• Heavy Machine Shop

    Thomas Edison

    National Historical Park New Jersey

Curriculum Materials

Lesson Plans

Teaching with Historic Places - The Invention Factory: Thomas Edison's Laboratories

Objectives for the Students

  • To describe how Edison created the first modern research and development laboratory complex and explain its function.
  • To explain how Edison used his new complex to develop products and create industries that still affect our lives today.
  • To describe the process of invention from having experienced it through a simulation activity.
  • To investigate how technological and industrial developments have affected the students' own community.

Classroom Activities

The Invention Process - From Idea to Product

An Edison Timeline

Did You Know?

The talking doll that Edison sold had a ceramic head and metal body.

Was Teddy Ruxpin the first talking doll?  Think again. Some of the first phonographs that Thomas made were actually talking dolls.  The dolls  were 18" tall and each had a very small phonograph in its body.  The dolls repeated nursery rhymes.  You could even buy dolls that spoke different languages.