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Lesson Plan Image

Power to the Peanut

George Washington Carver was an influential scientist and a promoter of environmentalism. Students will learn about and create an image of this important historical figure.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

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  • Heavy Paper
  • Paper

Steps

  • Step 1

    George Washington Carver (1864-1943) was an American agricultural scientist and inventor as well as a promoter of environmentalism. Born into slavery a year before it was abolished, he went on to receive a college education and several honorary doctorates of science. He was one of the most prominent Black scientists of the early 20th century. Have students learn about his life and work. What techniques did he develop to improve soil depleted by repeated plantings of cotton? How did he help poor farmers improve their crops as well as their own quality of life? Why did growing nitrogen-fixing plants like peanuts, soybeans, and sweet potatoes help restore the soil? What food, industrial, and commercial products did he develop using peanuts?

  • Step 2

    Have students create a collage portrait of George Washington Carver. They can draw images of peanuts or other items relating to his life, then cut them out and affix them to their artwork.

  • Step 3

    Have students present their completed artwork to the class and discuss some of George Washington Carver's great accomplishments.

Standards

LA: Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

SS: Give examples of an explain groups and institutional influences such as religious beliefs, laws, and peer pressure, on people, events, and elements of culture.

VA: Select media, techniques, an processes; analyze what makes them effective or not effective in communicating ideas; and reflect upon the effectiveness of choices.

VA: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of experiences and ideas.

LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

MATH: Draw a scaled picture graph and a scaled bar graph to represent a data set with several categories.

SCI: Obtain information to explain how breeders use variations in traits to produce desired types of domesticated organisms.

SS: Identify and use various source for reconstructing the past, such as documents, letters, diaries, maps, textbooks, photos, and others.

SS: Identify and describe examples in which science and technology have changed the lives of people, such as in homemaking, childcare, work, transpiration, and communication.

SS: Explore factors that contribute to one's personal identity such as interests, capabilities, and perceptions.

Adaptations

Have students investigate other notable Black scientists who influenced history. Suggestions include Charles R. Drew (1904-1950), a surgeon and medical researcher who improved techniques for blood storage and developed large-scale blood banks; Katherine Johnson (1918-2020), whose orbital mechanics calculations were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights; and Percy Julian (1899-1975), a chemist and pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants.

Betsy Graves Reyneau (1888-1964) was an American painter best known for a series of paintings of prominent African Americans. Have students learn about this artist and her dedication to equal rights for all. Have them view her portrait of George Washington Carver, her first and most famous subject.