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Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

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Unit 2: Those Inventive Americans!

National Standards Alignments for Teaching United States History:

Era 3: Revolution and the New Nation (1754–1820s)
Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801–1861)
Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870–1900)
Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America (1890–1930)

National Standards Alignments in Historical Thinking

  1. Chronological thinking
  2. Historical comprehension
  3. Historical analysis and interpretation
  4. Historical research capabilities
  5. Historical issues-analysis and decision-making

Grade Levels: 5–12

Objectives

  1. To match the names of selected eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century inventors in the exhibition with their portraits.
  2. To learn about significant American inventors and evaluate the contemporary and long-term impact of their inventions.
  3. To focus on creative thinking and problem-solving by designing an original invention.