The Invention Factory: Thomas Edison's Laboratories

The cluster of red brick buildings still stands. Asphalt driveways cover most of the space separating the buildings. A chain link fence topped with barbed wire surrounds the complex. Today, this group of buildings looks little different from the hundreds of abandoned factory sites that dot the landscape in the industrial towns of New Jersey and other parts of the Northeast. When it was in operation, however, this complex was one of the most important, if little known, creations of Thomas Alva Edison.

Objective

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

Background

Time Period: Gilded Age/Progressive Era
Topics: The lesson could be used in teaching units on the industrialization of the United States, the development of science and technology, or social change in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Students will discover how Edison systematized the process of inventing, allowing for the rapid development and production of inventions that improved the lives of millions of people.

Full Lesson Plan