Social Studies – Unit Activity Planner: Austin Past and Present
Austin Independent School District
Grade:
5th
Unit Length (Number of class periods):
30 minutes
Required Technology:
One computer needed to access Austin Past and Present program
Course:
Social Studies
Topic:
Geo-Tour Instructor Tutorial
Concept:
Change
Overarching question:
How does Austin differ from years ago to today?
What are some of the reasons that a specific place is be different from one
time period to another?
Unit Questions(s):
What differences did you notice between how this neighborhood looked in
the past and now? Are there more or less buildings? Are there changes in the
vegetation? Are people dressed differently?
Unit Understandings:
To have a high degree of familiarity navigating the Geo-tour
site; using a model lesson comparing the area around present
day AISD Central Office (Treaty Oak) to the same location
from the past
TEKS/TAKS Questions:
5.9A: Describe ways people have adapted to and modified their environment in the United States, past and present.
5.14A: The student understands the concept of how people earn a living.
5.25A:The student understands how to locate, differentiate, and use primary and secondary sources.
Local 809: Obtain information, including historical and geographic data about using a variety of print, oral, visual, and computer sources.
Local 810: Transfer information from one medium to another, including written to visual and statistical to written or visual, using computer
software as appropriate.
Austin Independent School District
Social Studies Curriculum Department
June, 2006
Social Studies – Unit Activity Planner: Austin Past and Present
Austin Independent School District
Materials:
Austin Past and Present program
Preview:
Have “fun” with this tutorial, It helps you navigate
Through Austin Past and Present last,
Great lessons you’ll create.
So power up computers now and follow these directions.
Your students’ learning will explode,
They’ll make some great connections.
Student activities that support the TEKS/TAKS:
For the teacher tour, the Treaty Oak icon is used. A separate student tutorial lesson is available.
1. Open Austin Past and Present program and read the captions
2. Click on Geo-Tour picture.
3. Choose the Central section of Austin.
4. Move cursor over icons to get a “feel” for all the places located in each section.
5. Choose the Treaty Oak icon and investigate.
**Note: dialogue box in upper left corner – Under the Tree, the story will be highlighted.**
6. Click on the picture – read additional notes.
7. Click on the picture again to enlarge.
**Note: some stories contain multiple pictures – in that case, arrows will appear on the bottom left corner. Click on them to navigate these
additional pictures.**
8. Select other stories from the dialogue box and follow the same procedures.
9. Occasionally, audio will accompany the story, as in “A Bad Time For Oaks.”
Using these steps, user should be able to make some comparisons between past and present.
Assessment(s):
Interactive Notebook Journal Entry:
 Do you feel comfortable navigating the Geo-Tour program and can you operate it independently?
 Please share this program with your team members and administrators.
Austin Independent School District
Social Studies Curriculum Department
June, 2006