Using the Iowa Digital Library >> Resources for Instructors >> Lesson Plans >> Picturing Local History
Picturing Local History*
Worksheet: [PDF]
Grade Level: Middle to early high school (grades 6-10)
Time Required: One to two fifty minute class periods
Standards (National):
NSS-G.K-12.5 Environment and Society:
NSS-G.K-12.6 The Uses of Geography:
- Understand how to apply geography to interpret the past.
- Understand how to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future.
Source: http://www.education-world.com/standards/national/soc_sci/geography/k_12.shtml
Standards (State):
Iowa Core Curriculum - Geography
- Understand the use of geographic tools to locate and analyze information about people, places, and environments
- Understand how physical and human characteristics create and define regions
- Understand how human factors and the distribution of resources affect the development of society and the movement of populations
- Understand how physical and human processes shape the earth's surface and major ecosystems
- Understand how human actions modify the environment and how the environment affects humans
- Understand how culture affects the interaction of human populations through time and space
- Understand how cultural factors influence the design of human communities
Inquiry Questions:
1. How has the community physically changed?
2. What physical aspects of the community have been persistent over the decades? Why have these features not changed?
3. What physical aspects of the community have changed? What brought about these changes?
Objectives:
Students will
1. Analyze historic photographs of the community.
2. Locate where historic photographs were taken.
3. Identify physical aspects of the community that have changed over time.
4. Identify physical aspects of the community that have remained the same over time.
5. Explore why these aspects have changed or remained the same.
6. Plan a historic tour of the community and describe specific locations.
Materials Required:
1. Historic photographs and images from the community for introductory slideshow and small group work. Check with the local library or historical society for images. The Iowa Digital Library contains the following collections that may be of use:
Carnegie Libraries in Iowa
John Vander Maas Railroadiana
Iowa City Town and Campus Scenes
2.Photograph analysis worksheets
3.Materials and computer access to create historic tours of the community
Prerequisite Knowledge:
1. Understanding of the community’s geography
2. Understanding of the community’s history
Procedure:
A. Introduction
Show a slideshow of historic photographs and images of locations throughout the community and have students keep track of how many locations they recognize. Include a mixture of photographs from the community’s early days as well as more recent images.
B. Photograph Analysis
1. Divide students into pairs and give each pair a historic photograph or image of the community to analyze.
2. As students analyze the images, have them fill out the Where Is It? worksheet. If there are enough images, students may look at more than one image.
3. After all groups have completed their worksheet, briefly examine each photograph as a class.
4. Check with the local library or historical society for images. The Iowa Digital Library contains the following collections that may be of use.
In their same groups, have students create a historic tour guide for their community. Each brochure should include the following:
1. Six locations with a historic image and date the image was taken
2. A map of the community marking the six locations
3. A suggested tour route
4. A description of each site that includes
5. An address
6. The date the site was established
7. What purpose the site served
8. How that site has changed over the years
9. What exists at that site today
Assessment:
Assessment will be based on the following:
1. Where Is It? Worksheet2. Historic Tour Guide Project
Enrichment/Remediation:
1. Provide students with current images of the locations to help with the comparison process.
2. Ask students to bring in their own photographs and images of the community from family and friends.
3. Take a historic tour of the community as a class. Students can describe how the locations have changed or remained the same. Invites friends, family, and members of the community.
*Written by Sarah Dorpinghaus, University of Iowa Libraries, 2009