America at the Centennial
Overview
This lesson uses images and texts selected from
the American Memory collections of
the Library of Congress to engage students
in studying the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. Its central
topic is the question of what items and images of the Exposition said
about America. Students examine other images from the era to see the Exposition
in the context of its time, and work as historians using primary source
images and documents to construct museum exhibits on the issues of the
Centennial Era.
America at the Centennial is about reading
documents and images as primary sources in history. This lesson is an
opportunity for students to strengthen their skills of close reading,
collaborative hypothesizing, and conducting online searching within a
library collection. It also engages students in learning history by working
as historians as they select and assemble evidence to assert and support
hypotheses about American life in the 1870s.
In addition to search, interpretation, and analysis,
America at the Centennial poses an authentic task for students to construct
historical presentations for an audience of classmates who are similarly
engaged as a way of creating a classroom community of active learners.
| Objectives |
The students will be able to:
- Search a digital library's collection for documents and images
- Read and analyze texts and images as primary source documents
- Examine primary sources of the Centennial era and hypothesize
about the lives and values of Americans in 1876
- Create an exhibit of documents (images, and texts) to tell the story of one facet of American life in 1876
|
| Time Required |
America at the Centennial is comprised of
three parts; the instructor may choose to complete only Step 1, Steps
1 and 2, or the entire lesson.
Step 1: One to two class periods
Step 2: Two to three class periods
Step 3: One week |
Recommended
Grade Level |
9-12 |
| Curriculum Fit |
The lesson addresses standard 2C of the National
Standards for United States History: "Demonstrate understanding
of how new cultural movements at different social levels affected
American life." It does so by examining the Centennial Exhibition
as a cultural event of national significance and juxtaposing it with
images of the experiences of several groups of people in 1870s America.
The lesson products also address Standards 2 and 9 of the Information
Literacy Standards for Student Learning: "The student who is
information literate evaluates information critically and competently"
and "The student who contributes positively to the learning community
and to society is information literate and participates effectively
in groups to pursue and generate information." |
| Standards |
McREL 4th Edition Standards & Benchmarks
Language Arts
Standard 4. Gathers and uses information for research purposes
US History
Standard 17. Understands massive immigration after 1870 and how new social patterns, conflicts, and ideas of national unity developed amid growing cultural diversity
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| Resources Used |
See Resources Page |
Overview | Step
1 | Step 2 | Step
3 | Resources
|
