How I Spent My Summer Vacation

ByJesica Cullen

EDUC 373.001

My summer experience was…This summer I went on a road trip to Virginia. I traveled to Charlottesville, Williamsburg, and Virginia beach. This trip provided me with lots of learning experiences. The most memorable for me was taking a tour of Monticello in Charlottesville. Monticello was the home of Thomas Jefferson, our nations third President. He was a very inquisitive person who spent his life learning and sharing his knowledge with others.

Thomas Jefferson and Monticello

Questions that arose from the experience

What made Thomas Jefferson such an interesting person?What kinds of ways did Thomas Jefferson use science in his daily life?Was there any significance to Thomas Jefferson’s journals? What types of things did Thomas Jefferson do to continue his life long learning?

Connection with the Indicators5.1.3- Explain that doing science involves many different kinds of work and engages men, women, and children of all ages and backgrounds.5.1.5- Explain that technology extends the ability of people to make positive and/or negative changes in the world.5.2.4- Keep a notebook to record observations and be able to distinguish inferences from actual observations.5.2.6- Write instructions that others can follow in carrying out a procedure.5.4.4-Explain that in any particular environment, some kinds of plants and animals survive well, some do not survive as well, and some cannot survive at all.

What Made Thomas Jefferson Such an Interesting Person?

What made Jefferson interesting was his love of learning and wanting to improve himself. He was very interested in trying new things, seeing if they worked, and how they worked. Jefferson wanted to make the United States better by introducing things he learned on his many trips abroad.

What Kind of Ways Did Thomas Jefferson Use

Science In His Daily Life?Jefferson was very involved in creating inventions that would help make life simpler. Here are a few of his inventions.

Macaroni Machine ca. 1787Jefferson acquired a taste for French cooking while serving as American minister to France in the 1780s. The macaroni machine had sectional holes from which dough could be pressed. Jefferson had a curious mind and it showed with his interestand aptitude in mechanical matters.

Science in daily life, cont. A new plow, ca. 1794.

During his life time (1743-1826), he was one of Virginia's largest planters. He considered agriculture to be "a science of the very first order,“. He studied it with great passion and commitment. He developed a plow which would delve deeper than the two to three inches achieved by a standard wooden plow. He needed a plow and method of cultivation that would help with soil erosion that plagued Virginia's Piedmont farms. He developed an iron and mould board plow. It was specifically designed for hillside plowing.

Science in daily life, cont.

PORTABLE COPYING PRESS Jefferson invented a portable copying press. Which was a compact version of the copying press previously invented by James Watt. The original copying machine, you wrote on a copper plate which would produce several copies at a time. Jefferson designed a lap desk which would hold all the essentials of his day, from a thermometer to pencils to a nightcap, as well as his portable copying press. With his wide-ranging intellect, Jefferson examined not just the pure science of an invention but also its practicality and aesthetics.

Was there any significance to Thomas Jefferson’s journals?

This is a page from one of Jefferson’s farm books. He kept very detailed records of everything he did on his farm. He felt that his documentation he could see trends of what crops were doing well and what were not. This was very useful in understanding what to plant in the years to come. Jefferson was always trying to grow new things on his farm.

Referenceshttp://dc.doe.in.gov/Standards/AcademicSta

ndards/StandardSearch.aspxhttp://www.bing.com/images/searchhttp://inventors.about.com/library/inventors

/bljefferson.htmhttp://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsi

te.htm?site=http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/%7Emeg3c/classes/tcc313/200Rprojs/jefferson%5Finvent/invent.html

http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.monticello.org/reports/interests/moldboard.html