Students will map their own routes for the transcontinental railroad. Students will read and analyze several maps in order to design their routes based on the geographical factors

Balow, Tyler

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Transcontinental Railroad

University of Northern Iowa

University of Northern Iowa UNI ScholarWorks Open Educational Resources Open Educational Resources 2012 Transcontinental Railroad Tyler Balow Decorah High School – Decorah School District Let us know how access to this document benefits you Copyright ©[2012?] Tyler Balow This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/oermaterials  Part of the Geography Commons Recommended Citation Balow, Tyler, "Transcontinental Railroad" (2012). Open Educational Resources. 235. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/oermaterials/235 This Lesson Plans is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Educational Resources at UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Educational Resources by an authorized administrator of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact scholarworks@uni.edu. Transcontinental Railroad Created by: Tyler Balow Decorah High School – Decorah School District Grade Level (Req.): 9th-12th grade Content Area (Req.): American History, Human Geography Unit (Opt.):   Connections to Other Disciplines (Opt.): •   •   •   Time Frame (Req.): 1-2 class periods  Goal (Req.): To understand how the transcontinental railroad began and its construction.  Objective (Req.): Students will map their own routes for the transcontinental railroad. Students will read and analyze several maps in order to design their routes based on the geographical factors. Materials Needed (Req.): • Map of U.S. population density from 1860 • Map of the U.S. and territories from 1860 • Topographic map of the United States • Worksheets with a blank map of the United States – need to be created • Information for lecture (found at http://www.tcrr.com/) •   •   New Vocabulary (Opt.): •   •   •   •   •   Anticipatory Set/Introduction [Inquiry Question is required] (Req.): This lesson should follow prior lessons on pioneer life in the U.S. At the beginning of class, have students discuss with a neighbor the following question: How were the locations of roads in their community or state decided? Point out that there can often be debate on where the location of the specific road should be placed depending on geography, ownership of land, etc.       Instructional Sequence/Procedure (Req.):  1. Pass out a blank map of the U.S., a map of U.S. population density from 1860 and a topographic map of the U.S. to each student. 2. Have students create 3 possible routes for a transcontinental railroad that they think is the most logical based on their understanding of the maps. 3. Have each student pick what route they believe would be the easiest and most efficient to build. 4. Have students share their reasoning for the route they picked in small groups. Then as a class, discuss what factors would be considered when deciding where to build a railroad. 5. Complete a short lecture on the debate of where to build the transcontinental railroad and the impact that the railroad had on the U.S. 6.   7.   8.   9.   10.   11.   12.   13.   14.   15.   16.   17.   18.   19.   20.   Formative Evaluation (Req.): Teachers should observe the classroom, listen to small group discussions and be available to answer questions while group work is being completed.   Assessment (Req.): Guiding the in-class discussion should provide teachers a time to evaluate students understanding of map reading. Teachers may also collect student-created maps to see how individual students interpreted various maps. Iowa Core Curriculum Standards Used (Req.): • Geography, grade 9-12: Understand the use of geographic tools to locate and analyze information about people, places, and environments. • Geography, grade 9-12: Understand how human actions modify the environment and how the environment affects humans. • Geography, grade 9-12: Understand how culture affects the interaction of human populations through time and space. •   •   •   •   •   •   •   Common Core Curriculum Standards Used (Opt.): • Speaking and Listening, grade 6-12: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups and teacher-led) with diverse partners on specific grade level topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. •   •   •   •   NGS Standards Used (Req.): • How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective • The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human population on Earth’s surface • How human actions modify the physical environment • How physical systems affect human systems • How to apply geography to interpret the past •   •   •   •    •   Five Themes of Geography Used (Req.): • Location • Place • Human-Environmental Interaction • Movement • Region School District Standards and Benchmarks (Opt.): •   •   •   21st Century Universal Constructs (Opt.):   Other Disciplinary Standards (Opt.): •   •   •   •   •   Other Essential Information (Opt.):        Other Resources (Opt.): •   •   •   •   

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Transcontinental Railroad

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University of Northern Iowa