Visit activity: Bakelite Galore!

Students consider the impact of Baekeland's remarkable new material by creating an advert for one of the Bakelite items displayed in the exhibition.

Leo Baekeland worked with leading designers and he made sure he had the best advertising to promote their new streamlined products. Bakelite quickly became the material of choice and many design classics, such as the Bakelite telephone were born.

Using this activity

In the first section of the Plasticity exhibition ‑ 'The Birth of Plastics' ‑ students work in small groups to collect information and ideas for a magazine advert to promote one of the Bakelite items displayed. The Bakelite Galore! student sheet provides a framework to help them plan their advert.

Bakelite Galore! student sheet (pdf)

Ideally students will need access to a camera to take photos of their chosen exhibit for use in their advert, or they could sketch the item.

Back in school students could present their posters to the class, or they could be used for a classroom display. If cross-curricular work with ICT can be organised and appropriate software is available, they could produce their advert as an A4 page using a PC or Mac.