The Impact and Influence of Refrigeration Technology

Document 10: Refrigerator Sales by State

GE refrigerator in use, 1939. GE eliminated the Monitor-top refrigerator design in 1937, opting for a more modern design that hid the equipment in the back and the bottom of the refrigerator

Document 10, Sales By State of Refrigerators, from Electrical Merchandising magazine, January 1940

Read the Sales by State Table and complete the following assignments.

 

1.  What is the source of this document?

 

2.  What is its purpose?

 

3.  When was it produced?

 

4.  Using the information in the table, design a bar graph to compare the sales of refrigerators in

      New York State for the years of 1931-1939.

 

5. Using your graph, answer the following questions:

          A. In what year was the largest number of refrigerators sold? How many?

          B. In what year was the least number of refrigerators sold? How many?

          C. What was the total number of refrigerators sold In New York between 1931 and 1939?

 

6.  Using the information in the document, design a line graph on graph paper comparing the sales

     of refrigerators between 1931-1939 for the states of Pennsylvania and Illinois.

 

7. Using the information from the document and your graph, answer the following:

          A. In which year was a larger number of refrigerators sold in Illinois than in Pennsylvania?

          B. In which years were more refrigerators sold in Pennsylvania than in Illinois?

          C. How many more refrigerators were sold in Pennsylvania then in Illinois in 1936?

Document 10 Overview: Refrigerator Sales by State

In January 1940 Electrical Merchandising magazine produced a chart, which provided sales of refrigerators by state for the years of 1931 through the first ten months of 1939. This is a primary document reflecting the sales of refrigerators during the 1930s, which can be used for a mathematics lesson.

 

Disciplines:

          Mathematics, Social Studies, Language Arts, Science

 

Grade Levels:

          6-12

 

Materials Needed:

         Copy of Sales by State document              Pens

          Worksheet                                                Pencils

          Graph paper                                             Markers

          Drawing paper

 

Learning Objectives:

          1. To learn to interpret data from a table and to transfer it to a graph.

          2. To learn to design different graphs from a primary document.

          3. To analyze a primary document.

        

Procedure:

          1. Distribute copies of the Sales by State document.

          2. Distribute worksheets.

          3. Distribute drawing paper and graph paper.

          4. Students read and analyze the table, then follow the directions completing the worksheet.

          5. Discuss the completed worksheets.