Tabletop television, 1948. It originally cost $200 and had a 10-inch diagonal screen

Note: This activity is functionally identical to Activity #6: Times Gone By from “Communication by Electricity.” Both can be combined into an extended activity, or used separately.

This activity can be used to introduce the unit, or as a part of a science history lesson. The physical appearance of the television has changed greatly since its invention, up to and including the viewing programs on laptops or smartphones.

In this activity, students will look for similarities between televisions and television programs they know today, and those used in the past, and will collaborate to explore how the televisions and their programming has evolved over time.

Copies of vintage television advertisements

What did people expect from a television that was purchased in 1910? 1950? 2000? 2020?

What kinds of language cues and descriptors were used in vintage advertising vs. today?

How has the shape of a television influenced its place in the home, or furniture layouts in a living room?

What kinds of factors influence the price of a television, aside from inflation? How does this relate to what we now expect a television to be able to do/ the quality of image and sound that comes from it?

How do you think televisions will continue to evolve? What features will die out in the future, and which ones might arise?

This activity centers around advertisements promoting televisions, but could easily be adapted to look at how television advertising itself has changed. If choosing to use this adaptation, try some of the following questions:

What kinds of things are sold over television advertisements?

How much time do ads take up on vintage television programs vs. today?

How do your streaming habits, such as the shows you watch, influence the advertisements that you’re shown?

Mechanical televisions
Cathode ray tube (CRT)
Video-on-demand
Television set
Betamax
VHS
LED
Plasma screen/ Plasma display panel (PDP)
Samsung
Black-and-white and color TVs
WRGB station/ WGY Television
Netflix/ Blockbuster

Streaming
Cord-cutting
DVD
Blu-ray
LCD/ LED-backlit LCD
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED)
Vizio Inc.
3D television
YouTube
iTunes
Smart TVs
Hulu
Roku

Standards for In Days Gone By