Living History to Understand It
Region 4 Social Studies Conference
February 4th, 2012
Presenters: Cathy Crabtree Brazosport ISD
Jennifer Crutchfield Brazosport ISD
Introduction
Mission-Experiential Learning: As stated by the ancient Chinese philosopher,
Confucius, "tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I
will understand."
According to David Colb, an American educational theorist, knowledge is continuously
gained through both personal and environmental experiences. ]He states that in order to
gain genuine knowledge from an experience, certain abilities are required:
1. the learner must be willing to be actively involved in the experience;
2. the learner must be able to reflect on the experience;
3. the learner must possess and use analytical skills to conceptualize the experience;
and
4. the learner must possess decision making and problem solving skills in order to
use the new ideas gained from the experience.
Activity 1. Measuring Your School or Classroom
Objective: Students review and utilize measurement tools and skills
cooperatively to construct their own maps from raw data.
Estimated time: 2 class periods
Materials needed: measuring devices, grid sheets
Overview: Students work in groups to measure the school or classroom. As a class we
collect the data on a large grid sheet. Independently they transfer the raw map to a
smaller grid with a key. The class tours the finished maps. Students reflect in their journal
after reviewing the finished maps. Sample questions: If all maps were not the same, why
were they different? How do cartographers make maps of larger areas? What could you
do to improve your map?
Activity 2. Native Americans-Trading For Life
Simulation courtesy of The Jason Project
Objective: TEKS on why groups settled in certain areas; describe
landform and vegetation regions; patterns of land use; how and
why people adapted to and modified their environment; how
supply and demand affects consumers; how geographic features
affect economic activities of a region; use a problem solving
process and a decision-making process.
Estimated time: 2-3 class periods
Materials provided in handout.
Overview:
Day 1-Information is read about the culture of the Chumash Indians of the
Channel Islands and how they meet their basic needs. Students plan in tribal
groups for a trading expedition. Each tribe has different natural resources to
trade but the same basic needs.
Day 2-Students trade in timed sessions to try to keep their tribe alive.
Reflection on the trading sessions is done in group or class discussion.
Day 3- Journal questions answered. Sample questions: Why did each tribe
have something different to trade? Why did tribes trade with one another?
Why do you think tribes decided to settle in the Channel Islands? How did
you feel about trading to live?
Activity 3 Indentured Servitude-A Colonial Market for Labor
Simulation courtesy of The Foundation for Teaching Economics
Objectives: Describe the types of settlement patterns and land use in the US;
explain geographic factors that influenced patterns of settlement in the US;
identify major industries of colonial America; describe the development of
the free enterprise system in colonial America; understand how supply and
demand affects consumers; compare how people living in different parts of
the US earned a living in the past. Use a problem-solving and decisionmaking process.
Estimated Time: 2 class periods
Materials: Handouts, calculators
Overview: Students assume the role of emigrant or agent and bargain for
indentured servant contracts at a jobs’ fair. They learn about incentives,
geographic factors, and bargaining.
Day 1: Students assume roles and bargain in three sessions. Whole
class collection of data between each session results in the same
average number of years signed into indentured servitude that
happened historically.
Day 2: Reflective questions and journal entries.
Activity 4 Beans Activity
Courtesy of the Foundation for Teaching Economics
Objectives: Identify patterns of land use; how and why people adapted to
and modified their environment; how supply and demand affects consumers;
how geographic features affect economic activities of a region; use a
problem solving process and a decision-making process.
Estimated Time: 1 Class period
Materials: masking tape, dried beans
Overview: This activity uses masking tape and dried beans to represent a
colonial village with a common area. Students are asked to harvest trees
(beans) from their community to make money. If the trees mature another
year (round), they will make more money. Students have to decide whether
to leave trees for a richer harvest or harvest them immediately. Rounds are
fast with each group learning from the mistakes of the earlier group (as our
colonial ancestors also learned). After the first round, new colonists are
given private ownership of parcels of the land with the community still
sharing a commons. Reflective questions are used for evaluation.
Activity 5 Oklahoma Land Rush
Courtesy of the Foundation for Teaching Economics
Objectives: Identify reasons people moved west. Describe how the free
enterprise system works in the US. Explain how supply and demand affects
consumers. Use a decision-making and problem solving process. Draw
conclusions based upon evidence.
Estimated time: ½ of 1 Class Period
Materials: tokens or poker chips, flags or sticky notes
Overview: In the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1893, the U.S. government
privatized about two million acres known as the "Cherokee Strip". Private
citizens could acquire property rights to parcels of land in the Strip through a
first-come-first-served process. Citizens literally raced from the starting line
as the gun fired to claim their “free” land. From an economic point of view
this race for resources was wasteful and inefficient; all the resources that
went into maximizing speed could have been more profitably used in other
ways. From a political point of view, privatizing in this way made sense –
politicians could take credit for "giving away" the land for "free." The
simulation literally lasts 5 minutes. While students enjoy racing to claim
their land parcels, they learn about supply and demand and the real costs of
free items. Discussion and reflection last as long or as short as needed.
Activity 6 Great Depression
Courtesy of the Foundation for Teaching Economics
Objectives: Explain the effects of supply and demand on consumers in the
US. Analyze the effects of migration and limited resources on economic
development. Identify different points of view. Use a problem-solving and
decision making process.
Estimated Time: 2 Class Periods
Materials: Originals provided in handout. Poster-sized paper.
Day 1- “Families” of students learn their roles and decide what
changes they will make to meet their needs with diminished
economic resources. Each family then reports their decisions to the
class. As each family reports, every other family is affected and
must readjust their budgets.
Day 2- Reflect on the activity in whole-group or small-group
settings. Make a group poster to show the interconnectedness of
the economics of the town or the ripple effect of economic
decisions. Answer journal questions individually about the
simulation.
Links to resources:
http://www.fte.org/
http://www.jason.org/