1. Walk into just about any classroom and you will find one: A dark green board on the
wall lined with pieces of chalk and felt erasers. Chalkboards, also commonly known
as blackboards, have long been a part of daily classroom life, BUT JUST WHAT IS
THE HISTORY OF THE CHALKBOARD ?
The earliest blackboards cannot properly be
called chalkboards, as there was no chalk
involved. They were simply small pieces of
slate, and instead of chalk children would use
another, smaller piece of slate to write on the
board. Marks would be erased with a simple rag
in order for the student to move onto the next
problem.
In the late 18th and early 19th century,
such "slate boards" were commonly used
in schools in the United States and other
countries. These small pieces of slate would be
bound in a wooden frame to help strengthen the
board and keep them from cracking. In those
days paper was expensive and hard to come by,
so these mini slate blackboards provided a good
substitute.
At some point in time, however, these slate
boards began to be used in a brand new way. A
geography teacher working in Scotland is
reported to have taken the slates from the

2. students and hung them all on the wall. He then used this to make-shift blackboard
to write out geography information which all the students could read at once. A
revolution in blackboard usage had begun.
Adoption of this new idea came quickly. The first recorded use of this style of slate
board in North America comes from 1801, when such a blackboard was in use at the
United States Military Academy in West Point. Other academic military schools
quickly picked up on it as well, and soon enough it began to spread throughout
grammar schools.
Much of slate mining in the United States occurred in the Northeast, places such as
Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and a bit further to the South in Virginia. As
Americans began to expand to the West, the new railroads were able to bring slate
for blackboards from these states to schools across the Great Plains and prairie lands
by the 1840's. No matter where
Americans went, slate followed
for use in public schools.
By the 1850's, virtually
all schoolhouses
included a blackboard
along with their other staples: a
wood burning stove and
benches for the students to sit
on. Still, however, our modern
chalkboards were not in
common usage.
As technology progressed, the
old pieces of slate finally began
to be replaced by chalk. The
soft limestone chalk was easier
to use on the boards, and easier to clean as well. The old rag erasers have been
erased by new felt chalkboard erasers, which are able to absorb more of the chalk
dust and keep it out of the air. The boards themselves are no longer made of slate,
but instead are a steel sheet with a porcelain enamel.
In the past couple of decades, many schools
are beginning to phase out use of
chalkboards for whiteboards over
fears of the hazardous effects of chalk
dust. The principle, however, remains the
same, and blackboards will continue to be used
in schools for many years to come.
Ruth Anne L. Gregorio, R.N, R.M

3. November 29, 2008
REFERENCES:
Websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalkboard
Books:
1. Heinich, Robert., Molenda, Michael., Russel, James., (1996).
Instructional Media and Technologies for learning, 5th Edition.
Prentice-Hall Inc., Simon & Schuster Company.
2. Minor, Ed., Frye, Harvey. (1997). Techniques for Producing Visual
Instructional Media. McGraw-Hill book Company
3. Means, Barbara, (1994). Technology & Education Reform.
Jossey-Bass Inc.
REACTION:
While chalkboards are the preferred medium for a 50-minute lecture,
they are too slow for a 15-minute talk. The physical act of writing will take
up too much valuable time. Moreover, chalkboards are hard to read at a
distance.
DO’S:
1. Do dry clean chalk boards
2. Be efficient.
3. Optimize eye span
DON’TS:
1. Don't clean chalk boards with water and detergent
2. Chalk dust can cause machines to overheat, so please do not place
chalk or chalkboard erasers on the podiums

4. 3. Avoid dead air