Telegram worksheet - High school (ages 12+)

Reading level

Small Whale · Reading worksheet

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/telegram

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the primary communication technology?Electrical telegraphy, enabling rapid long-distance text transmission
2. What is the key innovation?Morse code, a system of dots and dashes representing characters
3. How did the telegram send messages so fast?It used electrical pulses that traveled through a network of wires. The pulses carried the message from one place to another almost instantly.
4. What is Morse code?Morse code is a system of short and long signals, called dots and dashes, that turns letters, numbers, and punctuation into electrical pulses. Operators tap these patterns to send messages.

Electrical Telegraphy: The transmission of coded messages over a wire using electrical signals.
Morse Code: A standardized system of dots and dashes used for encoding text in telegraphy.
Submarine Cable: An underwater electrical cable used for telegraphic communication between landmasses.
Wire Service: An organization that gathers and distributes news to other media outlets.