Unit 3: Growth and Change
Big Idea Activity: How do people solve conflicts?
Students should tell a story about one conflict faced by people in early Missouri history. Encourage students to discuss how people solve conflicts and bring about change. Have them explain a particular problem that existed in Missouri and how it was solved. Ask students to give an opinion about whether the solution has been good or bad for Missouri. Be sure that the students make it clear that what they are saying is an opinion.
Visit this site to read about the Civil War in Missouri.
Discuss each of the People Who Made a Difference with students. Ask them to explain how Missouri was affected by each of these people. How would the state be different if these people had never been in Missouri?
These websites emphasize the impact these figures have had on American history and their influence in Missouri. Students will learn more about the People Who Made a Difference through discussion and activities.
John Berry Meachum (1789-1854)
Madame C.J. Walker (1867-1919)
Ask students how they think people cooperate to solve conflicts. What have people done in order to resolve a conflict? How did Missourians change their behavior because of the conflicts of the nineteenth century? How did the People Who Made a Difference cooperate to solve their conflicts? Discuss specific conflicts faced by people in Missouri and how the conflicts were solved.
Writing Activity: Writing Activity
Students will write a 2 paragraph essay answering the Big Idea Question – How do people solve conflicts?
1. The graphic organizer will be used to list the main ideas that will be in the essay. Complete the graphic organizer as a class or have the students complete it themselves.
2. The writing activity will focus on how people solve conflicts. Students should think about how these people affect communities in general as well as their own community specifically.
3. Once the graphic organizer has been completed by the students individually or as a group, assign the type of essay that they will write: Descriptive, Narrative or Persuasive.
A Day in the Life: A Young Pioneer Settler
During the mid 1800s many westward-traveling pioneers settled in Missouri. Life for these pioneers was hard. The whole family helped out on the farm with crops and farm animals. Boys hunted with their fathers and helped build barns and houses. Girls helped their mothers cook, clean and make clothing. Ask students to suggest ways in which life then was similar to and different from life today. How was school different than it is today?
Biography: Mary Easton Sibley
Mary Sibley was always interested in education. While at Fort Osage she taught Native American girls, German immigrants, and opened a school for African Americans. In 1827, she and her husband founded Lindenwood College. Many people believe it was the first college west of the Mississippi River. Discuss Sibley’s contributions in education.
What kind of nation would the United States of America become after the American Revolution? What would be Missouri’s place in this nation? There were many ideas and many arguments about this topic. Many steps were involved in the development of Missouri. Discuss what these steps were. How did the Civil War affect Missouri?
Virtual Field Trip: Cuyahoga Valley National Park
A Day in the Life: A Young Person’s Life in the 1950s
Life changed in Missouri after World War II. Factories that had made airplanes and tanks before the war started to make cars, televisions, and home appliances. The 1950s began a time of fads, trends or activities that were popular for a short period of time. Discuss life right after World War II, when inventions changed life for American families. Have students list examples of different fads from the 1950s.