Drawing on Texas: A “State of the Arts” Coin
Science Lesson: Grades Four-Six
What Does a Quarter Weigh?
Overview
In this lesson, students will learn about the historical figures and symbols of U.S.
patriotism depicted on the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter coins ; and they will
create a balance scale from common materials to measure the approximate weight
of a quarter.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS),
Science, Grades Four - Six
Scientific processes. The student utilizes inquiry methods during field and
laboratory investigations. The student is expected to: (a) plan and implement
descriptive investigations including asking well-defined questions, formulating
testable hypotheses, and selecting and using equipment and selecting and using
equipment and technology; (b) collect information by observing and measuring;
(c) analyze and interpret information to construct reasonable explanations from
direct and indirect evidence; (D) communication valid conclusions; and (e)
construct simple graphs, tables, maps, and charts to organize, examine, and
evaluate information.
Objectives - General
Students will:
• Communicate interpretations of the meaning, symbolism, and value of U.S.
coins, supported with compelling reasons.
• Demonstrate an understanding of how coins reflect the time, place, culture,
materials and/or process in which they were created.
Objectives for this Lesson
Students will:
• Create balance scales using pencils as a fulcrum and rulers as levers
• Balance an unknown quantity of quarters with an object of known weight
• Use division to find the approximate weight of one quarter
Materials and Resources for this Project
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An assortment of 50 States Commemorative quarters
Classroom access to the Internet
For each small group of students:
Three pencils
Masking tape
12 inch ruler
Object of known weight (e.g. frozen stick of butter, 4 oz.)
Styrofoam cup
Generous supply of real quarters
Notebook and pencil
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Optional: calculator
Real balance scales and/or photograph of Justice Allegory with scales
Recommended Books
Barabas, Kathy. Let's Find Out About Money. New York: Scholastic, 1997.
Maestro, Betsy and Giulio. The Story of Money. New York: Clarion Books, 1993.
Cribb, Joe, and Keenes, Thomas. Eyewitness: Money. DK Publishing, 2000.
Otfinoski, Steve, and Graham, Jack. Coin Collecting for Kids. Innovative Kids, 2000.
Russell, Margo. Start Collecting Coins. Philadelphia: Running Press, 1989.
Parker, Nancy W. Money, Money, Money: The Meaning of the Art and Symbols on
United States Paper Currency. New York: Harper Collins, 1995.
Web Sites
H.I.P. Pocket Change, The U.S. Mint’s Site for Kids,
www.usmint.gov/kids/
The 50 State Quarters Program,
www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/50sq_program/index.cfm?action=factsheet
Institute of Texan Cultures,
www.texancultures.utsa.edu/public/index.htm
Just the Facts,
www.ipl.org/youth/stateknow/tx1.html
Kid’s Stuff, Institute of Texan Cultures,
www.texancultures.utsa.edu/kidsstuff/kidssplash/kidssplash.htm
Lone Star Junction,
www.lsjunction.com/
Money of the Republic of Texas,
www.dallashistory.org/html/money_of_the_republic_of_texas.html
State Seal of Texas,
www.sos.state.tx.us/statdoc/seal.shtml
Student Guide Handbook of Texas Online,
www.tsha.utexas.edu/tools/studentguides/guide1.html
Texas Almanac,
www.texasalmanac.com/
Texas Best Online,
www.texas-best.com/
Texas History and Social Studies,
www.rice.edu/armadillo/Texas/history.html
Texas Icons and GIF Images,
www.rice.edu/armadillo/Texas/texbuttons.html
Texas State Symbols and Emblems,
www.netstate.com/states/symb/tx_symb.htm
Texas Symbols,
www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/symbols.html
Texas Symbols Homepage,
www.karnes-city.isd.tenet.edu/symbols/sym.html
TravelTex.com,
/www.traveltex.com/index
Drawing on Texas: Science 4-6: 3
Vocabulary
Nineteenth Century: the last 100 years
Balance Scale: Designed to measure and determine comparable weight
Fulcrum: the support about which a lever turns
Lever: a rigid bar used to exert pressure, pry or dislodge something
Replicate: to recreate or copy
Culture: sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings
Symbol: an image, idea, or object that stands for or represents something else
Patriotism: devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country, national loyalty
Money/currency: gold, silver, or other metal in pieces of convenient form stamped
and by government authority and issued as a medium of exchange and measure of
value.
Coin: a piece of metal stamped and issued by the authority of the government for
use as money.
Obverse: the side of a coin that bears the principal design; heads.
Reverse: the side of a coin that bears the secondary design; tails.
Quarter: a silver U.S. coin equivalent in value to one-fourth of a dollar; 25 cents.
Penny: a U.S. coin equivalent in value to one-hundredth of a dollar; 1 cent.
Nickel: a U.S. coin equivalent in value to one-twentieth of a dollar; 5 cents.
Dime: a silver U.S. coin equivalent in value to one tenth of a dollar; 10 cents.
Numismatics: the study or collection of coins, tokens, medals, or similar objects.
Numismatist: person who collects coins or similar objects.
Portrait: picture of a person.
Profile: the outline of a head as viewed from one side
Planning and Preparation
Become familiar with the Background Information for Teachers.
Assemble materials for students’ use.
Instruction
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Show the interactive web site H.I.P. Pocket Change, The U.S. Mint’s Site for
Kids, www.usmint.gov/kids/
Show real balance scales and/or picture of Justice Allegory with blindfold
and scales.
Explain that in 1873 the U.S. Mint changed the quarter because it was not
heavy enough. Why might that be important? What was a quarter made out
of in the 19th Century?
Arrange students in small groups and pass out materials. Assign a captain for
each team to count quarters when they are passed and again when they are
returned to the teacher.
Today we are going to create balance scales out of ordinary materials and
see if we can discover what a quarter weighs.
Questions to Consider:
• How many of you have sat on a teeter-totter?
• What did you find out when you were playing on the teeter-totters? (Various
answers.)
• Did you know that the teeter-totter is actually a scale? What kind of a scale
is it? (Balance scale.)
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What does a quarter weigh? (Various guesses.)
How might you go about finding out the weight of a quarter? (Various
answers.)
Assessment
Did students create a simple balance scale using common materials?
Did students arrive at an approximate weight for one quarter, using division?
Were students able to replicate the results?
Extensions
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Students may discover that the scales do not balance, i.e. that each quarter is
too heavy to arrive at a precise balance. If that should happen, they may count
the quarter that “tips the balance” to the other side as one-half or .5 of a
quarter.
What else could you weigh using the balance scales? If time permits, allow
students to weigh a variety of other objects.
Have students explore ancient coins through the School Coins Program for
Grade 6 from Reading the Image: A Visual Literacy Project, available at
www.readingtheimage.com/coins.htm
Background Information for Teachers
Portraits on U.S. Coins
Denominations
Portraits
One cent:
Abraham Lincoln
Five cents:
Thomas Jefferson
Ten cents:
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Quarter:
George Washington
Half dollar:
Benjamin Franklin, John F. Kennedy
Dollar:
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Susan B. Anthony, Sacagawea
A Short History of the Quarter
Two hundred years ago, one of the most widely used coins throughout the United
States and the Western hemisphere was the Spanish 8-reale or Piece of Eight. It was
often split into eight bits or pieces to make change; each part was worth twelveand-a-half cents. Half a reale was four bits and a quarter reale was two bits, a term
we still use today for the U.S. quarter-dollar coin. Initially the quarter was made of
silver but it was changed to a combination of nickel and copper in 1965. Last year
the United States Mint produced nearly two billion quarter dollars.
The quarter-dollar was one of the first coin denominations authorized by Congress
in 1792, though it wasn’t produced until 1796. The Mint Act of 1792 decreed that
one side of the quarter had to include the year in which it was minted, an image
that symbolized liberty, and the actual word “Liberty.” The model for the first Lady
Liberty may have been a socialite named Ann Bingham. Around her portrait on the
front or obverse side were fifteen stars, one for each state in the Union at the time.
The back or reverse of the quarter featured a young eagle and the words "United
States of America." Interestingly, the numerical indication of the quarter’s value was
somehow overlooked.
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For more than 115 years, liberty was symbolized on the obverse side of the coin by
allegorical female figures of Lady Liberty in the form of a bust or a full-length
figure. The depictions of Lady Liberty and the eagle were changed many times
during the late 18th and early 19th centuries to keep up with the varying designs of
other coins. Over time, the eagle was altered to become grander and more
patriotic.
In 1932, in honor of the bicentennial of George Washington's birthday, Lady
Liberty was replaced by a silhouette of Washington's head. In 1976, a colonial
drummer replaced the eagle on the back of the coin for the 200th anniversary of
the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Over the next decade, the quarter
will now undergo fifty changes to acknowledge each state in the U.S. Each state
will be honored on an individual coin to generate the public's interest in coin
design and State history. Hopefully this program will encourage people to take
more careful notice of the design of their pocket change.