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How Four Discoveries Changed Lives is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on the causes and effects of four inventions, aligned to C3 Framework indicator D2.His.14.3-5. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 13 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

How Four Discoveries Changed Lives

D2.His.14.3-5

NameDate

Read each information text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the information text, then answer the questions.

Louis Pasteur and Safer Milk

An information text written for this worksheet. In the 1800s, milk and other foods often spoiled quickly, and milk could carry germs that made people, especially young children, very sick. Louis Pasteur, a French scientist, showed in the 1860s that tiny living things called microbes make food spoil. He found that heating a liquid such as wine for a short time, without boiling it, and then cooling it, killed most of the harmful microbes without ruining the taste. This method is named pasteurization, after him. Later, cities in Europe and the United States began to require that milk be pasteurized. Fewer children became sick from milk, and milk stayed fresh for longer, so it could be shipped farther.

  1. 1. Why did it matter that the method did not ruin the taste?
  2. 2. Why was milk dangerous before pasteurization?
  3. 3. How does pasteurization work?
2.Read the information text, then answer the questions.

Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine

An information text written for this worksheet. Polio is a disease caused by a virus. It can make muscles weak and sometimes leaves people unable to walk or to breathe on their own. In the early 1950s, polio struck tens of thousands of Americans every year, most of them children. Many families kept their children away from swimming pools and summer camps, afraid of catching it. Jonas Salk, an American doctor and scientist, made a vaccine to protect people from polio. In 1954, more than a million children took part in a test of the vaccine. In April 1955 the vaccine was announced as safe and effective. Salk did not patent it, so it could be made widely. Within a few years, polio cases in the United States fell sharply.

  1. 1. What causes polio?
  2. 2. When was the vaccine announced as safe and effective?
  3. 3. How did the vaccine change summers for children?

LessonPrint · D2.His.14.3-5 · Set 13 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — How Four Discoveries Changed Lives

Set 13. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. People would keep drinking the milk, so the method could be used everywhere. 2. It could carry germs that made people, especially young children, very sick. 3. A liquid is heated for a short time, without boiling it, then cooled.
  2. 2.1. A virus. 2. April 1955. 3. Families no longer had to keep children away from swimming pools and summer camps.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.His.14.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.