Study Guide

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The Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park provides school tours designed for students in grades PreK-12. All tours will be tailored appropriately for each grade level.

School tour schedule: (reserve at least 1 1/2 hours for your trip).


Outside:

15 min: Introduction to Thomas Edison’s historic Menlo Park; students will walk along the historic site and visit the foundation of Edison’s office and library foundation and will learn what encompassed the world’s first research and development site (The Invention Factory), weather permitting.


Museum:

1st Room — 25-30 min: Introduction to our site’s commemorative history, and what led Thomas Edison to become known as the Wizard of Menlo Park. The telegraph’s importance in Edison’s life will be introduced and each student will be able to try the telegraph.

2nd Room — 25-30 min: Discussion of the significance and use of the buildings at Menlo Park. Students will view original Menlo Park artifacts, original generator/dynamo, archeological finds, a mimeograph, and will hear working phonographs.

Tower — 10 min: Students will be able to enter the base of the tower and see the “Eternal Light.”

20-25 min: Restroom Stop


Visit Review:

After touring the museum, students will have learned about:

  • important inventions and processes Thomas Edison created at Menlo Park.

  • some of the skills and education of Edison and his workers that helped create the world’s first research and development site.

  • some of the early influences that helped form the mind of young Thomas Edison.

  • how Edison’s inventions changed our daily lives.

  • the technology that inspired a young Thomas Alva Edison.

  • his birth place, family life, education, and early work experiences.

We look forward to welcoming you to the museum and encourage you to look at some of our educational resource links from our School page to gain more information about Thomas Edison prior to your trip.

Educational materials:

Each student is provided with a Junior Wizard Activity Book which will allow students to engage more fully with the tours, and provide teachers with a way to test student comprehension of the material post visit. Activities included in the booklet range from fill-in-the-blank information on Thomas Edison’s biography to word searches. Each child will find fun ways to test their Menlo Park knowledge and be inspired to create their own inventions.

More educational materials about Edison and Menlo Park can be found here, or on the webpages of: