10 Inventions that Changed the World

10 Inventions that Changed the World is a reading textbook for upper intermediate students of English for Speakers of Other Languages. It has a STE(A)M theme in which each chapter presents readings about a particular invention. Many readings focus on the science, but others incorporate lateral thinking by addressing social implications, history, and offshoot ideas, etc. 

The various themes and skills include:

• • • Unit 01: The Wheel - How to understand and answer different types of questions (Note: This unit is a shorter unit designed to allow time for all the other things a class needs to do at the start of a term.)

    • Unit 02: The Printing Press - How to understand new words by using context clues

    • Unit 03: Electricity - How to identify the topic and main idea of a text

    • Unit 04: The Steam Engine - How to use supporting details to understand a text

    • Unit 05: The Telephone - How to skim a text for its general idea; How to scan a text for specific details

    • Unit 06: The Car - How to read graphs and figures

    • Unit 07: The Airplane - How to read fiction

    • Unit 08: The Internet - How to determine fact from opinion

    • Unit 09:  The Smartphone - How to use inferences to understand what you read

    • Unit 10:  Artificial Intelligence - How to paraphrase and summarize what you read

Each unit includes:

• Overview - An introduction to the unit's theme and a warm-up question to activate prior knowledge

• Vocabulary Activities - 15 academic and STE(A)M-based words that are practiced through rotating activities students can do in class or independently

• Notice - A short reading with guiding questions to simply orient the students' attention to the reading skill

• Challenge - A short reading with guiding questions to lead students to intuitively construct their own knowledge about the reading skill

• Study - Explicit instruction of a necessary reading skill along with specific examples

• Apply - A short reading giving students the opportunity to immediately apply the points from the explicit lesson

• Read - A longer reading to practice skills in context, including a shot preliminary page with preview questions, glossary, and practice choosing the appropriate definition for words with multiple meanings

• Think - Comprehension questions to test the students' cumulative skills

• Reorganize - An opportunity for students to demonstrate their knowledge of the reading by consolidating information in new ways, such as charts, graphs, timelines, etc.

• Practice - Another reading that is intended to be assigned as independently completed homework

• Watch and Talk - A related video along with discussion questions to lead students to a deeper understanding of the topic 

• Respond - A opportunity for students to synthesize what they have learned 

Appendices include:

• Instructor resources, including learning objectives, suggested scope and sequence, bibliography of additional resources, etc.

• Hands-on experiments for each unit's theme that spark student interest and engagement while promoting careful reading of instructions in order to complete a related task

• Unit quizzes that test students on vocabulary and reading skills, including an additional paragraph-long reading on the theme's topic

• Answer keys for the unit quizzes

• Science fair final exam materials that include nearly two dozen simple experiments that can be performed in a classroom in lieu of a written final exam or as a cumulative project

This project was funded in part by a grant from Open Oregon Educational Resources.

PCC instructors: To order print copies via the Print Center/Bookstore, use job number: 

Print Center Job #24623 or PCC "ISBN"  9780000246233