Transcontinental Railroad Turns 150
Posted on May 9th, 2019 by Mary Lord
The driving of the last spike of the Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1863, capped more than a century of engineering triumph and human tragedy. Teach your students about the historical impact of engineering and technology on society with these activities and resources designed to mark the anniversary of that fateful meeting of two steam locomotives at Promontory, Utah, 150 years ago.
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Students in grades 4 to 8 or higher learn the basics of electricity and sound by designing and building a working telegraph system using batteries, wire, and other simple parts. They then use their telegraphs – one of history’s most important inventions – to send and receive messages.
On August 21, 2017, all of North America will be treated to a solar eclipse, including a 90-mile swath of totality stretching from Oregon’s coast to Charleston, S.C. NASA has assembled a helpful guide for where, when, and how to experience the eclipse, including tips for safe viewing.
Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale, pioneered computer programming languages, discovered the first computer “bug,” and retired as the Navy’s highest ranking, longest-serving female officer in history. They even named a naval destroyer after her.
The National Park Service just turned 100 and what better way to celebrate than with the grand opening of a stunning new addition to the National Mall. The $540 million National Museum of African American History and Culture is adorned with a corona, or scrim, of 3,600 bronze-colored cast-aluminum panels that glow at night from the light within, and was built around a 77-ton, 80-foot-long railway car and other huge artifacts housed in its vast below-ground exhibit space. 
Students in grades 3 to 5 use engineering problem solving to create structures from paper, straws, tape, and paper clips that can support the weight of at least one textbook. For the second trial, they examine examples of successful buildings in history and try again. 
Look what turned up in the “nation’s attic.” The Smithsonian Institution has released 25 photos of scientists from the 1925 “monkey trial,” more formally known as the State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes. The scientists and science reporters were supporters of the defense of Scopers, who was convicted of violating a state law against teaching evolution to school children.
Ever wonder what driving would be like without traffic signals? Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr., did. Driving through Cleveland, Ohio, where he owned a prosperous sewing machine repair and tailoring business, the Kentucky-born son of slaves was keenly aware of the danger of collisions…
Twenty five years ago, on January 28, Americans watched in horror as the space shuttle Challenger exploded, barely a minute after takeoff, killing all seven crew members. Schools nationwide still honor the memory of Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire high school social studies teacher who was aboard the ill-fated flight that morning as NASA’s first Teacher in Space Project participant.
