Grade Level: Elementary School

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

Historical Period: New Nation - 1761-1800; Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855

In this elementary-level lesson, students will learn about the importance of symbolism and prior knowledge in the interpretation of artwork. After defining symbolism and seeing a simple example, students will analyze and identify symbols in The Artist in His Museum, 1822, a self-portrait created by Charles Willson Peale in 1822. They will then be given additional factual information about Peale's life and be asked to revisit their initial perceptions and confirm or revise their thoughts. Finally, students will be asked to create their own self-portrait using appropriate use of symbols and present their work to the class.

Grade Level: High School

Discipline: Arts and Humanities; Civics and Government; History

Historical Period: Colonization and Settlement - 1601-1760; New Nation - 1761-1800; Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855

In 1688 Pennsylvania Quakers were credited with making the first formal protest against slavery. However, support for abolition in Pennsylvania was not universally strong over the next 150 years. In this lesson, students will trace the struggle for abolition from the original Quaker request to the burning of Pennsylvania Hall.

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: Middle School

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

Historical Period: Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855

This two-day middle school lesson explores some of the medical practices of the early 1800s used on the Lewis and Clark Expedition through student interpretation of medical supply lists and journal entries.

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: Elementary School

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

Historical Period: New Nation - 1761-1800; Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855

Students will research the Conestoga wagon to understand how this invention provided a better means of transporting goods and supplies to markets in the east and west. They will trace wagon routes, interpreting journal entries to learn about the traveler and their interactions with places along the way. Research will include analyzing a photo and artifact related to the Conestoga wagon, cargo carried by wagons, and documents related to travel.

Grade Level: Middle School

Discipline: History

Historical Period: Colonization and Settlement - 1601-1760; New Nation - 1761-1800; Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855

Students will look at daily life in three religious communities in Pennsylvania that flourished in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries: the Ephrata Cloister, Bethlehem, and Harmony. They will examine primary sources such as Conrad Beissel's Rules of the Solitary Life, three memoirs written by Moravian women, the 1766 town plan of Bethlehem, plus the Articles of Association of the Harmonists as well as written reports on the Harmonist Society by members of the community and visitors. Through an examination of daily life in these communities we learn that William Penn's "Holy Experiment" had taken hold in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The lure of religious freedom initially attracted dissidents who were able to follow their dream by creating their own religious settlements.

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: Elementary School

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

Historical Period: Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855

As an overview of the issue of slavery and abolition, students will follow the life of William Parker from his early years in enslavement, through his experiences as a fugitive, to his work as a free black abolitionist, and his final move to freedom in Buxton, Ontario, Canada. After all sessions are completed, students will create a "Big Book of the Life of William Parker" to share with students in the primary grades in their school community.

Grade Level: High School

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

Historical Period: Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855

In this high school lesson students work in groups to read background information about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They then create an interview question for Lewis based on the specific goals of the expedition in each of the following areas: paleontology, geography, cartography, ethnology, and science. Based on research from the Lewis and Clark journals, students will prepare Lewis" supposed response to their question.

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: 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: Elementary School

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

Historical Period: Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855

In this lesson, students will do a simulation activity to learn how first-hand observation leads to more accurate map-making. Afterward, they will compare a pre-expedition map of the West with the Lewis and Clark track map and discuss continuities and changes.

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: 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: Middle School

Discipline: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening; History

Historical Period: Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855

President Thomas Jefferson wanted the Lewis and Clark expedition to map and explore the unknown territory; report on climate conditions; send back samples of the soil, minerals, plant, and animal life they were to study; look for fossils and signs of mastodons; learn about Native Americans tribes and trade possibilities with them; and search for a water route to the Pacific. It was a monumental mission that required extensive preparation, so he decided to send Captain Meriwether Lewis to the nation's center of culture, learning, and trade - Philadelphia. In Philadelphia from April to June of 1803, Lewis was mentored by the greatest scientific minds of the day and found the necessary supplies for the expedition. The objective of this lesson is to enlighten the students about the significance of Philadelphia's scientific and economic contributions to the preparation of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Grade Level: Elementary School

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

Historical Period: Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855

In this elementary lesson, students are introduced to how different plants are discovered by explorers and spread throughout the world. They study several specimens collected during the Lewis and Clark expedition. By looking at the plants from different perspectives–a Native American, settler, scientist, investor, and gardener–students will uncover and evaluate the changing and different uses of plants.

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: 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: Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855

Examining a famous illustration of the arrival of fugitives at Levi Coffin's home, which appears in many American history books, will uncover some inaccurate stereotypes students may have drawn about the Underground Railroad. To broaden their understanding of how the Underground Railroad worked, students will role-play a meeting of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, which conducted interviews of fugitive slaves who reached Philadelphia and decided how they would assist them. Finally three primary source accounts, including a poem by Martin Delaney, confirm that fugitive slaves who decided to remain in the North, rather than go to Canada, were not safe, especially after the passing of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.

Grade Level: High School

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

Historical Period: Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855

This high-school level lesson uses artifact analysis, journal entries, and secondary research to bring to life various Indian tribes" encounters with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Students will research the culture of a specific tribe and rewrite a Lewis or Clark journal entry describing their encounter from the perspective of a member of their tribe.

Grade Level: Elementary School

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

Historical Period: Colonization and Settlement - 1601-1760; New Nation - 1761-1800; Expansion and Reform - 1801-1855

In this elementary lesson students will explore the work and play of the men who lived on an iron plantation. They will learn about the duties of an ironmaster, founder, collier, teamster, and miner and imagine some of their social life on a plantation.