1900–1999 was a period of unparalleled achievements in science, medicine, human rights, and more. In this activity, students will identify key figures in 20th-century progress and then document the life and times of each in a searchable database.
Launch Office Access. In the opening window dialog box, select Create a new database using blank Access database. In the File New Database window, name your database "Giants of the Century," and save it to a location accessible to all of your students.
In the Database window, double-click Create table in Design view.
Create fields for Name, Nationality, Area of Influence, Decade, Contribution, Picture, and Sources.
Click in the Data Type cell for the Picture field. Click the drop-down button and select OLE Object from the list.
Click in the Data Type cell for the Name field. Click the drop-down button and select Hyperlink. Do the same for the Decade field. The students will connect these links to their proper destinations later.
By default, text fields hold only 50 characters but you'll want more room than that for the Contribution and Sources fields. To increase the field size, click the field to display Field Properties, and select the General tab. Increase the Field Size value to 255.
Close the table. You'll be prompted to assign a primary key. However, you don't need to because the database will contain only one table.
Design a form for entering information into the table. In the Database window, in the Objects column, click Forms, and then double-click Create form by using wizard.
In the sequence of Form Wizard dialog boxes, select all available fields in your table, and then choose columnar layout and a style for your form.
In the final Form Wizard dialog box, confirm a title for your form, select Modify the form's design, and then click Finish. The form will appear in Design view.
To prevent the images that you have imported from being clipped or distorted, click the Picture field, and on the View menu, click Properties. Select the All tab, click in the Size Mode field, and select Zoom from the drop-down list box. Close the Properties window.
Make any additional changes you want to in the form in Design view. You can do this either by selecting and dragging objects to different locations or by editing properties (as in Step 11).
Close and save the database. Now students can create records (like the sample shown in the Student Activity section) for the individuals they've chosen and link them to biographical and historical information as described in the Student activity section.
One exciting way to look at history is to study the people who shaped it. In this activity, you and each of your classmates will choose five individuals who made the world a better place during the 20th century. Then, in a single database, you'll combine information about their lives, accomplishments, and the historical events that influenced their work.
Follow the steps below to guide your students through this lesson plan. See student handout links at right.
What to do: Gather pictures and basic information about your five history makers.
What to do: Research and write short biographies of your history makers.
Welcome to the year 2045. Ask students to take a look back at 2000-2010 and name the three most important figures of that era. What impact did their accomplishments have in the years after 2010?
Have students jot down the first words that come to mind about a particular decade. Then encourage them to explore where those ideas came from. Movies? Television? Books? Parents? Grandparents? How accurate are each of these sources?
What makes a giant a giant? Ask students to name three personal characteristics that might be shared by historically significant figures of the 20th century, even if those people were very different in other ways.