Title: History of the Railroads
Grade Level(s): 4th Grade
Description:
This exhibit is a result of collaboration with a fourth grade
teacher to develop activities around the history
of the railroads. The exhibit represents a variety
of media from the Library of Congress for students
to use including print resources such as broadsides,
maps, and a patent drawing for Stephenson’s
locomotive; photographs from 1823 to 1942; as well
as several early Thomas Edison motion pictures
of trains (1897-1920).
Students will analyze these resources to develop critical thinking
skills as they integrate curriculum areas such
as social studies, math, language arts, technology
skills, art, and information skills. A
North Carolina component is addressed with the
North Carolina railroad maps as students investigate
how the railroad changed and influenced the movement
of people, goods, and ideas over time and also perform
math problems with data from the map’s terminals
and mileage table. Art will be incorporated as students
create models of locomotives from selected photographs.
Some interesting side themes introduced in this project are
the role of railroads in early postal service through
viewing the documentaries from the Postal Department
and analyzing the changes in American life during
World War II through photographs such as
“Women Wipers of the Chicago and North Western
Railroad”
which show women performing jobs formally held by
the men who were away fighting in the war. |
