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Handheld Slate
The handheld slate is a hard flat material, such as the rock also called slate, that is used as a medium for writing.The writing slate was used by children in America in one-room schoolhouses to practice writing and arithmetic during classes or at home and in multi-room schools. Students used the slate until paper and pencil came about. -
Chalk Board
James Pillans the Headmaster of the Old High School in Edinburgh, Scotland has been credited with the invention. Blackboard classroom history remained essentially the same until the 1960s. The term “chalkboard” became more common when color of the board was no longer black. -
The Pencil
the pencil had found its way into the classroom in 1900. It eventually led to a different and far simpler way of assessing students. In earlier days, students used slates or slateboards as writing tablets in conjunction with slate pencils.Conrad Gessner has been accredited with the invention of the pencil. -
Flexible Ruler
The first folding ruler was invented by Anton Ullrich, and the first flexible ruler in schools was made in 1902. It was the standard measuring device used by tradesmen until the invention of the retractable tape measure. Originally made from wood, folding rules are now made from aluminum, steel, fiberglass, and wood. -
Stereoscope
The stereoscope is a device for viewing a stereoscopic pair of separate images, depicting left-eye and right-eye views of the same scene. When introduced in school, it produced 3D images for student of images in the surrounding world. In the modern era Hasbro started producing a stereoscope designed to hold an iPhone or iPod Touch, called the My3D. Sir Charles Wheatstone has been credited with the invention. -
Marker Pen
Lee Newman patented a felt-tipped marking pen in 1910. Permanent makers, highlighters, and dry-erase markers are all apart of this family of pens. They are designed so that the user is able to easily erase the marks using either a damp cloth, tissue, handkerchief, baby wipe, or other easily cleaned or disposable items. Generally, people use fabrics to do so, but others use items like paper, clothing items, -
Silent Film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound. When Silent film was introduced in the school, visual quality produced in the 1920s was often high, but there remains a widely held misconception that these films were primitive, and are barely watchable by modern standards. Students lessons were taught around the film shown. -
Radio
Radio was used to broadcast lessons. Universities had their own broadcast stations. Many universities students now run the stations. -
Film Strip Projection
A form of still image instructional multimedia. Was commonly used by educators in primary and secondary schools (K-12), overtaken at the end of the 1980s full-motion videocassettes and later on by DVDs. Film strips were flexible enough to be used in both self-paced learning formats or a full classroom. -
1st Instructional Television Program
Was introduced at the State University of Iowa. In was shown in 16mm. It served as an educational workhorse during the audio-visual movement. Educational television ranged from dedicated learning programs to those that indirectly teach the viewers. Some series are written to have a specific moral behind every episode. -
Overhead Projector
An overhead projector works on the same principle as a 35mm slide projector. A focusing lens projects light from an illuminated slide onto a projection screen where a real image is formed. Differences are necessitated by the much larger size of the transparencies used and the requirement that the transparency be placed face up. -
Mimeograph
Also known as the stencil duplicator. The mimeograph was a common technology in printing small quantities, as in office work, classroom materials, and church bulletins. When a blank sheet of paper is drawn between the rotating drum and a pressure roller, ink is forced through the holes on the stencil onto the paper. Early flatbed machines used a kind of squeegee. -
The Modern Stapler
In 1941 the type of paper stapler that is the most common in use today was developed: the four way paper stapler. In schools, the stapler is used to staple papers to wood or cardboard, or used to staple like pliers for bags, or the normal way with the head positioned a small distance above the stapling plate. -
Ball Point Pen
Originally created in 1888 by John Loud, but never quite caught on as expected. Included in the school setting in 1945 to help students with handwriting opposed to the pencil. The modern ballpoint pen could be used instant-drying ink that rolled smoothly onto the page, and could write for six months without being refilled. -
Flight Simulator
Edwin Albert invented the first flight simulator and called it "Blue Box", or "Link Trainer". Although it was created in the 1020's, it was introduced in schools around 1950 to teach students hand on simulation of flights, cars, boats and other machinery. -
Headphones
Headphones originated from the telephone receiver earpiece, and were the only way to listen to electrical audio signals before amplifiers were developed. The first truly successful set was developed in 1910 by Nathaniel Baldwin, who made them by hand in his kitchen and sold them to the United States Navy. The are used in school to listen to lessons in an interactive classroom -
The Teaching Machine
Used to present educational materials and teach students. First invented by Sidney Pressey. The machine originally administered multiple-choice questions. The teaching machine could be set so it moved on only when the student got the right answer. Tests showed that learning had taken place -
Abacus
Also known as a counting frame. Is a calculating tool that was in use in Europe, China and Russia, centuries before the adoption the Arabic Numeral System. Around the world, abacuses have been used in pre-schools and elementary schools as an aid in teaching the numeral system and arithmetic. -
Learning Labs
A particular location in a school, such as a classroom or dedicated section of the library. Students can go to receive academic support, or to the programs school create that deliver academic support. While learning labs take a wide variety of forms from school to school, and they may be known by a wide variety of names -
Laser Pointer
Now Banned in many institutions, created in 1960, and used in the class in the 80's the laser pointer is a low cost portable laser that can be carried in the hand. Designed for use during presentations to point out areas of the slide or picture being presented. It is superior over older pointers because it can be used from several hundred feet away in a darkened area and because it produces a bright spot of light precisely where the user desires. -
Hand held Calculator
The hand-held pocket calculator was invented at Texas Instruments in 1966 by a development team which included Jerry D. Merryman, James H. Van Tassel and Jack St. Clair Kilby. In 1974 a basic patent for miniature electronic calculators has been issued to Texas Instruments Incorporated. As integrated circuits were developed it was possible to squeeze more and more functionality into fewer and fewer chips. -
Floppy Disk
A floppy disk is a magnetic storage medium for computer systems. The floppy disk is composed of a thin, flexible magnetic disk sealed in a square plastic carrier. In order to read and write data from a floppy disk, a computer system must have a floppy disk drive (FDD). A floppy disk is also referred to simply as a floppy. Since the early days of personal computing, floppy disks were widely used to distribute software, transfer files, and create back-up copies of data -
The Scantron
Created by William E. Sanders, the scantron deals with forms printing and scanner manufacturing. It operates in 98% of the US school districts, 56 countries, 48 ministries of education, and 94 of the top 100 US universities. -
1st Apple PC
Created by Steve Wozniak, and Steve Jobs. The first unit produced was used in a high school math class, and donated to Liza Loop's public-access computer center. About 200 units were produced, and all but 25 were sold within nine or ten months. -
CD-Rom Drive
Short for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory, A CD-ROM Drive or optical drive is the device used to read the Compact Disk. Used in schools to save store documents and read documents, the CD-Rom is still relevant today. -
Graphing Calculator
Introduced in schools in 1985, the graphing calculator is a handheld computer that is capable of plotting graphs, solving simultaneous equations, and performing other tasks with variables. Most popular graphing calculators are also programmable, allowing the user to create customized programs, typically for scientific/engineering and education applications. Models designed to be appropriate for students 10–14 years of age are the TI-80 and TI-73. -
LCD Projector
Creator Gene Dolgoff worked for many decades to perfect the LCD projector, finally completing patent in 1988. Digital projectors are now paving the way seamlessly for teachers to concentrate on teaching and for learners to effortlessly learn without the need to erase or have messy white chalk marks.They allow the teacher to interact with students better, to use a multimodal form of teaching and to provide more entertaining ways to teach and get their lesson objectives and facts across. -
Interactive Whiteboard
It can either be a stand alone touchscreen computer used independently to perform tasks and operations, or a connectable apparatus used as a touchpad to control computers from a projector. They are used in a variety of settings, including classrooms at all levels of education, in corporate boardrooms and work groups, in training rooms for professional sports coaching, in broadcasting studios. It offers instructional blocks that can be recorded for review by students. -
World Wide Web
Creator Tim Berners-Lee, posted a short summary of the project on the alt.hypertext newsgroup and gave birth to a new technology which would fundamentally change the world as we knew it. The World Wide Web became popular in schools in 1995-96. Today, students use the web for school projects, assignments, and standardized testing. -
Microsoft
Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975, to develop and sell BASIC interpreters. First used in schools in 1998. Students used email programs to access emails from other students, teachers and emergency response systems.
