Museum of Innovation and Science

Olympic Pictograms

Write Your Name in Hieroglyphics

Mother Goose reading fairy tales to children

Fairy Tales Without Words

German style calligraphy from Hermann Esser's (1845–1908) "Draughtsman's Alphabets" 

Crayola Calligraphy

Johannes Gutenberg demonstrates his printing press, which he invented around the year 1440

One-Kid Printing Press

Pictographs used by the national Park Service on maps and signs. Can you figure out what each one means?

Pictogram Telephone

Though many animals use sound or movement to communicate with one another, written communication is a uniquely human invention. Dating back thousands of years, the earliest examples of written language allowed humans to track purchases and sales, pass down stories, and share information with far-away communities. Written language is also one of the earliest focuses of formal schooling around the world, though children often learn to speak or communicate through hand gestures beforehand.

In the following activities, students will learn the history of written languages, experiment with different forms of written communication, and learn how written communication began a long history of expanding information outwards so that it may reach as many people as possible.

·        Recognize and distinguish between different forms of writing, including cuneiform and hieroglyphics

·        Interpret their own use of written language within a greater global and temporal context

·        Judge the value of images and pictograms in explaining concepts between individuals and spoken languages

·        Develop a base understanding about communication and its uses

·        Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information in 6-8 builds on K-5 and progresses to evaluating the merit and validity of ideas and methods.

 Integrate qualitative scientific and technical information in written text with that contained in media and visual displays to clarify claims and findings. (MS-PS4-3)

Finding Our Voice

educator materials