Page content
Teacher Community
Browse the Teacher Gazette archives at our new Teacher Community website.
Membership is free. Join today!
The Right Tool for the Job
Introduction
"Tools have stories to tell. Agricultural implements, kitchen utensils, craft tools, and personal gadgets were among the most common and important possessions of early Americans. When Europeans first settled America, tools were vital to survival. Only by taking an ax or hammer or hoe in hand could colonists clear land, build shelter, and grow food. Over the next two centuries, tools remained essential for running a household and earning a living, and they were the means by which artisans transformed wood, metal, leather, clay, and fibers into a myriad of products that both sustained life and made it more comfortable. By looking closely at the ways tools functioned and how people used them, we can learn about the everyday tasks of early Americans and understand more fully the jobs they accomplished and the things they made." [James M. Gaynor and Nancy L. Hagedorn, Tools: Working Wood in Eighteenth-Century America (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1993), p. xiii.]
In this lesson, students will compare eighteenth-century tools with their present-day counterparts.
Materials
Strategy
1. On the board or overhead, write the words "saw," "power tool," "scissors," "screwdriver," "computer," "hammer," and "pen." Ask students what the words have in common, helping them recognize that they are all tools people use to accomplish tasks in easier and more efficient ways.
2. Show students the Primary Source
of the Month—Cabinetmaking Shop. Conduct a class discussion in which
students respond to the following questions:
- What kinds of tools are being used?
- What is the purpose of each tool?
- Are any of these tools still used today? If so, which ones?
- Why are tools like these important?
Explain to students that they will learn about several eighteenth-century tools by matching their descriptions with images, then make a class list of twenty-first-century equivalents.
3. Divide students into four numbered groups. Give all students in each group a copy of one of the Tool Matching Worksheets (Group one—Worksheet 1, Group two—Worksheet 2, and so on). Have student read each tool description and match it the corresponding image of an 18th-century tool.
Provide time for each group to report its findings to the class. Record their findings on overhead transparency copies of Tool Matching Worksheets 1–4.
4. As a class, complete the "yes/no" section of the worksheet indicating whether each tool has changed over time. [Note: Most of the tools will have both "yes" and "no" circled because they have changed, but also have a design/use which is still recognizable today. For example, the hammer gets both "yes" and "no" circled because its basic design and use is the same, but there are also many new types of hammers, including electric nail guns.]
5. Have students brainstorm what these tools tell us about work in the eighteenth
century. Facilitate a class discussion about change over time, the evolution
of tools, and their impact on daily life.
Lesson Extensions
1. Have each student interview a tradesperson (a family member, relative, neighborhood, etc.) about what they do, the tools they use on the job, and how those tools help them do their work efficiently and safely. Using the information gathered in the interview, have students create an illustration showing the tradesperson working with a tool or tools of their trade. If desired students, may also be asked to write one or two paragraphs describing the illustration.
2. Invite a local tradesperson to the classroom to describe their work and
the tools they use on the job.
This lesson was written by Heather Wenger, elementary
school teacher, Denver, Colorado.
Historic Triangle
iCitizenForum
