Hitching Up The Wagons- Moving Denver into the Next Century

Intended Level:

3rd Grade

Focus:

Students will be able to use historic photographs to gain perspective on the different modes of transportation available at the turn of the last century. Additionally, they will be able to explain why different methods of transportation were used during different time periods.
Standards Addressed:

Literacy Standard 3: The information literate student uses the information accurately and creatively.

History Standard 4: Students understand how science, technology, and economic activity have developed, changed, and affected societies throughout history.

History Standard 4:1: Students understand the impact of scientific and technological developments on individuals and societies.
Assessment:

Students will complete a Venn Diagram comparing the different modes of available transportation in Denver at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Time:

Two 60 minute class periods

The first period will be broken down as follows: 20 minutes of teacher directed introduction on the history of transportation, 20 minutes of teacher directed discussion using the historic photos, and 20 minutes for pairs of students to use the photographs to fulfill a class assignment.
The second class period will have all students reconvene for 20 minutes to discuss their answers regarding the photos. Twenty minutes will then be given to completing a Venn Diagram of past and present transportation in Denver with the last twenty minutes given for students to share their ideas and diagrams with the group.

Materials:

1. Make enough copies of the four photographs for every two students to share:

Wazee Street, Denver. (1895-1905) http://www.photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?20004669+CHS.X4669
Sixteenth Street Viaduct. (1904-1910?) http://www.photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?20007912+CHS.X7912
Family With Bicycles. (1905-1910?) http://www.photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10023871+X-23871
15th Street Denver. (1908-1909) http://www.photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?00070920+MCC-920

1. Students will also need a blank Venn Diagram that they can complete for the assessment.

Support Materials

Books: Going West: A Journey on a Wagon Train to Settle a Frontier Town.
Johmann and Rieth. Williamson Publishing. 2000.

You Wouldn't Want to Be an American Pioneer. Morley. Franklin Watts.
2002.
Discovering Denver: The Mile High Community. Dutton and Humphries.
Sterling Ties Publications. 2000.
Video: Colfax Avenue: Main Street Colorado. Harvey Productions. 2000.
(Available at many local Blockbusters)

Possible Procedures:

1. Initially, the group will convene to discuss and brainstorm all they know about different methods of transportation. The teacher will write down the student responses on a whiteboard. The teacher will explain that in the early days of Denver most people walked, rode horses or used horse drawn wagons and carriages to move throughout the city. As the technology changed different methods of transportation were used at different time periods. (Bicycles, motorcycles, automobiles, electric trolleys) Each method helped change the look of the city.
2. Next, the teacher will hand out the four photographs from the Denver Public Library collection. After reviewing the photographs, pairs of students will attempt to put the photographs in order of when they might have been taken. The pairs will be asked to answer the following three questions:
1. How did transportation change within the time period of the photos?
2. How do you think the different modes of transportation affected people's lives?
3. How did it affect their ability to live in different parts of the city? How far do your parents live from the place they work? How do they get to work today? How might the changes in transportation in Denver 100 years ago affect how people got to work then?

Each pair will take notes on their responses.

1. At the onset of the next session students from each group will explain to the class their thinking behind the order in which they placed the photos. Each pair will also share their answers to the questions that were asked. The teacher will then share any known information about each of the photographs, from the metadata as well as any other research, helping the students to arrange the material in the correct chronological order. The students will then, individually, complete a Venn Diagram comparing the different modes of transportation available at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries.

-Gail Axt- Crofton Elementary School