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If you live on the eastern side of the US,m chances are you see the remnants of the extensive canal systems that were used to move goods from the coast to the interior of the nation. The vast majority of these waterways were abandoned by the end ot the nineteenth century, and chances are that many students have no idea about the way things moved from place to place in our early history. Harness makes history fun and fascinating. Use this Minute to make our history come alive!
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English/ELA
Explore Visual Literacy
Social Studies
Explore transportation
STEM
Explore the engineering involved in designing interior waterways
Research Skills
Explore the evolution of mass media
Explore Visual Literacy
- The bottom image shows a cutaway of a packet boat. Click on the image to get a closer look. Harness included this image in her book The Amazing, Impossible Erie Canal (Macmillan, 1995). Teach students how to pull information from this visual by reading the captions and text and translating their observations into words.
Social Studies
Explore transportation
- How do civilizations shape modes of transportation? How is transportation connected to physical geography? Use this Minute as an opportunity to explore how geography determines and shapes the evolution of transportation, and how transportation transforms civilizations.
- The history of the US canal system is the perfect way to introduce or reinforce the five themes of geography to your student - location, place, human/environment interaction, movement and region all [play a part in the rich history of canals. Use this Minute as a way to model working with the themes in your classroom.
STEM
Explore the engineering involved in designing interior waterways
- How do you decide where canals will be most effective? What are the obstacles? What are the benefits? How can we use problem solving skills to design effective and efficient transportation systems?
Research Skills
Explore the evolution of mass media
- Take a look at the visuals author Cheryl Harness included with her Minute. The top one shows a celebration of the opening of the Erie Canal. Have students explore the methods utilized to share the information about the Canal.
© Karen Sterling, 2017 - May be used for educational purposes without written permission
