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Here is one of my favorite math lessons. I have been using this lesson, based on the first Ferris Wheel, to help my students visualize a large number multiplication problem. It is easy to draw a picture of a multiplication problem when it uses one digit numbers. This gives my students a grasp of what it could look like to multiply a two digit number by a two digit number. Plus, the history is fascinating and can lead to wonderful discoveries and discussions about the last 100 years or so.
I use this lesson after the class has worked on multiplication using two digits times a multiple of ten (Addison Wesley 7-4). I begin by reviewing some simple multiplication problems and by having pictures drawn showing the problem (4 cans of tennis balls with 3 balls in each can-how many balls in all?). I remind them that multiplication is simply repeated addition and then review with them that concept. We then laugh at how silly it would be to use repeated addition to find the product of larger numbers (say 47 times 83).
I tell the class that I have a picture of a larger problem that can show them what a large multiplication problem would look like and I tell them about the end of the 1800's and the world expositions. This can lead to a lot of discussion about the technology and changes taking place in the world at that time.
The class is told about the Eiffel Tower and the World's Fair held in Paris in1889. In 1894 the Colombian Exposition was held in Chicago. George Ferris, a bridge builder, was hired to build a structure to rival the Eiffel Tower. He invented the first Ferris Wheel. This Ferris Wheel was as large as a 26 story building. I tell the class that there were 36 wooden cars on the Ferris Wheel and that each car could hold up to 60 people. I show them pictures on the internet (print them out if you don't have e an internet connection in your room). I also show them pictures from a picture book that I read to them earlier in the year at the start of the Social Studies book. It is called Purple Mountains Majesty and tells about Katherine Lee Bates trip in 1893 from the east coast to Pike's Peak, where she wrote "America the Beautiful" and then back east. She stopped at the Colombian Exposition to see its Alabaster cities, made out of plaster., and the Ferris Wheel, although she didn't ride it until her return trip. The pictures are wonderful and I can also tell the class that when I was in fourth grade my elementary school was just a short walk away from Katherine Lee Bates childhood home (the "shining seas" of Cape Cod!)
I quickly show the pictures of the Ferris Wheel and show the supports, the circular shape, and the box like cars. I then have then draw their version of it. If they draw a side view they can draw the 3 leg supports, the circle shape, like a bicycle wheel, and boxes for cars. I tell them to put the number 60 on each box for the 60 people that could fit inside.
How the children draw the boxes is interesting in itself and gives you the opportunity to guide them in the planning. Rather then just draw 36 boxes one after the other can they figure out how many boxes would fit on either side of the wheel? How about if it was divided into quarters? If they put one box on the top and one on the bottom, and then a box on each side, how many boxes should go between the boxes already drawn? Be careful to see that they don't put 9 in each space because then they would have drawn 40 boxes in all.
When the drawings are done have them figure out how many people could fit on the Ferris Wheel. When they have multiplied 36 times 60 (actually many of them start doing this on their own before they are told to do it!) to find the answer they have a rather interesting drawing to show what this large number would look like. I also ask them to figure out if today's Ferris Wheels hold fewer of more people. The answer at this point is easy but is probably not the one they might have expected at the beginning of their explorations.
I then spend some time with the class just having fun with the discovery of what the World's Fairs have given us: the Eiffel Tower in 1889, the Ferris Wheel in 1893, and the ice cream cone at the World's Fair in St. Louis in 1904. Also, in 1893, Cracker Jacks, Aunt Jemima pancakes, and some people say the hamburger were first introduced.
You can find many more interesting facts at some of the web sites or you could do a search and find other more information by using a web search tool like Google.
This is a favorite lesson of mine and I hope that you can use it and go off on other explorations from what these ideas have started. There is a whole lot more math that can be done based on first Ferris Wheel.
Here is one more interesting bit of trivia. The original Ferris Wheel was dismantled at the end of the exposition. It was hauled on 175 railroad cars to St. Louis for the 1904 fair where it was put together and used again. At the end of the St. Louis Fair it and all the exhibits were dynamited. People paid 25 cents each to watch the demolition.
The Ferris Wheel Fact facts (and pictures) on the Ferris Wheel, George Ferris, and the exposition of 1893
