International Public Science Day 2001 at OMSI

Building a Community from the Ground Up
Part IV: Early Town

Students gain knowledge of local history, their natural environment, native cultures, and community planning.

The class has previously worked collaboratively to design and construct a three-dimensional model of a pre-history environment (Part I), settlement of early indigenous communities (Part II), and settlement of early European pioneers (Part III.) The group will consider social, historical, and environmental issues as they transition their model from an early pioneer settlement to an early town. In this lesson students will learn about the first towns to develop in their local area and will add features to their model that represent these towns.

This project-based curriculum represents an extended unit. It works well as a two month unit, with the class spending time each week, for one month, learning about history, watersheds, bridges, native cultures, etc. The actual model can be built over approximately three weeks if the students work one hour per day.

Alternatively, the project could be a year long experience, or condensed into a "living laboratory" intense 1 - 2 week experience.

· A 4 inch by 4 inch piece of construction paper for each house (white, tan, and brown paper work well)
· A 5 inch by 2.5 inch piece of construction paper for each house roof (brown and gray paper work well)
· A 3 inch by 4.5 inch piece of green construction paper to set the house on (for yard and garden)
· 1 inch strips of brown construction paper for dirt roads
· a variety of sizes of construction paper (4 inch by 5 inch; 5 inch by 6 inch, etc.) for buildings and services
· tape or glue
OPTIONAL:
· colored clay or other materials for optional multimedia models, especially for older student groups

1. It may be useful to have pictures of the early towns available.
2. Do some preliminary research on early history of local towns. Find resources for the class. Prepare to lead the initial discussion or assign reading to the students so they will be prepared to inform the initial discussions. Choose informational material to read and discuss.
3. Optional: Invite a panel of older persons to come to your class. Members of the panel should be able to recall earlier times in your town or a nearby town (1920's, 1930's. Train the students in interview technique* and then interview the guest for an oral history.
* Interview techniques might include: Students practice asking questions that require a detailed or specific answer (rather than questions that could be answered with simple "yes" or "no".) Encourage students to prepare questions in advance.
4. Optional: Invite a historian to talk with the class.

Describe or lead a discussion on the history of early local towns.
Optional: Possibly invite older guests for a panel discussion.

Ask and discuss the following:

Why might more people be settling in your town? Why did they come, for gold?, farmland? jobs?, climate?

How many years passed since the first settlers arrived? What is available now that wasn't available to the first settlers? (railroads?, cars?, electricity?)

What businesses or services will be available in the town?

Let the class brainstorm. Brainstorming is a shared process that validates multiple ideas. There is no right or wrong answer here.

Student teams will work together to plan and add cultural features of the earliest peoples to populate their project model.

Working as a class, or in student teams, plan the town for the model. Take the following into consideration:

1. The Native American (first indigenous peoples) homes need to be removed.
2. Decide if the Native peoples died, moved, or resettled into local cabins or houses.

3. Decide if there will be several areas settled.

4. Decide where to place the center of the town.

5. Each student will be responsible for building a house. The group must decide what additional buildings or structures will be built.

6. Decide approximately where the various businesses and services will be located.

1. Houses: each student builds a house/cabin for the newcomers. Add a roof to these houses. (Teacher Betsey Kenworthy, the originator of this activity, likes to include the panel of older persons in the process of making the houses. The older "experts" will remember details of the homes of their youth.)

2. Build additional structures for additional services and businesses, also dirt roads, etc.

3. Add buildings to the scene.

4. Using a photocopy of the grid with numbers "1" through "5" and letters "A" through "D", each student creates a new map of the model as it is now, with natural features, roads, bridges, the town, etc. List the location of significant buildings. Add symbols to the legend. (For younger students, the teacher can create and photocopy a grid template for the students to use.)

5. Summarize

Discuss and list the changes to the environment and scene in general.

The following are suggestions to extend the project into various curricular areas. These can be done as a class, by student teams, or by individual students

Environmental Biology
How has the settlement changed the natural environment? Does a river flow differently once an area has been logged?

Social Studies
Study the history of the time period (1890's - 1920's). What are the first structures and services needed after houses?

Geography
What is the influence of local geography on where things are located? Should the only hospital be located across a river from the main population? Where are flood plains likely to be? etc.

Art
Students find creative ways to design and build structures. Students may use 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional art to add detail to their town.

Reading
Read poetry, fiction, and non-fiction of the time-period.

Writing
Write summaries, lists, and letters.

Based on an activity created by Betsey Kenworthy, Hockinson Intermediate School, Brush Prairie, Washington.

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