ARKANSAS C3 Teachers Hub
8th Grade Arkansas History Inquiry
Is Progress More Important
than Preservation?
Arkansas State Parks
Supporting Questions
1. Where are Civil War battlefields located in Arkansas and which are protected as historical sites?
2. Why and how do we work to preserve historic places?
3. Are there times when progress might be needed over preservation?
4. Is there a way to achieve both progress and preservation in geographic areas of historical significance?
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ARKANSAS C3 Teachers Hub
Is Progress More Important than Preservation?Arkansas Social Studies Standards / H.7.AH.7-8.3 Analyze the historical significance of selected Civil War battles, events, and people on various regions of Arkansas.
Staging the Compelling Question / Examine a series of photographs, letters, maps, and other sources depicting Arkansas’s role in the Civil War. Have a conversation about whether anyone has visited any of the battlefields within the state and what attempts have been made to preserve history.
Supporting Question 1 / Supporting Question 2 / Supporting Question 3 / Supporting Question 4
Understand / Understand / Understand / Assess
Where are Civil War battlefields located in Arkansas and which are protected as historical sites? / Why do people work to preserve historic places? / Are there times when progress might be needed over preservation? / Is there a way to achieve both progress and preservation in geographic areas of historical significance?
Formative Performance Task / Formative Performance Task / Formative Performance Task / Formative Performance Task
Create a map of Arkansas Civil War battlefields and indicate whether the areas of land have been preserved, and which have been destroyed. / Write two paragraphs that explain reasons why people preserve historic places. / Complete a chart to compare the benefits of preservation vs. the benefits of progress in regard to Civil War land. / Write a claim with evidence that suggests a way to achieve both progress and preservation in geographic areas of historical significance.
Featured Sources / Featured Sources / Featured Sources / Featured Sources
Source A: Arkansas Parks and Tourism: Arkansas Heritage Trails Historical Map - Civil War Battlefield Sites
Source B: National Park Service: National Park Service Battlefield Profiles 1
Source C: National Park Service: National Park Service Battlefield Profiles 2 / Source A: Civil War Preservation Trust: Civil War Preservation Trust 2009 - History Under Siege Report
Source B: National Park Service: Prairie Grove Recollections / Source A: Newseek: Battle over Battlefields
Source B: Time: Why they fight: Civil War re-enactors and the battle over historic sites (video and article) / Source A: Arkansas Historic Preservation Program: Hallowed Ground: Preserving Arkansas's Civil War Battlefields
Summative Performance Task / ARGUMENT Is progress more important than preservation? Construct an argument (e.g., detailed outline, poster, or essay) that addresses the compelling question using specific claims and relevant evidence from historical sources while acknowledging competing views.
Taking Informed Action / ACT Plan and participate in efforts to help preserve portions of Civil War battlefield land in Arkansas.
*Featured sources are suggested and links are provided. It may be that these links are broken and we apologize in advance for the inconvenience
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ARKANSAS C3 Teachers Hub
Overview
Inquiry Description
This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the issue of preserving historic lands and the challenges that face preservation. By investigating the compelling question “Is Progress More Important than Preservation?” students evaluate whether preservation is always the most important consideration, or if there are times when progress must become a priority. The formative performance tasks build on knowledge and skills through the course of the inquiry and help students identify battlefield land in Arkansas, explore areas where preservation has occurred, and determine if preservation should always come before progress. Students create an evidence-based argument about progress versus preservation, researching and considering various points of view, including the possibility that both might be achieved simultaneously.
This inquiry highlights the following standard:
· D2.His.16.6-8. Organize applicable evidence into a coherent argument about the past.
It is important to note that this inquiry requires prerequisite knowledge of historical events and ideas. Thus, students should have already studied basic background information about the Civil War, including where battles took place in Arkansas, and the impact the war had on the state and its residents.
Note: This inquiry is expected to take 5 40-minute class periods. The inquiry time frame could expand if teachers think their students need additional instructional experiences (i.e., supporting questions, formative performance tasks, and featured sources). Teachers are encouraged to adapt the inquiries in order to meet the needs and interests of their particular students. Resourcescan alsobe modified as necessary to meet individualized education programs (IEPs) or Section 504 Plans for students with disabilities.
Structure of the Inquiry
In addressing the compelling question “Is Progress More Important than Preservation?” students work through a series of supporting questions, formative performance tasks, and featured sources in order to construct an argument supported by evidence while acknowledging competing perspectives.
Staging the Compelling Question
In staging the compelling question, “Is Progress More Important than Preservation?” teachers may prompt students with examination of a series of photographs, letters, maps, and other sources depicting Arkansas’s role in the Civil War. Teachers can help students make personal connections by asking whether anyone has visited any of the battlefields within (or outside of) the state and what they might have observed in regard to efforts preserving the history of those battlefields.
The following websites have excellent information about the Civil War in Arkansas, including impressive collections of primary sources: Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission; Encyclopedia of Arkansas ; Arkansas State Archives; Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.
Supporting Question 1
The first supporting question—“Where are Civil War battlefields located in Arkansas and which are protected as historical sites?”— asks students to create a map to identify the locations of Civil War battlefields in Arkansas and determine where efforts have been made to preserve some of those lands. Attention should also be given to identifying battle sites that have been destroyed by development (agriculture, city growth, etc.) and those which are currently threatened. The featured sources for this question provide statistical information and records from which to gather the needed information for their maps. Printable maps of Arkansas (blank or outlined by county, etc.) are readily available online. Featured Source A is a map of all Civil War battle sites in the state provided by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. Students can use this as their baseline source of battlefield locations to label their maps and then as a list to research further the status of those lands today. Featured Sources B and C are Arkansas battlefield profiles provided by the National Park Service, which will provide students with information about location, size, and condition of the sites today.
Links to Featured Sources:
Source A: Arkansas Parks and Tourism: Arkansas Heritage Trails Historical Map - Civil War Battlefield Sites
Source B: National Park Service: National Park Service Battlefield Profiles 1
Source C: National Park Service: National Park Service Battlefield Profiles 2
Supporting Question 2
For the second supporting question—“Why do people work to preserve historic places?”—students will compose a written two-paragraph response to the question. In addition to the resources from the previous supporting question, the featured sources provide students with additional materials that allow them to explore two things: 1) A more in-depth look at endangered battlefield sites around the country, including places in Arkansas; and 2) The power of making a personal connection to history, and how that often influences our perspectives and opinions about preservation. Featured Sources A and B are “History Under Siege” reports from 2009 and 2010, published by the Civil War Trust. Each endangered site featured in the report is described in terms of its role in the Civil War and how it was being threatened at the time. Featured Source C is a series of primary source accounts from eyewitnesses during the years of war in Prairie Grove, Arkansas. The oral histories and interviews are powerful; the suffering endured, and witnessed, at Prairie Grove paints a stark picture of reality for that place and time. Students will likely connect to the stories on an emotional level. Teachers may want to utilize this teachable moment to highlight how we tend to become invested in the stories of history when they are made personal – when we move away from only facts, figures, and statistics and become immersed in how the events of history affected real people with names, faces, hopes, and dreams. This realization can certainly help students in their understanding of why we work to preserve historic places.
Links to Featured Sources:
Source A: Civil War Preservation Trust: Civil War Preservation Trust 2009 - History Under Siege Report
Source B: National Park Service: Prairie Grove Recollections
Supporting Question 3
The third supporting question—“Are there times when progress might be needed over preservation?”—asks students to explore the argument that not all historic sites (in their entirety) can and should be preserved. In addition to the previous featured sources, the sources for this task will help students consider competing points of view. Students will complete a chart to outline the benefits of preservation vs. the benefits of development and expansion. Featured Source A is a Newsweek article that explores the debate between progress and preservation. Featured Source B is a Time magazine video that shares a series of photographs taken of present-day Civil War reenactors in locations of Civil War battles that have been replaced by various forms of modern development.
Links to Featured Sources:
Source A: Newseek: Battle over Battlefields
Source B: Time: Why they fight: Civil War re-enactors and the battle over historic sites (video and article)
Supporting Question 4
For the fourth supporting question—“Is there a way to achieve both progress and preservation in geographic areas of historical significance?”—students write a claim supported by evidence that proposes a way in which both progress and preservation might be achieved simultaneously. In addition to the resources from the previous supporting question, the featured sources provide students with additional materials that allow them to explore how tourism and promotion of preserved Civil War battle sites can positively impact the local economy. Featured Source A is a report about Prairie Grove, Arkansas and how the town has meshed both the preservation of historical battle land with tourism that infuses the local economy.
Links to Featured Sources:
Source A: Arkansas Historic Presevation Program: Hallowed Ground: Preserving Arkansas's Civil War Battlefields
Summative Performance Task
At this point in the inquiry, students have examined:
· Where Civil War battlefield land can be found in Arkansas
· What battlefield lands have been preserved, which have been destroyed, and which are currently endangered
· The importance of preserving historic places
· Situations where progress might take priority over preservation
· Ways in which both progress and preservation might be achieved
Students should be expected to demonstrate the breadth of their understandings and their abilities to use evidence from multiple sources to support their claims. In this task, students construct an evidence-based argument using multiple sources to answer the compelling question “Is Progress More Important than Preservation?” It is important to note that students’ arguments could take a variety of forms, including a detailed outline, poster, or essay.
Students’ arguments will likely vary, but could include any of the following:
· Preservation of Civil War battlefield land is critical and everything possible should be done to ensure this; battlefields are sacred spaces.
· Preservation of Civil War battlefield land should take a back seat to progress when considering expanding populations, the need for agricultural space, and the desire for city growth.
· Progress and preservation can co-exist in some areas; battlefield land that is well preserved and interpreted can draw visiting crowds, which in turn will boost local economies through tourism.
Students have the opportunity to Take Informed Action by drawing on their understandings of the importance of historic preservation. Understanding and Assessing the issue is embedded into the fabric of the inquiry. To act, students will plan and participate in efforts to help preserve portions of Civil War battlefield land in Arkansas
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