Essential Question
- How does transportation transform communities?
Big Ideas
- Transportation transformed America.
- Transportation is essential for expansion.
- Forms of transportation change and evolve.
- Communities are changed by transportation.
Materials and Resources
- Text: Just Fine the Way They Are
- United States map with the National Road (US 40) marked.
- www.waynecountyhistoricalmuseum.com
Vocabulary
Conestoga wagons contraptions military vehicle people:
stagecoach freight Stage Company Lucius Stockton
locomotive Main Street congress Peter Cooper
National Road assembly line taxes Tom Thumb
wheelmen Model T Henry Ford
Social Studies Lesson Plans
Explicit Teaching
- Build background by showing a map of the route of the National Road today.
- Trace the Road from its conception in the early 1800’s to its conclusion in Illinois.
- Define vocabulary words above.
- Discuss the concept of “change.” What does change mean as it relates to transportation? What changes have the children seen in the world of transportation in their lifetimes?
- Create a timeline of key historic events/eras as a backdrop for the evolving National Road. You may want to include dates for the following events: Oregon Trail, Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Great Depression, etc.