Brandi Best
Inquiry Lesson Plan

The Oregon Trail
What motivated the pioneers to travel west on the Oregon Trail?

Overview:
This lesson is an introductory lesson plan to begin the start of a unit on the Oregon Trail. This is a lesson for a fourth grade class. This lesson fits with the unit on colonial history.  This will explain what made the pioneers want to move to the new Promised Land. The class will compare reasons why people move today to reasons that the pioneers moved long ago. This will then hopefully peak their interests.  By handing out a couple data sheets, and presenting the students information, they will discover through information why the pioneers migrated. They will then conclude the lesson by drawing a Venn diagram and writing a sentence under it, explain what they have learned.

NETS-S:
3. Research and Information Fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:
a. Plan strategies to guide inquiry.
b. Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
c. Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
d. Process data and report results.

*This standard is being met, because the students are using computers to find websites that have information on the Oregon Trail. This will help them identify the motives of why they traveled. By doing this, the students are "planing strategies to guide inquiry", and using digital tools to gather, evaluate and use the newly gained information. They use the information to change their hypothesis everytime they locate the new information. They also, have to locate, organize, analyze and evaluate the information and see what it means and apply it to their hypothesis. All the information that they locate and find, they have to process and find whats important. They do all of this on a computer and that is how it ties into the NETS-S standard.  

Objectives:
(Social Studies)
•    GLE 3.2.3: Understands that the geographic features of the Pacific Northwest have influenced the movement of people.
•    GLE 2.4.1: Understands how geography, natural resources, climate, and available labor contribute to the sustainability of the economy of regions in Washington State.


Content Objectives:
•    Students will be able to determine the motives that led the pioneers to travel west
•    Students will be able to analyze information presented in data sets and organize it
•    Students will be able to investigate reasons people move today

Higher order thinking skills:
•    Analysis:  determine the factors that led the pioneers to move west; and reasons why we move in modern today
•    Synthesis: revise hypotheses based on new information
•    Evaluation: conclude the activity by having the students complete a Venn diagram and writing a thesis sentence under it

Social skills:
•    Work with groups/students
•    Student led discussions
•    Presenting info to class


Curriculum Integration:
This lesson on history and the pioneers is also tied in with geography. The students will receive a map of the Oregon Trail with the lesson, or the map will be posted throughout the entire lesson.  They will become familiar with the general location of the trail. Also, this lesson will be integrated with writing. Organizing your thoughts in a Venn diagram and then explaining what they feel about this subject and what they think.



The materials needed to complete this lesson are as listed below:
•    This lesson will take about an hour and a half
•    Data sheets in Transparency form
•    Each group will sit at a computer and navigate the data sets
•    Each group member will receive a worksheet to record information throughout the lesson and then a closing worksheet that they        will record their Venn diagram/ Thesis statement
•    A map of the Oregon Trail will be present throughout the entire lesson.
•    Transparency sheets will be used to put the current data sets on the overhead for the class to see.


The physical layout of the classroom needs to be in tables or desks in small groups of four.  This way the students can discuss their findings with their group members. Also, the groups need to be faced in the general location of the board/overhead where the teacher will be for major parts of the lesson.

Hook:
Teacher: 
Today we are going to start our unit on the Oregon Trail. This is the trail that the pioneers that we previously talked about, took to migrate over throughout the entire United States that we have today. They took this trail and moved to the west part of the country. [Teacher writes on board] to understand what motivated the pioneers to move west years ago, we must begin by exploring why people move today. So class, why do people move today to a new city with their families?
•    Students respond and the teacher records EXACTLY what they say on the board.
•    Make a list on the board and keep it up there during the whole lesson.


Hypothesis development:
    Teacher: now that you guys have a pretty good list going. Let’s stop. [Put students in groups of four]. Turn to your group members and form a hypothesis on why you think the pioneers left to go to the new land in the west. Use the information we put on the board and also think what might have been going through their heads when they decided to move. Working in your small groups, come up with a sentence that can describe all the reasons they decided to move. Using the format “The pioneers moved west on the Oregon Trail because…”  [On a different part of the board record the main hypothesis from each group and keep those up on the boards.] Now that we have some good guesses on the board lets continue. I’ll hand out some more information to see if some of your guesses can be supported.


Data:

Data set one Have the students find the first story. This is found on the web link http://library.thinkquest.org/6400/why.htm.  It reads “Although the pioneers traveled to the frontier for many different reasons, they all wanted an opportunity to start new lives.  Many of the pioneers were farmers.” Have them read the data set and see if this gives them more information on why the pioneers possibly traveled on the Oregon Trail. After they have read it, have them discuss and revise their hypotheses if needed or if they feel there are incomplete, within their groups. After discussed in their groups, have them share their newly changed hypothesis if changed.

Data set two: repeat by having them find the next data set on the computer. This one is from the same web link above. “Other people came to the frontier because they had heard stories that made the new lands sound like magical places.  Some went to the frontier in order to prospect for gold.” Give them time to revise and repeat steps with the hypothesis revising.

Data set three: Have them find another data set on the computer.  This one from the link http://www.nps.gov/jeff/forteachers/upload/pioneersonthetrailtagintroductiong16.pdf . It states “Another pioneer trail to the West was the Mormon Trail. Religious persecution forced the Mormons to leave Nauvoo, Illinois in 1846. Seeking religious freedom in a new land, thousands of Mormon families traveled along this route to the Great Salt Lake, in present-day Utah, during the period
1846-1869.” Give them time to revise and repeat steps with the hypothesis revising.

Data set four: Have them find the last data set on the computer in their groups.This one from the same link as the previous data set. It states, “In 1836, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, along with Henry and Eliza Spalding, headed for Oregon as missionaries to spread Christianity to the American Indians. Proving it was possible for women and families to travel overland to Oregon, their trip opened the door for mass settlement.” Give them time to revise and repeat steps with the hypothesis revising.



Conclusion:
Teacher: now that you guys are done with the last data set form your final hypothesis on why you think the pioneers decided to travel on the trail and move west. [write these on the board, and hand out a Venn diagram worksheet] now that you guys have some ideas on the board fill this Venn diagram out to the best of your ability and write a complete hypothesis under the chart. [Have students work independently in there groups for a bit; then have them discuss what they came up with in there groups]. Discuss the findings with the class.  After this is done the teacher will be able to identify who really caught on to the lesson and understood what the objectives were.

Assessment:

Informal/Formative:
•    Teacher listens to students as they work in groups
•    Teacher evaluates who is participating in class discussions/ navigating on the computers

Formal/Summative:
•    Venn diagrams
•    Thesis statements

The teacher will collect these and review them to see who fully understood the lesson given. Students filled out the worksheet and passed it back into the teacher.

Accommodation of diverse learners:
 
Students work in groups, so they share the thinking within their groups. If a student is struggling he or she can seek help from his or her group members or the teacher.  The teacher must require for all the students to participate in their groups and have a say in the classroom discussion, directly or indirectly. All students are provided a worksheet to help them organize their newly gained information. Also, small groups, silently reading, and class discussions hit a lot of the diverse learners in the classroom and help for them to obtain new information.


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