U.S. Steel Gary Works Photograph Collection, 1906-1971

Lesson 3: Making Steel: An Awesome Process

Fourth grade : Lesson 1 | Lesson 2 | Lesson 3 | Lesson 4

Lesson plan developed by Mardy Flanagan.

The U.S. Steel photographs in this collection focus largely upon steel making machinery including blast furnaces, coke ovens, furnaces, and mills. A brief exploration of steel production, therefore, will help students better understand Gary's industrial transformation, its influence on the population, and the interrelation between parts and a manufacturing system.

Standards alignment

• Indiana Academic Standards 2000 for Science: Grade 4
  • 4.1.7: Discuss and give examples of how technology, such as computers and medicines, has improved the lives of many people...
  • 4.6.1: Demonstrate that in an object consisting of many parts, the parts usually influence or interact with one another.
• National Standards for Arts Education: Grades K-4: Visual Arts
  • 1. Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes
  • 2. Using knowledge of structures and functions
  • 3. Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas
  • 4. Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures
  • 5. Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others
  • 6. Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines
• National Council for the Social Studies
  • Strand VII: Science, Technology and Society
• NCTE/IRA List of Standards for the English Language Arts
  • 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world...
  • 2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions .... of human experience.
  • 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts...
  • 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions ... media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
  • 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems...
  • 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources ... to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
  • 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes...

Guiding questions

• What are the basic stages of steel making?
• How do these processes interact?
• In what ways did the building of the steel plant in Gary affect human lives?

Learning Objectives

In this lesson, students will be able to:

• Identify the six basic stages by which a steel component is made.
• Explain how each stage influences or interacts with another.
• Discuss and give examples of how technology (steel manufacture) has improved human lives.
• Present a HyperStudio illustration of Gary's industrial transformation using historical photographs and process diagrams.

Preparation

• Visit SteelMATTER, a new series of interactive educational software resources aimed at helping students understand key concepts and relationships in ferrous metallurgy. The first phase of this project, developed by British Steel (now of Corus Group) and MATTER, follows the process route from raw materials to finished product. Students can explore the steel making process in detail at this site, and use the information to draw parallels between the historical photographs of the plant and their designed purposes. Also, briefly review the U.S. Steel photographs under the six stages of steel. The students will examine these independently as they gather information on the process.
• Become familiar with HyperStudio [about] and how it is used for multimedia projects. You can obtain more information on HyperStudio and teaching resources from FTC Publishing.

Lesson plan

• Ask the students what they know about steel production. Explain that this industry was key in Gary's development and that an understanding of the process.
• Spend an entire class period letting students explore SteelMATTER. Instruct them to find out more about the six stages of steel and to put them in order by dragging the boxes on the left side of the table on page 1 to the correct sequence on the right. After they finish, they try answering the questions that follow to test what they have learned.
• Have students sign up to research one of the six stages of steel production. They will work in groups of four or five and prepare a HyperStudio presentation using the information from SteelMATTER and images from the U.S. Steel Photograph Collection.
• This project takes time to complete. Give your students several weeks to work on their presentations. Begin with an introduction to HyperStudio and allowing practice opportunities, and then have students "storyboard" their projects so that precious time on the computer is best utilized creating multimedia, not figuring out what to do next.
• One of the most effective ways to help students is to duplicate instructions for each project onto card stock, laminate them, and cut them into "task cards" that are then placed at the computer for student use. You will first want to model how the cards are used as you demonstrate or explain the creation of the project.
• Each stack of cards should provide the following information:
  • A diagram of the process and an indication of where the step fits into the big picture.
  • A brief description of the step.
  • At least two images from the US Steel Collection pertaining to that particular phase of steel making.
  • One card illustrating at least three beneficial steel products.
  • At least two cards indicating that Gary was transformed from sand dunes to an industrial center due to its role in the production of steel using text and or images.
• Culminate the lesson with viewings of each groups' presentation. Discuss what they have learned about steel production and Gary's industrial growth.

Extending the Lesson

• Invite a steel worker to visit the classroom. Prepare a list of questions to ask regarding working conditions, parts of the process, and feelings about the job itself.