Adam Smith Timeline Game: Scientific Innovations & Historic Moments

lesson plan adam smith for high school timeline history innovation technology

In this activity, students create timelines of scientific innovations and historical events during the life of Smith. The lesson highlights economic concepts and could also be a great introductory activity for a unit on Technology & Innovation, or Entrepreneurship.

Lesson plan developed by Terra Aquia. Request a free activity kit here.

*This is part of a series of activities that can be used in an Adam Smith Escape Room. Details for the Escape Room are included at the end.

Introduction

Adam Smith saw, described, and benefited from a variety of technological changes in his lifetime. What motivates the development of these new inventions? Are there relationships between the new technologies being developed? Using this activity, inspired by the card game of the same name, students create timelines to order inventions and think about the costs and benefits of new technologies and innovations. The lesson highlights economic concepts and could also be a great introductory activity for a unit on Technology & Innovation, or Entrepreneurship.

Materials needed (please email adamsmithworks@libertyfund.org for copies of invention cards)

Invention Cards (enough for each group of students)

Part One

In the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith marvels at technological innovation, the minds behind innovation, what motivates new technologies, and how new technologies increase efficiency. Begin the lesson by sharing and discussing the following passages from Smith:

This great increase in the quantity of work. . . is owing to three different circumstances; first, to the increase of dexterity in every particular workman; secondly, to the saving of time in which is commonly lost in passing from one species of work to another; and lastly, to the invention of a great number of machines which facilitate and abridge labour, and enable one man to do the work of many.

“A great part of the machines made use of in those manufacturers in which labour is most subdivided were originally the invention of the common workmen, who, being each of them employed in some simple operation, naturally turned their thoughts towards finding out easier and readier methods of performing it.

What is Smith saying? When we do a task over and over again, we get faster and better. We might even come up with ideas for how to simplify and complete the task with less effort on our part. Work smarter, not harder! Ask students to share other examples—work, school/studying/chores at home? Do you use machines to make any of these tasks easier? What kinds?

Part Two

What kinds of inventions & innovations would have impacted people living and working during Smith’s lifetime? Create student groups of 3-4 students to explore this question with a Timeline game. Pass out Timeline cards to each group of students. Ask students to look over the cards in their groups. Tell students that their objective is to arrange the inventions in the order they were created. There are a variety of inventions for students to order, from factory machinery to sailing and navigational equipment, to historical written works like the Wealth of Nations & the Declaration of Independence.

Part Three

Create discussion around specific inventions from the activity. How did these inventions impact individuals, families, & groups?

Highlight some of the items that were included:

Benjamin Franklin’s bifocals: Ask students to consider what would have been used before its creation. Has it been improved upon since then?

Diderot's Encyclopedia: How do we organize knowledge? Why is it/Is it important to create these collected works? Have we gotten better or worse at it over time?

Declaration of Independence, Townshend Acts: Are laws and governments a type of “invention?” Who are the creators? What purpose do these creations serve?

Length of Time & Difficulty

Hard version: Have students begin by making their best guesses at ordering their timelines without using additional resources like textbooks or internet. Once all groups have their first drafts completed, allow them extra time to research any inventions they were unsure of and make corrections. They could also join with another small group to compare their results with their peers.

Easy version 1: Use a smaller number of cards. An easy set might be: Adam Smith's birth (1723), Benjamin Franklin's Lightning Rod (1749), The Spinning Machine (1767), The Declaration of Independence (1776), The publication of Smith's Wealth of Nations (1776), First successful steamboat run (1787), Adam Smith's death (1790). Don't worry about the exact order of the Declaration and Wealth of Nations (this will also help students).

Easy version 2: Draw a timeline on the board and have each student place an item. Weaker students could be given easier items or allowed to go early; stronger students can be given more difficult clues and go later. Students could then "vote" to move items up, keep them the same, or move them back with a show of hands.

Easy version 3: Draw a timeline on the board and you place the items on it out of order. Students could then "vote" to move items up, keep them the same, or move them back with a show of hands.

Escape Room Variation

This activity can be a continuation of the Adam Smith Escape Room. In lesson one, students learn about Adam Smith and read key passages from Wealth of Nations and correspondence between Smith and his contemporaries. In lesson two, students take a tour of a virtual pin factory and make their own pins to highlight Smith’s example of division of labor in action. If you are using all the activities, you may want to use fewer and "easier" cards depending on how much time you have for the Escape Room as a whole. A sample easy set is above under "Length of Time & Difficulty."