Emily Allmon

SS 397

State Parks Unit Plan

Course Title: Social Studies

Grade Level: Fourth

Unit: Economics and Transportation

Abstract:

During this unit of study, students use the different state parks of Indiana in order to learn how Indiana's increasing agricultural, industrial, political, and business development in the nineteenth century has affected the state of Indiana in recent years. Students also use the state parks of Indiana to determine how Indiana’s ability to participate in trade as been affected throughout history.

Focus Questions:

  1. What kinds of agricultural and industrial trade took place in the nineteenth century?
  1. How did politics and business continue to develop in the nineteenth century?

Benchmarks / Assessment Tasks / Key Concepts
Students will:
  • Give examples of Indiana's increasing agricultural, industrial, political, and business development in the nineteenth century (SS.4.1.9).
  • Create and interpret timelines that show relationships among people, events, and movements in the history of Indiana (SS.4.1.15).
  • Use primary and secondary sources and online source materials to construct a brief narrative about an event in Indiana history (SS.4.1.17).
  • Explain how both parties can benefit from trade and give examples of how people in Indiana engaged in trade in different time periods (SS.4.4.3).
/ Students will:
  1. Present to the community research findings and timelines to show how Indiana’s increasing agricultural, industrial, political, and business development in the nineteenth century has affected Indiana’s economy today (SS.4.1.9, SS.4.1.15).
  2. Present to the community research findings that show how Indiana’s state parks have contributed to Indiana’s ability to participate in trade throughout history (SS.4.1.17, SS.4.4.3).
/
  • agriculture
  • industry
  • politics
  • business
  • trade

Instructional Resources:

Davis, T. (n.d.). Clifty falls state park. Retrieved from

Department of Conservation, S. O. I. (1930). Turkey run state park: A history and description.

Halsema, R. (2010, September 22). History of shades state park. Retrieved from

Indiana Memory:

(Clifty Falls)

  • (information about the facilities available to people using theShakamak Park.)
  • (Turkey Run State Park)
  • (Portland covered brigde)
  • (quarry workers)

Jamesbigjimbo. (2009, September 5). Bronnenberg home at mounds state park. Retrieved from

McCord, B. (2006, January). The bronnenberg house and 2005 archaeological investigations at mounds state park, madison county, indiana.

Mccormick's creek state park in indiana. (n.d.). Retrieved from

Riley, E. (n.d.). O'bannon woods state park in corydon, indiana. Retrieved from

Catalog of Lessons:

Lesson 1: Mounds State Park

In this lesson, students will compare and contrast the industry of architecture and its norms between the nineteenth century and today. Using the Bronnenberg House at Mounds State Park from which to compare, the students will work with a partner to complete a Venn diagram. The Venn diagram will compare and contrast the Bronnenberg House with a piece of today’s architecture that the students are familiar with. A website of information, as well as pictures, will help the students learn about the Bronnenberg House.

Lesson 2: Turkey Run State Park

In this lesson, students will work in groups to research and discuss the agricultural aspects of Turkey Run State Park, and how these aspects have helped the state of Indiana. Students will use given information to research, discuss, and prepare a short presentation on the Lusk family and how they used grist mills, covered bridges, and coal mines to help improve the business of the state. The students will also be required to talk about how these improvements have helped Indiana as a whole and also if they think these improvements helped Indiana’s trade or not.

Lesson 3: Shades

In this lesson, students will use computers to conduct research on Shades State Park. More specifically, this lesson will focus on Dells Resort, Joseph Frisz, grist mills, and covered bridges. The students will conduct research in order to draw a picture of what Shades State Park and Dells Resort use to look like. The picture also needs to include the grist mills and covered bridges that were a part of Shades State Park. Accompanying the picture needs to be a sentence or two about how the covered bridges and grist mills helped the state of Indiana, and also how the resources affected the trade of the area.

Lesson 4: O’Bannon Woods State Park and Clifty Falls

In this lesson, students will work in groups and use given information regarding the hay press at O’Bannon Woods State Park and the railroad tunnel at Clifty Falls State Park to complete a list of pros and cons. The focus should be on how the hay press and railroad tunnel benefited (or hurt) their respective parks. Areas such as trade, agriculture, industry, and business should be included in this list. The students will also complete two separate Venn diagrams. One will compare and contrast the hay press with modern factory machinery, and the other will compare and contrast the railroad with modern day semi-trucks. These Venn diagrams should focus on transportation, industry, and trade. Afterwards, the class will have a whole group discussion to talk about some of the different pros and cons as well as the Venn diagrams.

Lesson 5: McCormick’s Creek

In this lesson, students will participate in a class –wide discussion on McCormick’s Creek and the quarries and sanitarium that were there. Students will use the website that is stated above to conduct the necessary research on McCormick’s Creek. The discussion will center on how the quarries and sanitarium helped to increase the industrial, agricultural, business, and political development of this time period. The discussion will also focus on what these advancements have helped today’s society.

Assessment Tasks

Course Title: Social Studies

Grade Level: Fourth

Unit: Economics and Transportation

Abstract

This task is designed to assess the ability of children to inform a group of community members about how Indiana's increasing agricultural, industrial, political, and business development in the nineteenth century has affected Indiana today. The children will first spend class time creating timelines of Indiana’s development in the areas listed above and researching how these developments have affected Indiana today. The students will also take a stance on whether or not these developments have helped or hurt the continuing growth and popularity of today’s fast food restaurants. The students will write a paper as a way to compile their information, and the students will then present their information to a group of community members at the local town museum.

Prompt

Do you ever wonder why Indiana’s agriculture, industry, politics, and businesses are they way that they are? Well now is your chance to find out! We will spend the next several days researching how Indiana’s increasing agricultural, industrial, political, and business development in the nineteenth century has affected Indiana’s economy today (Internet, encyclopedias). We will create timelines of Indiana’s development in these areas for both the nineteenth century and today. You are to use the information that you have recently learned about Mounds State Park, Turkey Run State Park, Shades State Park, O’Bannon Woods State Park, Clifty Falls State Park, and McCormick’s Creek State Park (information found from websites listed above) to guide your research and timelines. After this step is complete, each of you will take a stance on whether or not you believe all of the developments of the nineteenth century have helped or hurt the continuing growth and popularity of fast food restaurants. You will then write a paper that will contain your findings that you will turn into me for a grade. We will then take a field trip to our local town museum, where we will be presenting our research, timelines, and stances to members of the community.

Directions

“Since we have spent the last several days learning about the different state parks of Indiana, we are now going to take what we have learned and apply it to the world we live in today. You are going to use the information you have learned about Mounds State Park, Turkey Run State Park, Shades State Park, O’Bannon Woods State Park, Clifty Falls State Park, and McCormick’s Creek State Park to create timelines about Indiana’s increasing agricultural, industrial, political, and business development in the nineteenth century. There will be one timeline for each developmental aspect that we have learned about. You will also conduct additional research in order to create one more timeline for each of these aspects that shows how Indiana’s economy has developed in recent years. In addition, you will also take a stance on whether or not you think these developments have helped or hurt the growth and popularity of today’s fast food restaurants. I have chosen our focus to be on fast food restaurants because they are a large part of today’s economy and they bring in a large amount of revenue for our country. You will all write a paper as a way to compile all of the research and information you have found; this will also be turned in as a grade. Then, in a few days, we will be taking a field trip to the local town museum, where we will be presenting our timelines and the research we have found to a group of community members.”

Procedure

I will first assign students to the different groups: agriculture in the nineteenth century, industry in the nineteenth century, politics in the nineteenth century, business in the nineteenth century, today’s agriculture, today’s industry, today’s politics, and today’s business. Each group will be in charge of creating a timeline for their assigned topic, as well as conducting any additional research that is necessary. Each individual student will also be responsible for taking a stance on the aforementioned issue, as well as writing a paper to summarize and compile their information and research. The students will then take a field trip to the local town museum and present the timelines they have created as well as any additional research they have found to a group of community members.

Scoring Rubric

Benchmark / Score
1 / 2 / 3 / 4
SS.4.1.9:
Give examples of Indiana's increasing agricultural, industrial, political, and business development in the nineteenth century. / Did not use previously learned information or additional research to discuss 5 correct developments in assigned topic and did not pick a stance. / Used either previously learned information or additional research to discuss 1-3 incorrect developments in assigned topic and did not give any reasons why stance was chosen. / Used either previously learned information or additional research to discuss 4 correct developments in assigned topic and gave 1-2 reasons why stance was chosen. / Used appropriate previously learned information and additional research to discuss 5 correct developments in assigned topic and gave 3 reasons on why stance was chosen.
SS.4.1.15:
Create and interpret timelines that show relationships among people, events, and movements in the history of Indiana. / Created a timeline that displayed 1-3 incorrect pieces of information on the assigned topic in the incorrect order. / Created a timeline that displayed 1-3 incorrect pieces of information on the assigned topic in the correct order. / Created a timeline that displayed 5-7 correct pieces of information on the assigned topic in the correct order. / Created a timeline that displayed 8-10 correct pieces of information on the assigned topic in the correct order.

Course Title: Social Studies

Grade Level: Fourth

Unit: Economics and Transportation

Abstract

This task is designed to assess the ability of children to inform a group of community members about how the different state parks of Indiana have contributed to Indiana’s trade over time. The students will first take a stance on whether or not they believe that the state parks have contributed to Indiana’s ability to trade corn with other states. The students will then spend class time researching their stance. The students will then present the findings in the form of an oral speech to community members that have been invited into the classroom.

Prompt

We might not be aware of it, but trade occurs all around us every single day. We are going to spend the next few days using what we have learned about Mounds State Park, Turkey Run State Park, Shades State Park, O’Bannon Woods State Park, Clifty Hills State Park, and McCormick’s Creek State Park (information found from websites listed above) in order to conduct additional research (Internet, encyclopedias) on how these state parks have affected Indiana’s ability to trade corn with other states. You are to take a stance on whether or not you believe the state parks have helped Indiana’s corn trade, since corn is currently Indiana’s top export.and then use the information you have gathered to create an oral speech that you will present to members of the community that will be invited into our classroom at the end of the week.

Directions

“Since we have just completed a unit on the state parks of Indiana, we are now going to take the information that we have learned and compile in such a way that will be easy to present to the community. First, everyone is going to take a stance on whether or not they think the different state parks have helped Indiana’s corn trade. Discussion of Indiana’s corn trade is important because Indiana’s top trade export is currently corn. We are then going to use the information that we have learned about Mounds State Park, Turkey Run State Park, Shades State Park, O’Bannon Woods State Park, Clifty Hills State Park, and McCormick’s Creek State Park, plus additional research that we will be conducting, to write speeches that we will be presenting to members of the community on our stances.”

Procedure

I will first divide the students into groups. There will be a group assigned to Mounds State Park , one assigned to Turkey Run State Park, one assigned to Shades State Park, one assigned to O’Bannon Woods State Park, one assigned to Clifty Hills State Park, and one assigned to McCormick’s Creek State Park. Each member of the group will first decide whether or not they think their assigned state park has helped Indiana’s corn trade. Then, using the information already learned about their assigned park and additional research, each student will write a speech on their stance and give reasons why they chose that particular stance. At the end of the week, invited community members will come to our classroom to hear the students’ speeches.

Scoring Rubric

Benchmark / Score
1 / 2 / 3 / 4
SS.1.4.17:
Use primary and secondary sources and online source materials to construct a brief narrative about an event in Indiana history. / Did not use previously learned information or additional research to write speech. / Used 1 piece of previously learned information as well as correct additional research to write speech. / Used 3-4 pieces of previously learned information and correct additional research to write speech. / Used 5+ pieces of previously learned information as well as correct additional research to write speech.
SS.4.4.3:
Explain how both parties can benefit from trade and give examples of how people in Indiana engaged in trade in different time periods. / Did not give any reasons explaining why stance was chosen on whether or not the state parks have helped Indiana’s corn trade. / Gave 1-2 reasons explaining why stance was chosen on whether or not the state parks have helped Indiana’s corn trade. / Gave 3-4 reasons explaining why stance was chosen on whether or not the state parks have helped Indiana’s corn trade. / Gave 5+ reasons explaining why stance was chosen on whether or not the state parks have helped Indiana’s corn trade.