Description
What our History of Transportation in America: Automobiles lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: History of Transportation in America: Automobiles discusses the history of automobiles. By the end of the lesson, students will understand the economic, social, and political changes in the innovation of car and truck travel. Students will infer the future of the automobile industry in the United States. This lesson is for students in 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the yellow box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand.
Options for Lesson
In the “Options for Lesson” section of the classroom procedure page, you will see some suggestions for additional activities or ideas to add to the lesson if you want to. Nearly all cities have local automobile and truck dealerships. Arrange a panel discussion of the local dealerships representing different car companies. Ask the representatives to predict what they see as the future for automobiles and trucks. Another possibility is to invite someone from the local Department of Transportation or planning committee to speak to students about how they decide where roads are to be built, repaired, or replaced.
Teacher Notes
The paragraph on this page gives you a little more information on the lesson overall and describes what you may want to focus your teaching on. The blank lines are available for you to write out any thoughts or ideas you have as you prepare.
HISTORY OF TRANSPORTATION IN AMERICA: AUTOMOBILES LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
The History of Transportation in America: Automobiles lesson includes six content pages. It’s hard to imagine a world without cars and trucks. Today, we are used to freeways jammed bumper to bumper with commuters traveling to many different destinations. You probably never considered how the evolution of travel by car created a dynamic industry that changed America forever.
America is known as a land of drivers. And for good reason! It is estimated that more than 285 million registered vehicles are on the road. We have more than 2.6 million miles of paved roads with millions more unpaved. Some studies report that more than 90% of people in the United States own at least one car. If you start driving at age 17, you will own an average of 10 cars in your lifetime! These statistics don’t include commercial truckers and vehicles driven by the military or government. It’s mind-blowing to think about.
Early History of Automobiles
As much as America loves cars and driving, the first practical automobile was built in Europe. You may be familiar with the inventor’s name, Carl Benz. If you have ever seen a Mercedes Benz on the road, you know who the company was named for. In 1886, Benz patented the first gasoline internal combustion engine and began the car revolution.
That is not to say other attempts at a self-propelled vehicle had not come before Benz’s breakthrough. As early as 1769, several inventors built steam-powered cars following the locomotive mode. As you might guess, these were clunky, inefficient, and slow. You could walk faster than the speed of those vehicles!
Early vehicles were considered novelties more than practical alternatives to walking, horse-drawn wagons, or mules. Also, except for major cities paved with cobblestones or bricks, roads were unpaved, muddy, and narrow. Early vehicles weren’t powerful enough to navigate the unpaved trails and muddy horse-drawn wagon roads connecting rural and urban areas.
Bikes before Cars
Before considering how automobiles became the world’s most popular form of transportation, we should consider what technology had to be invented to make them possible. In the previous sections, we mentioned paved roads. We don’t think of paved roads as particularly high-tech. However, in the 18th century, paved roads were one indicator of how much progress was made in local communities. In other words, paved roads were a status symbol and a source of civic pride.
Interestingly, it was not automobiles that resulted in more paved roads. It was bicycles! If you look closely at the early design of cars, the tires look like bike tires. By 1890, manufacturers were building over a million bikes each year. Bicyclists began asking for improved roads in what became known as the “Good Roads Movement.” For automobiles to become popular, roads first had to be constructed. Bikes literally paved the way for roads!
While several inventions were necessary before automobiles became popular, two stand out. The first is related to the bike: rubber inflatable tires. What is more amazing is that an engineer or scientist did not invent the inflatable bike tire. Have you heard the name Dunlop Tires? John Boyd Dunlop, a veterinarian, is credited with inventing the inflatable bike tire. A similar invention had been patented in 1845, but Dunlop won the battle for the patent and gets the credit for inventing inflatable tires! Dunlop’s timing was very fortunate as bike sales were soaring.
Gasoline
The second and maybe the most crucial was gasoline. The first crude oil well in the United States was drilled in Pennsylvania in 1859. Edwin Drake distilled crude oil to make kerosene for use in lamps. Electrical street lighting would not replace oil-lit lamps until the late 1800s. One of the byproducts of refining oil for kerosene was gasoline. Amazingly, people discarded the gasoline because there was no practical application for the volatile liquid. That is, until the automobile with a gasoline-powered combustion engine became a reality in 1890. It was introduced in America three years later in 1893.
Guess what the designers of the first car in America did before they were in the automobile business? If you guessed bicycles, you are right! J. Frank and Charles Duryea started out designing and working with bicycles. They used their knowledge of mechanics to design the first successful gasoline-powered automobile in 1893. In 1895, they won the first car race in America. Between 1899 and 1910, a total of 485 companies designed and produced cars in the United States. In 1908, Henry Ford entered the market, changing the production and affordability of vehicles forever. At about the same time, William Durant started General Motors. Today, both companies are two of history’s most successful global auto, truck, and parts companies.
Although the first modern car, the Mercedes, was produced in Europe by Daimler & Benz, America’s driving needs differed from those in Europe. In Europe, cities are designed around walking or bike travel. Because of the expansive rail system, European travelers tend to drive less and own fewer cars. This is not so for the United States, where the distances between cities and states are much longer, and other transportation is more costly and time consuming. This partially explains what happens next. From its humble bicycle beginnings, investments in massive road projects skyrocketed, factories building cars and parts exploded, and America was well on its way to a deep love of cars and trucks!
Ford Paves the Way
America is renowned for its ability to mass produce and deliver quality products at an affordable price for consumers. Henry Ford wanted to “produce a car for the great multitudes.” Ford looked at the European model for manufacturing. Though the Mercedes was a high-quality product, it was unaffordable to the average citizen. Affordability issues aside, he thought the European manufacturing process took too long and could be vastly improved.
Ford’s first mass-produced car was the Model T. Standardizing processes and improving worker efficiency, he was able to produce the Model T for $600. This was a remarkable feat. To give an idea of how amazing this was, the United States produced 485,000 cars in 1913. Globally, only 606,000 cars 250,000 of the 485,000 cars in the US and 41% of all the cars manufactured.
This iconic Model T was a no-frills automobile. Consumers initially had one choice for color—black. The thrust of the design was to build an affordable and reliable car. The car required very little maintenance and proved a massive success in America.
The success of the Model T created opportunities in other industries, such as the need for gasoline. In 1900, there were no dedicated gas stations in the United States. People purchased gasoline through hardware or general stores. But in 1920, historians estimate that there were more than 15,000 gas stations. By 1930, the number exploded to more than 100,000, and it is estimated that more than 26 million registered vehicles were on the roads using those stations.
Impact of War and the Great Depression
The accelerated growth of the auto industry was interrupted by World Wars I and II and the Great Depression. When sales dropped dramatically, auto manufacturers merged or went out of business. Car manufacturers quickly shifted from consumer to military vehicles. They produced virtually no cars during WWII except those for military use. However, when World War II concluded, the demand for cars and trucks skyrocketed.
Ford was the leader in the production of 34,440 cars in 1945. Innovation still drove the industry. After World War II, more than 80% of the vehicles made and sold in the United States were by Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. The dominance of the Big Three, as they became known, forced many small car makers to either go out of business or merge with one of the larger companies.
The new innovation leaving the 1940s and entering the 1950s was consumer choice. While the Model T was successful because of its simplicity, consumers demanded more styles and features. In response, car companies made larger, more powerful vehicles, with several options. This provided consumers with a more customized selection. The 1950s and 1960s proved to be the Golden Age for automobiles as companies competed with price and selection to earn the consumer’s business.
Imports Take Over
From the 1950s to the early 1970s, gasoline was cheap. Then consumers demanded even larger and faster automobiles. These required larger engines with more horsepower, which used much more fuel than earlier car models. During the 1960s, American car manufacturers became apathetic and allowed the quality of American cars to slip. Subsequently, other countries like Germany and Japan found a niche in the market for high-quality vehicles that were more fuel efficient.
Concerned about air pollution and vehicle safety, the US government initiated stricter standards for car makers. American car makers ignored the warning signs that consumers wanted an affordable, well-made vehicle. But foreign-made vehicles from Germany (the VW) and Japan offered style, affordability, fuel economy, and quality.
Again, a catastrophic event led to wholesale changes by the Big Three. Their business model was failing, and their inattention to quality impacted how consumers felt about them. In 1973 and 1979, oil prices skyrocketed, making gas no longer an inexpensive commodity. American gas producers had become dependent on foreign oil to make gasoline rather than use the resources readily available in the United States. Saudi Arabia formed OPEC with other oil producers to control oil flow and prices. With gasoline quadrupling in price and government-imposed gas rationing, consumers looked for alternatives to their gas-guzzling super-sized vehicles. American car manufacturers responded with smaller and lighter cars.
Reset of the American Car Industry
The problem wasn’t solved, though. First, many of the American cars had extensive quality problems. Second, some vehicles produced by American car manufacturers had design flaws that made them unsafe to drive. For example, the Ford Pinto had fuel tank issues, so if you were rear-ended, the fuel tank might explode. The Chevy Vega also had fuel tank issues, and the rear axle would separate. The Vega also rusted easily. Other cars like the AMC Gremlin or Pacer were considered ugly, not fuel efficient, and unreliable. The sales of American-made vehicles crashed, and the sale of imported cars rapidly took their place. By 1980, imported cars from Japan made the island nation the world’s number one auto producer.
With millions of jobs on the line in manufacturing, sales, support services, and repair businesses, the American car industry retooled in the 1980s. The Big Three addressed the quality issues and began producing higher-quality vehicles. Additionally, they innovated to create new stylish models that were also safe and fuel-efficient. They pushed pricing and incentives to compete with the influx of foreign car makers.
Over time, consumers returned to believing in the American automotive industry and began purchasing cars from the Big Three once more. Unfortunately, even today, the apathy in the auto industry allowed several foreign companies to enter and compete in the American market. While consumer choice is good, American vehicle manufacturers are no longer the top vehicle producers in the world.
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
America’s love of cars and trucks has not diminished since the 1900s. Though no longer the leader in the manufacturing of vehicles, the United States remains ahead in technological improvement and innovation. While we think of electric vehicles as the newest iteration of cars and trucks, the history of EVs is as long as combustion engines. The problem with early EVs is not so different than their problem today: developing an electric battery that can remain charged long enough to travel long distances. Other issues with EVs are affordability, the vehicle’s weight, the lack of quick charging stations, and the supply of critical minerals to produce the batteries.
Suppose the American experience with automobiles and trucks is an indicator of the future. In that case, the industry is upbeat as long as manufacturers take quality seriously and listen to the consumer. New innovations and technology to make driving safer, affordable, and comfortable will continue to make the industry thrive.
HISTORY OF TRANSPORTATION IN AMERICA: AUTOMOBILES LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The History of Transportation in America: Automobiles lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, and a homework assignment. These worksheets will help students demonstrate what they learned throughout the lesson and reinforce the lesson concepts. The guide on the classroom procedure page outlines when to hand out each worksheet to your students.
MODEL T PUZZLE ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
For this activity, students will color the image of the model T and then cut out the puzzle (not the pieces, but the rectangle of the picture). After gluing it onto construction paper and letting it dry, they will cut out and mix the pieces of the puzzle. With a partner, they will see who can reassemble their puzzles the fastest.
FUTURE OF AUTOMOTIVE TRAVEL PRACTICE WORKSHEET
The practice worksheet requires students to research and compare three types of vehicles and decide which seems the best alternative to the gasoline-driven combustion engine.
FLYING CARS HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
Students will get to image they live in a world with flying cars. Given a scenario in which they must design a flying car, they will describe the technological changes that must happen before flying cars are as common as EVs, hybrids, or gasoline vehicles. Then they will draw and color a picture of a flying car in the box at the bottom of the page.
Worksheet Answer Keys
There are answer keys for the practice and homework worksheets at the bottom of the page. Given the nature of these assignments, the answer keys are more of a guide as students’ responses may vary. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
