STEM Connection: 19th Century Daily Life & Culture
Exploring 19th-century daily life opens up a wide array of STEM-focused classroom opportunities that connect the social and cultural practices of the era to innovations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Far from being static, domestic life in the 1800s was in constant conversation with technological progress, which both shaped and was shaped by cultural values.
Technology and Engineering: The toys and games of the 19th century, many of which were handcrafted or made with early manufacturing tools, can lead to lessons in materials science and mechanical design. Teachers can guide students in building replicas using simple machines (levers, pulleys, axles) to explore pre-electricity engineering principles. Similarly, the rise of restaurants like Delmonico’s, which introduced refrigeration, gas lighting, and standardized kitchens, provides a real-world look at the intersection of culinary innovation and industrial engineering. Educators might explore how kitchen tools evolved alongside metallurgy and thermodynamics.
Mathematics and Data Analysis: Historical data on newsboys’ wages, school enrollment, or death customs can be turned into statistical investigations. Students could calculate cost-of-living adjustments, compare literacy rates by socioeconomic status, or map demographic shifts. Quilting patterns from the period provide a geometric entry point for younger learners, while architecture (e.g., No. 9 Duane Street’s layout) offers lessons in scale, spatial reasoning, and even insulation science.
Science and Public Health: Funeral customs and mourning rituals—often shaped by the high mortality rates of the time—reflect evolving understandings of disease transmission, decomposition, and hygiene. Students might contrast 19th-century beliefs about miasma with germ theory, or discuss how embalming fluid chemistry developed. Lessons in biology and chemistry could extend to the materials used in clothing (wool, linen, dyes) and how their sourcing and production impacted both health and environment.
Legal and Educational Systems: The founding of institutions like the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law can spark interdisciplinary discussions about the STEM foundations of legal education—logic, forensic science, and increasingly, data analysis. Students can debate how access to education and legal training in elite institutions reflected and reinforced class structures, but also depended on broader advancements in printing, transportation, and infrastructure.
Together, these sources allow educators to frame the 19th century not as an antiquated past, but as a STEM-rich landscape of innovation, inequity, and cultural adaptation—fertile ground for inquiry-based, standards-aligned instruction.