the movies, among other things, and turned innovation into a science by inventing the research laboratory.
Handout
Science4Fun

Science4 Fun: Light Bulb

For Students K - 1st
Learn about the early developments of the invention of the incandescent light bulb and Thomas Edison's development of the first practical light bulb.
Handout
Other

Fayette County Public School: The Current War

For Students 9th - 10th
A summation of the War of the Currents featuring Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison against a backdrop of The Columbian Exposition and an execution.
Activity
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Coney Island, the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A Thomas Edison film and an essay about the amusement park experience, a new leisure pastime made possible by urbanization and industrialization.
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Other

Kingwood Library: American Cultural History: 1880 1889

For Students 9th - 10th
The 1880's in America were chock full of new architecture, technologies, businesses, modern conveniences such as gas and electric, operas, fashions, and much more as featured in this resource.
Lesson Plan
National Geographic

National Geographic: American Genius: Perseverance

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students investigate the importance of failure to the process of innovation by investigating several items that were invented by accident. They share one "failure to success" story by creating a 3-panel comic strip poster, and then write...
Article
Creative Science Centre

Creative Science Centre: The Rough Science Phonograph

For Students 9th - 10th
Explains how a phonograph works and gives instructions on how to build one.
Handout
Smithsonian Institution

Lemelson Center: Invention Features: Lewis Latimer

For Students 9th - 10th
Smithsonian site features the life and many accomplishments of Lewis Latimer, the famous African-American inventor.
Handout
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Hydroelectric Power Station 1882

For Students 9th - 10th
The first hydroelectric power plant, known as the Vulcan Street Plant, was powered by the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin.

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