TLC : Materials Lab : Colonel Baker Interview Ideas

Colonel Baker Interview Ideas

Objectives: 1. Relate past to present. 2. Identify and explain the characteristics of primary and secondary sources. 3.Identify major cultural changes in the past decades.

Start the lesson with a statement such as: 'My father told me that when he was young he walked two miles up a hill, in the ice or snow, to get to school every day." Several students may then share stories that their parents have told them. This begins the discussion about how things have changed. For example, tell students about the first time that you used a microwave oven or computer. The example should be something that the students take for granted, but was not available when you were their age. Formulate questions with students about things they would like to find out from older people. Discuss primary and secondary sources and their importance. After you have collected students' questions, create a questionnaire based on their interests.

Give each student a prepared questionnaire with the questions they helped develop. Their mission is to seek out and interview the oldest people they can find about the changes that have taken place during their lifetime. At the top of each questionnaire, put a fist of questions that can be answered with a yes or no. Follow these with student questions. See the sample below.

Questionnaire for interview:

Were you born before the use of: Penicillin? Hula hoops? Copy machines? Polio vaccine? Plastic? Credit cards? Frozen food? Ball point pens? Instant coffee? Contact lenses? Dishwashers? Low fat diets?

Questions: What was it like when you were my age? What did you do for fun? What was a popular fad? Were there any fast food restaurants? How much did pizza and a soft drink cost? What was a popular song? What type of clothes did you wear to school? How did you live without a TV, computer, answering machine, blow dryer, CD player? Did you have a curfew? Did you really walk to school two miles uphill everyday?

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