From Bullets to Blood:
Military Technology and its Impact on Civilian Life
By Karen Klebbe
Summer 2005
To download this lesson in PDF format, click here.
Goal: Students will examine the ways in which military technology inventions/discoveries have changed civilian life.
Essential Question:
How have military technological inventions/discoveries made life better and/or easier for civilians?
Overview:
Lesson #1: Brainstorm possible uses of materials – newspapers, rags, sea sponges
Lesson #2: Analyze local primary sources
Lesson #3: Analyze national primary sources - PowerPoint presentation of the (military) history of Kotex
Lesson #4: Analyze national primary sources – advertising strategies for Kotex
Lesson #5: Compare and contrast advertisements
Lesson #1: Setting the purpose
1. Have the following items at different stations throughout the room: newspapers, rags, sea sponge, and discarded wool.
2. Give students the station brainstorm sheet.
3. Have students individually or in couples go from station to station and brainstorm about the possible uses of each item.
4. Once all have been through the stations, share ideas as a class for possible secondary uses of items. Write list on the board or the overhead.
Lesson #2: Analysis of local primary source
1. Present unopened and opened WWI bandages from the Champaign County Historical Museum. Divide the class into groups of 4, allowing each group to analyze the bandages and complete the artifacts analysis worksheet.
2. Once all groups have completed the above activity, tell the class that all five items have been used for the same technological purpose throughout history, though the use was not their intended primary use. Have the class brainstorm a list of potential secondary purposes of the items.
3. If the class does not hit on menstruation, put the Worn Out Ad transparency on the overhead for a clue (the tonic was used to cure the ills that came with menstruation) or the class can play 20 Questions with the teacher for a faster conclusion.
Lesson #3: Analysis of national primary source
From Bullets to
Blood: A Case Study PowerPoint
lecture accompanied by fill-in notes
Lesson #4:
Analysis of national primary source
1. Give
students background information on the trouble Kimberly-Clark had selling the
new disposable sanitary napkins.
2. Have
students select a partner to work with on an advertising campaign for
Kimberly-Clark's new product, Kotex.
3. Give
students Advertising Brainstorm Web for
brainstorming thoughts/words/images about menstruation that women at the time
might have had (and some might still have today)
4. Students
must come up with a print advertisement and marketing strategy to make Kotex
appealing to women across the country.
Students should use the Problem Solving
Worksheet to organize their strategy.
5. Time can be
given in class for this assignment.
Students will certainly need two-three days to come up with good ads and
strategies. These can be presented
to the class.
6. Once ads and strategies have been presented to the class, inform the class that Kotex took out print ads and wrapped the boxes in plain paper with the name in blue on the side.
7. The boxes were to be displayed on a counter in an easily
accessible spot in the store. A
coin box was to be placed next to the display where women could deposit the
money for their purchase—thus eliminating the need for women to speak to
clerks when buying Kotex. Sales of
Kotex greatly increased.
Lesson #5:
Analysis of national primary source
1. Divide class
into small groups of three or four students
2. Give half
the groups the 1921 Kotex Ad and text to
analyze—can print and pass out or project on screen
3. Give the
other half of the groups 1920 Kotex Prototype 1,
2, 3, and 4 to
analyze—can print and pass out or project on screen
4. Have
students analyze the ads using the Written Document
Analysis Worksheet
5. After the
groups have completed analyzing the advertisements, facilitate an informal
information sharing/class discussion about the advertisements, comparing and
contrasting them
6. Next, give
the groups the Worn Out Ad and text to
analyze as well using the Written Document Analysis
Worksheet
7. Have
students write a two-page essay comparing and contrasting their two
advertisements.
