Top 25 Inventions and Discoveries: A Google Classroom™ Resource

Inspired by the passionate arguments that grownups have over sports, I wanted to inspire students to become just as passionate about world history concepts. It took me a while to figure out but I finally achieved it when I created the Tournament of Technology.

Then the pandemic began. Scrambling to convert resources into Google Classroom™, I wanted to ensure that I had activities as well as reading resources. Again, took me a minute but I figured out how to convert the tournament-style debate resource into a Google Classroom™ resource.

Voila!

Students can complete this independently. They will move the images around to create their top 25 list before completing the summary pages. Every student will have different answers and it’s fun to see how they rank their options. It is also interesting to learn why students think about particular inventions and discoveries the way they do. It may even help you understand time periods or concepts students need more time reviewing.

This is the first page of the resource. Students will move images to their preferred ranking.

This would also work as a whole group. You could control the images and ask students to contribute to the conversation about where each invention/discovery should be ranked. Encourage students to not only argue passionately and intelligently but be willing to compromise. This can be such a high-level exercise.

This is the first page of the images. Instructions help students with the cut and paste commands.

My absolute favorite part is this is a lesson that can easily be done multiple times a year. Complete it at the beginning of the year and again at the end. See how students’ opinions differ after they learn more about some of these inventions/discoveries and their impact on civilizations.

Read about the original, print-only resource.