Grade Level: High School

Discipline: Civics and Government; Geography; History

Historical Period: Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876

The election of 1860 was a watershed event in American history and Pennsylvania was an important state in that election. In this lesson students will compare the national candidates party platforms and will determine the best campaign strategy for Lincoln to win Pennsylvania's electoral votes.

Grade Level: Elementary School

Discipline: Arts and Humanities; Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; History

Historical Period: Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855; Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876

Stephen Foster was one of America’s most prolific popular composers whose songs endure in our culture over 150 years later. Even today school children know the tunes of “Oh! Susanna” and “Camptown Races,” two of Foster’s biggest hits. He rose from a Pittsburgh-area middle class family to be perhaps the first American composer to earn a living solely from his work. Foster’s professional success, sadly, was tempered by problems with money, marital strife, and alcoholism. He died at the age of 37 alone and destitute.
 
In this lesson students will read a brief biography of Stephen Foster. They will complete a timeline that traces both key biographical events and U.S. history during his lifetime. They will also draw conclusions about how events in his personal life and America affected his compositions. The second part of the lesson focuses on Foster’s involvement with the election of 1856. Students will read “The White House Chair” and draw conclusions about how the lyrics (written by Foster) tried to persuade the listener to vote for Buchanan. On the final day, students will compose lyrics for a simple ballad of Stephen Foster’s life and/or the election of 1856. Finally, they will perform the songs for their classmates.

Grade Level: Elementary School

Discipline: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; Geography; History; Mathematics

Historical Period: Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855; Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876; Development of the Industrial Pennsylvania - 1877-1900; The Emergence of Modern Pennsylvania - 1901-1928; The Great Depression and World War II - 1929-1945; Post-WWII Pennsylvania - 1946-1974

In this series of four lessons students use a brief history of the growth and decline of the anthracite region in the state to create a photograph and map "peak shaped" time line. The students will learn map and photo analysis strategies to "read" photographs and maps and use information from the brief history to match and write captions for the pictures. Then they will categorize each photograph and map into one of the following categories; beginnings, peak, and decline and place them accordingly on the time line for a visual depiction of the rise and fall of the anthracite industry.

Grade Level: Middle School

Discipline: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; Geography; History; Science and Technology

Historical Period: Colonization and Settlement - 1601-1760; New Nation - 1761-1800; Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855; Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876

This middle-school lesson plan will use images, natural resource maps, and a blast furnace computer animation to answer the question posed in the lesson title. Students will learn about the natural resources needed to make iron, the process of smelting iron, as well as several economic factors (population, transportation) influencing the development and growth of the iron industry in Pennsylvania.

Grade Level: Middle School

Discipline: Ecology and Environment; Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; Geography; History; Science and Technology

Historical Period: New Nation - 1761-1800; Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855; Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876; Development of the Industrial Pennsylvania - 1877-1900; The Emergence of Modern Pennsylvania - 1901-1928; The Great Depression and World War II - 1929-1945; Post-WWII Pennsylvania - 1946-1974; Contemporary Pennsylvania - 1975 to Present

Bituminous coal has been, and still remains, a crucial part of our daily lives–but do we ever think about it? It is a main source of electricity and has been used to fuel the manufacture of iron and steel. It also has played a part in the production of various items you may not associate with coal such as paint, plastics, rocket fuel, dishes, bricks, perfume, or even vitamins. Students will gain an appreciation of the many uses of bituminous coal and explore ways that this important resource is extracted from the ground. Students will then have the opportunity to create land formations displaying different types of coal mines using edible items.

Grade Level: Middle School

Discipline: Civics and Government; Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; History

Historical Period: Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876

Students will find evidence of the ideals expressed in the Gettysburg Address and in other Lincoln speeches, letters, and Republican Party statements. In a persuasive speech, they will borrow one or more of the ideals Lincoln used in the Gettysburg Address and then apply those thoughts to the current political, social and/or economic realities of the 21st century.

Grade Level: Elementary School

Discipline: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; History; Science and Technology

Historical Period: Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876; Development of the Industrial Pennsylvania - 1877-1900; The Emergence of Modern Pennsylvania - 1901-1928

In this elementary lesson students will learn about several Pennsylvania inventors and analyze primary sources about their inventions. Then, using an "Inventor's Kit," students will create their own unique invention and simulate the patent process by making a detailed drawing and written description of their inventions.

Grade Level: High School

Discipline: Arts and Humanities; Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; History

Historical Period: Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876

In this high-school lesson students will compare the earliest examples of battlefield photography with today's media coverage and evaluate its impact on public perceptions of war.

Grade Level: Middle School

Discipline: Ecology and Environment; Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; Geography; History; Science and Technology

Historical Period: New Nation - 1761-1800; Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855; Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876; Contemporary Pennsylvania - 1975 to Present

In this middle school level lesson, students will learn the importance of the Pennsylvania Barn to the development of agriculture through its diffusion to other farming regions. They will examine the architectural features of the Pennsylvania Barn, relate its structure to the physical features of the land, and study the evolution of agricultural practices due to mid-19th century emphases on increased agriculture education and experimentation.

Grade Level: High School

Discipline: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; History

Historical Period: Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876; Development of the Industrial Pennsylvania - 1877-1900

This high-school level lesson focuses on the retail evolution from the early dry goods stores to Wanamaker's "New Kind of Store," the department store. Students will explore the history of John Wanamaker and his first true department store, the experiences of the "shop girls" who worked in such stores, and the role of advertising in making Wanamaker's a success.

Grade Level: Middle School

Discipline: History

Historical Period: Colonization and Settlement - 1601-1760; Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876; The Emergence of Modern Pennsylvania - 1901-1928

In 1945 Pete Gray played in 77 games for the St. Louis Browns. He collected 51 hits, 8 for extra bases, and compiled a .218 batting average. As an outfielder, he made 162 put-outs, 3 assists, and 7 errors for a .959 fielding average. These statistics are not that impressive. What they do not tell us, though, is that Gray was the first one-armed man ever to play major league baseball. Students will examine Pete Gray's major league career by studying primary source quotations and the statistics he compiled during his one season with the Browns. The class will be divided into two groups: one will defend the credibility of Gray's career; the other will try to prove that he did not belong in the major leagues. After being given time to gather evidence for their respective cases, the two teams will discuss the issue: "Did Pete Gray belong in the major leagues?"

Grade Level: Elementary School

Discipline: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; Geography; History

Historical Period: New Nation - 1761-1800; Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855; Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876; Development of the Industrial Pennsylvania - 1877-1900; The Emergence of Modern Pennsylvania - 1901-1928; The Great Depression and World War II - 1929-1945; Post-WWII Pennsylvania - 1946-1974; Contemporary Pennsylvania - 1975 to Present

In this elementary lesson students will explore daily life in a bituminous coal patch through many photographs and oral histories of the people who lived there. As a class, students will use these resources to create one poster describing life in a coal patch town. Then using the poster to inform their writing, students will also create a short story imagining themselves to be a part of a coal mining family in one of several historical situations.

Grade Level: Middle School

Discipline: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; History; Science and Technology

Historical Period: Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855; Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876

This middle-level lesson focuses on the challenge of accurately identifying the truth or facts about events in the past. Historians, paleontologists, and other scientific experts must analyze and study various images, written documents, maps, interviews, artifacts, and other sources to locate the "missing pieces" of information and to draw conclusions about what they study. Students will specifically experience this puzzle-solving dilemma as they study the evidence and story of a Pennsylvanian paleontologist who mistakenly placed the head on the wrong end of a dinosaur. To his rival colleague's delight, this paleontologist, Edward Drinker Cope, failed to identify a key fossil's the "missing piece" of this story which would have helped him correctly orient the head of the "Elasmosaurus platyurus Cope".

Grade Level: Elementary School

Discipline: Economics; Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; Geography; History; Science and Technology; Mathematics

Historical Period: Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876; Development of the Industrial Pennsylvania - 1877-1900

Students will explore the properties of oil through an oil viscosity investigation. They will hypothesize, experiment, collect data, graph, average, and finally draw conclusions about oil. Through video, pictures, teacher demonstrations, materials found on the Internet, the students will be draw conclusions on how oil has changed our everyday lives. Next, in cooperative groups the students will research oil and the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania. The unit will then be summarized by students presenting their research findings orally and in writing.

Grade Level: High School

Discipline: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; History

Historical Period: Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876; Development of the Industrial Pennsylvania - 1877-1900; The Emergence of Modern Pennsylvania - 1901-1928; The Great Depression and World War II - 1929-1945

The phenomenon of the coal company town will be studied, showing the advantages and disadvantages for both the company and the employees.

Grade Level: High School

Discipline: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; History; Mathematics

Historical Period: Colonization and Settlement - 1601-1760; New Nation - 1761-1800; Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855; Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876; Development of the Industrial Pennsylvania - 1877-1900

In this upper-level lesson students will identify key concepts of the industrial revolution and use those concepts to analyze the industrial advancement of Pennsylvania's iron industry. By completing a case study of iron furnaces from two different time periods and analyzing images of the iron industry, students will be able to identify the industrialization process at work.

Grade Level: High School

Discipline: Geography; History

Historical Period: Worlds Meeting-Beginnings to 1600; Colonization and Settlement - 1601-1760; New Nation - 1761-1800; Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855; Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876; Development of the Industrial Pennsylvania - 1877-1900; The Emergence of Modern Pennsylvania - 1901-1928; The Great Depression and World War II - 1929-1945; Post-WWII Pennsylvania - 1946-1974; Contemporary Pennsylvania - 1975 to Present

Students will discover that Native American paths were the blueprints for modern transportation routes throughout Pennsylvania, and in particular, in crossing the Allegheny Mountains. They will analyze a series of maps to determine geographic barriers associated with crossing the mountains and will establish how Native Americans and later travelers overcame these barriers. Journal entries from a traveler will be read and analyzed to provide a first hand account of what it was like to travel across the Allegheny Mountains in the early 1800s. A historical overview of transportation will be provided and students will discover how geographic features provided the foundation for Native American paths, as well as modern transportation routes.

Grade Level: Elementary School

Discipline: Arts and Humanities; Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; History

Historical Period: Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876

This lesson will give students an overview of how the public viewed Abraham Lincoln and how those views changed based on the moments in history in which Lincoln found himself. Students will interpret political cartoons and images of Lincoln before his inauguration, during his presidency, during the Civil War, and after his assassination. They will create letters written in Abraham Lincoln's voice, in which he responds to the cartoons published about him.

Grade Level: High School

Discipline: History

Historical Period: Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855; Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876; Development of the Industrial Pennsylvania - 1877-1900

The Second Great Awakening saw religious revivals sweep through the United States during the early decades of the 19th century. Pennsylvania had and still has several notable examples of various religious communities. The lesson will compare various communities to the Harmonists of Old Economy.

Grade Level: Middle School

Discipline: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; History; Science and Technology

Historical Period: Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855; Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876; Development of the Industrial Pennsylvania - 1877-1900

This middle-level lesson will use both historical documents and scientific procedure for students to explore the legacy of the Pennsylvanian engineer John Augustus Roebling and the workings of a suspension bridge.

Grade Level: Elementary School

Discipline: Arts and Humanities; Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; Geography; History

Historical Period: Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876

This elementary lesson plan takes the story of a once-unknown soldier during the Civil War as an opportunity for students to sleuth his identity using primary documents such as photographs (ambrotypes) and newspaper articles. Students learn material in history, geography, and English, as they learn the basic importance of the Civil War, map the troop movements of this Sergeant, interpret a letter/poem written to his wife, and write a response letter from his children's perspective.

Grade Level: Middle School

Discipline: Economics; Geography; History

Historical Period: Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855; Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876; Development of the Industrial Pennsylvania - 1877-1900; The Emergence of Modern Pennsylvania - 1901-1928; The Great Depression and World War II - 1929-1945; Post-WWII Pennsylvania - 1946-1974

Choosing the correct site for the location of a settlement or manufacturing facility can be crucial to the success of the venture. This lesson leads students through the process of using maps to evaluate the site and situation for the location of the Pennsylvania Railroad shops. Students will also evaluate the success of the selection by analyzing growth of population and manufacturing in the city of Altoona, Pennsylvania and the surrounding region. Further evaluation will be made of changes that have occurred with the pullback and abandonment of the railroads.

Grade Level: Middle School

Discipline: Arts and Humanities; Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; History

Historical Period: Civil War and Reconstruction - 1856-1876

The town of Chambersburg was an anomaly during the Civil War, being the only town in the North to be burned and destroyed by fire. Why did it happen? In this middle-level lesson students will explore multiple perspectives of this event by interpreting letters, photographs, and other related primary sources, and enact a play incorporating these primary sources. Finally, students will synthesize the material with a persuasive writing activity.