The Hornbook
The hornbook was a popular teaching aid in England (and the American colonies) during the sixteenth through the eighteenth century. It could be considered one of the first textbooks. This piece of instructional technology consisted of a paddle shaped piece of wood that had lessons glued on it and was covered by horn. (Spring & Spring, 2008)
The paddle was about 2 ¾ ‘’ times 5” and it had a handle with a hole where a strip of leather could be attached so it could be easily carried on a belt or around the neck of the child. The lessons were written on parchment paper and then attached to the wooden paddle. These lessons consisted of the letters of the alphabet, combination of vowels and consonants, as well as prayers and religious allegory.
Once the lessons were attached to the paddle, it was laminated using a substance that was created from horns of oxen and sheep. The horns were left in cold water for several weeks in order to separate the jelly part of the bone. After this it was boiled and pressed into the wooden paddle and made smooth and transparent. This was to keep it from being soiled or destroyed. (The American Education Web Project)
Fun Fact: Often attached by string to the owner's belt, the hornbook was readily available to serve as a bat during play. (American
Memory Project, http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm178.html)
Spring, Joel, & SPRING, JOEL. (2008). American school 1642 - 2007, the. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.
The American Education Web Project accessed at: http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/
American Memory Project by the Library of Congress at: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm178.html
The paddle was about 2 ¾ ‘’ times 5” and it had a handle with a hole where a strip of leather could be attached so it could be easily carried on a belt or around the neck of the child. The lessons were written on parchment paper and then attached to the wooden paddle. These lessons consisted of the letters of the alphabet, combination of vowels and consonants, as well as prayers and religious allegory.
Once the lessons were attached to the paddle, it was laminated using a substance that was created from horns of oxen and sheep. The horns were left in cold water for several weeks in order to separate the jelly part of the bone. After this it was boiled and pressed into the wooden paddle and made smooth and transparent. This was to keep it from being soiled or destroyed. (The American Education Web Project)
Fun Fact: Often attached by string to the owner's belt, the hornbook was readily available to serve as a bat during play. (American
Memory Project, http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm178.html)
Spring, Joel, & SPRING, JOEL. (2008). American school 1642 - 2007, the. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.
The American Education Web Project accessed at: http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/
American Memory Project by the Library of Congress at: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm178.html
The New England Primer
The New England Primer was the first reader specifically designed for the New England Colonies. The Primer was first published between 1687 and 1690 by Benjamin Harris and it was loosely based on the Protestant Tutor published in England. The New England Primer can be considered the first textbook in the United States. The schools in the colonies were strongly influenced by religion. The New England colonists believed that all children should learn to read and in 1642 Puritan Massachusetts passed a law stating this. They believed that an inability to read was Satan's attempt to keep people from the Scriptures; therefore, the New England Primer was filled with religious illustrations and verses.
This is an example of the rhymes of the New England Primer:
A In Adam's Fall
We sinned all.
B Thy Life to Mend
This Book Attend.
C The Cat doth play
And after slay.
D A Dog will bite
A Thief at night.
Children's Literature at http://www.iupui.edu/~engwft/nep.htm
This is an example of the rhymes of the New England Primer:
A In Adam's Fall
We sinned all.
B Thy Life to Mend
This Book Attend.
C The Cat doth play
And after slay.
D A Dog will bite
A Thief at night.
Children's Literature at http://www.iupui.edu/~engwft/nep.htm
Slates and Chalkboards
The Chalkboard is a reusable writing surface usually found in classrooms and other education related areas. In the 1800’s, children used slates, which were mini chalkboards made of actual slate, to practice writing because paper was too expensive. These thin slabs of slate were about three by five inches and could be bound into “slate books” to be used in the work place. They were written on with a pencil made from soapstone or with chalk and writing was wiped off with a soft cloth. According to pbs.org, slates and chalkboards were first used in a Philadelphia school in 1809. “Early blackboards were made from pine lumber and covered with a mixture of egg white and carbon from charred potatoes. Teachers and students wrote with chunks of chalk and erased with cloth rags. When slate boards became available, teachers used cylinders or white, soft chalk and a felt eraser” (pbs.org). Blackboards/ Chalkboards were important because they allowed the teacher to direct the lesson from the front of the class for all to see. Although they ruled classrooms for many years, these devices are being replaced by the more practical whiteboards that use colored markers, computers and overhead projectors, as well as by Smart boards in more affluent situations.
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/evolving_classroom/blackboards.html. Last accessed June 25, 2010
Ergo in Demand (blackboard/ educational technology company) http://www.ergoindemand.com/about_chalkboards.htm last accessed June 25, 2010
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/evolving_classroom/blackboards.html. Last accessed June 25, 2010
Ergo in Demand (blackboard/ educational technology company) http://www.ergoindemand.com/about_chalkboards.htm last accessed June 25, 2010
Fountain Pen
Penmanship was important in the early times of education. When pens were first introduced, learning how to use them correctly also became important. Although the principle of a writing instrument carrying its own supply of ink existed for a while, Lewis Waterman was the first to patent the first practical design in 1884. The pen was created to replace quills and other ink dipping instruments and it made it practical for people to use. The invention of the fountain pen led to the invention of the ballpoint pen we know and love today.
Pencil
The pencil is the world's only portable, lightweight invention that can draw a line 35 miles long, write an average of 45,000 words, absorb 17 sharpenings and delete its own errors (www.pencil.com). According to Lawn and Grosvenor in the book Materialities of Schooling, “A basic tool in schooling was, and is, the pencil. Pencils(…)are the very essence of schoolwork, objects which circulate constantly and are too commonplace to mention” (p. 11). The pencil was a key technology of reproduction and it is yet to be replaced by anything. The lead pencil dates back to mid 1500 in England, where it was initially made out of graphite(which, interestingly enough, means “to write” in Greek). It was improved on for many years, but for the purpose of this research we will focus on the 1800’s and its part in Colonial American history. Wood -cased lead pencils were produced in the Boston area by William Munroe beginning in 1812. The cores of these pencils were made from dried graphite paste and were not hardened in a furnace. There were many creators of pencils during this time; however, mass production did not begin in the U.S. until after the Civil War, when several patents for the mass production of these were granted. The pencil remains, til this day, one of the most used tools in schools.
To learn more about the history of writing instruments, visit:
http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/videos/writing-instruments#writing-instruments
Lawn, Martin, & Grosvenor, Ian. (2005). Materialities of schooling. United Kingdom: 2005.
To learn more about the history of writing instruments, visit:
http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/videos/writing-instruments#writing-instruments
Lawn, Martin, & Grosvenor, Ian. (2005). Materialities of schooling. United Kingdom: 2005.
Paper
Of all the writing materials we have used throughout the ages, paper is one of the most widely used around the world. Humans will always have a need to communicate their ideas, to leave a mark- paper made this possible in a massive scale.
Paper has a long history- the Egyptians were the first known paper makers. The word paper itself derives from papyrus- the plant used by Egyptians to produce a paper-like material. But, paper as we know it can be traced back to China. The Chinese invented paper making in A.D.105. Paper making was a secret for many years, until Muslim invaders took over Chinese paper mills and spread its secrets across the “Old World”. Paper making was a slow process and therefore only the rich had access to it, but the invention of the Gutenberg press changed that- a higher demand of paper for printing required better paper making equipment.
For the purpose of this project we will skip all the way up to the industrial era when paper played an important part in the American Revolution. According to In 1690, a group of Americans from Philadelphia formed a partnership to build America’s first paper mill. William Penn and Benjamin Franklin were among early Americans to support the development of paper making in America, and the industry thrived as the 18th century progressed. During the Revolutionary War, the demand for paper was so great that soldiers had to tear up old books to make wadding for their muzzle-loading guns. Messages to General George Washington were sent on small scraps of paper. By the end of the Revolutionary War, the new nation had nearly 100 paper mills and by 1810 nearly 200. Paper made it possible for mass printing to occur.
http://users.stlcc.edu/nfuller/paper/
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=928&content_id=CTP_004459&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=0e3d6e20-64bd-44b5-ba1a-d6dc95b92d3e
http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/videos/office-paper#office-paper
Paper has a long history- the Egyptians were the first known paper makers. The word paper itself derives from papyrus- the plant used by Egyptians to produce a paper-like material. But, paper as we know it can be traced back to China. The Chinese invented paper making in A.D.105. Paper making was a secret for many years, until Muslim invaders took over Chinese paper mills and spread its secrets across the “Old World”. Paper making was a slow process and therefore only the rich had access to it, but the invention of the Gutenberg press changed that- a higher demand of paper for printing required better paper making equipment.
For the purpose of this project we will skip all the way up to the industrial era when paper played an important part in the American Revolution. According to In 1690, a group of Americans from Philadelphia formed a partnership to build America’s first paper mill. William Penn and Benjamin Franklin were among early Americans to support the development of paper making in America, and the industry thrived as the 18th century progressed. During the Revolutionary War, the demand for paper was so great that soldiers had to tear up old books to make wadding for their muzzle-loading guns. Messages to General George Washington were sent on small scraps of paper. By the end of the Revolutionary War, the new nation had nearly 100 paper mills and by 1810 nearly 200. Paper made it possible for mass printing to occur.
http://users.stlcc.edu/nfuller/paper/
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=928&content_id=CTP_004459&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=0e3d6e20-64bd-44b5-ba1a-d6dc95b92d3e
http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/videos/office-paper#office-paper
Typewriter
There were many attempts to create a machine that “wrote” or “printed” but many of them were bulky and not at all practical. Finally, in 1867, Christopher Latham Sholes created a model that was practical after reading an article on Scientific American journal. The following year he created a model that wrote faster than a pen! The Remington II was the archetype of typewriters- it appeared as the perfected version of the original five years after. This contraption revolutionized writing and it standardized the creation of business documents.
The typewriter consists of a mechanism with a row of keys, each attached to a button, that when pressed, causes characters to be printed into a piece of paper inserted through a roller. Although they have been replaced first by word processors and now by computers, the typewriter is an important part of what we now know as computer word processing programs, for example Microsoft Word.
Fun Fact: By 1922 half of the world’s typewriters were made in Woodstock, Illinois by the Oliver Typewriter company- Oliver’s headquarters building is still located at 159 N. Dearborn in Chicago and is a historical landmark.
typewriter. . In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved June 22, 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.search.eb.com/eb/article-9074000
http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/videos/type-writers#type-writers
http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tw-history.html
http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1380.html
The typewriter consists of a mechanism with a row of keys, each attached to a button, that when pressed, causes characters to be printed into a piece of paper inserted through a roller. Although they have been replaced first by word processors and now by computers, the typewriter is an important part of what we now know as computer word processing programs, for example Microsoft Word.
Fun Fact: By 1922 half of the world’s typewriters were made in Woodstock, Illinois by the Oliver Typewriter company- Oliver’s headquarters building is still located at 159 N. Dearborn in Chicago and is a historical landmark.
typewriter. . In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved June 22, 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.search.eb.com/eb/article-9074000
http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/videos/type-writers#type-writers
http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tw-history.html
http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1380.html
Film
The invention of film caused quite a stir. It has never been stipulated who the first person to invent film was but some of the people responsible are Georges Melies, the brothers Lumiere and good, old Thomas Edison. The inventions of devices such as the Edison’s Kinetoscope, and similar devices created at around the same time all around the world, made it possible for movement to be recorded for the first time. One thing is for certain, with film, the possibility of distance education became a reality. According to The History of Distance Education “distance education could be tracked back to the early 1700s in the form of correspondence education, but technology-based distance education might be best linked to the introduction of audiovisual devices into the schools in the early 1900s.” (http://www.digitalschool.net/edu/DL_history_mJeffries.html). In 1913, Thomas Edison proclaimed that, due to the invention of film, "Our school system will be completely changed in the next ten years" – of course, this did not occur right away, but it did make way for television to allow the possibility of distance education for everyone.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edmvhist.html
http://www.digitalschool.net/edu/DL_history_mJeffries.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cUEANKv964
http://www.earlycinema.com/
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edmvhist.html
http://www.digitalschool.net/edu/DL_history_mJeffries.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cUEANKv964
http://www.earlycinema.com/