Tacoma Narrows Bridge Lesson Plans
Language Arts and Social Studies
Exploration by Sea
Lesson Objectives
As a result of this lesson, students will be able
to:
- Explain the factors that led the European explorers
to the Pacific Northwest;
- Describe the journeys of the major early seafaring explorers
of the Pacific Northwest and explain the contributions made by
each;
- Explain the historical significance of Northwest place
names;
- Describe how the prevailing ocean currents in the Pacific
Ocean led to the arrival of Asian ships in the Pacific Northwest
a thousand years before the arrival of Europeans;
- Analyze the significance of seafaring exploration in the
Northwest;
- Understand how competing claims in the region by various
nations were resolved.
Time: 3-6 days or class periods, including
1-2 days research, 1-2 days preparing project,
and 1-2 days presenting.
Materials Needed: Textbooks and books
of other types, Internet access, white drawing paper, colored markers
and pencils, rulers, boxlight for computer presentation such as
Powerpoint.
Lesson Steps
1. Divide the class into five groups and
assign each group one of the following nationalities: Spanish,
British,
American, Chinese, Russian.
2. Assign each group to
research the explorations made along the West Coast of the North
American continent by their
respective countries.
3. Have the students create a profile of
each of the explorers from their nation who came to the Pacific
Coast. They should find as much information as possible about
each of the explorers and discover what brought them to the Pacific
Northwest.
4. Students should then prepare a
map showing the route(s) of their country’s explorer(s) from
their place of origin to the Pacific Coast.
5. Ask each group
to create a visual depiction of the types of vessels used by their country’s
explorers.
6. Finally, make sure each group
can explain the impact of each country’s explorations along
the Pacific Coast of North America.
7. When the students have completed their work,
ask them to prepare a 10-minute presentation of their findings
to the rest of the class using a method of their choice.
Evaluation
After the students have been working on their projects for a
day or two, bring them together in a large group and ask them to
help create a grading rubric. Ask them what attributes a top-quality
project might have, and list those attributes on an overhead projector
or white board. Possibilities might include:
- Contains strong historical content;
-
Information is historically accurate;
- Includes
clearly detailed illustrations;
- Well crafted
map, carefully drawn;
- Explains reasons explorers
came to the West Coast of North America;
- Describes
explorers’ impact, including place names;
- Well organized, neat, project has a professional appearance;
- Colorful and creative;
- Shows investment of
time and effort;
- Group displays strong presentation
skills.
Evaluate each attribute on an appropriate scale based on your
own school’s grading system, for example giving points or
letter grades.
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