Students investigate the geography located along Route 66. They research how the population patterns change in certain areas along the highway. Students use the information in order to form hypotheses about how and why the population...

Middle schoolers research different ethnic groups that lived in the United States. They compare and contrast Spanish, African American and Native American cultures and how American culture interacted with them. They present their...

Students examine the Gilded Age in American history. Using the internet, they research the innovations, business, and immigration during this time period. They create a PowerPoint presentation to share their information with the class.

Learners learn the history of the Mormons and are able to explore items made during the Mormon era by creating their own by hand. In this Mormon Era lesson, students create covered wagons, can lanterns, candles and sourdough bread as...

Students examine the migration of refugees. In this California history lesson, students listen to their instructor present a lecture regarding the details of how the Dust Bowl and Great Depression led to a California population...

High schoolers explore and compare and contrast the migrations of African Americans in the United States in the decades before and after the Civil War.

Ninth graders, in groups, determine reasons for African-American migration to the west

Students investigate the underlying reasons for immigration, focusing on five major trends: political, economic, family, career and educational. They examine the immigration of Spanish speaking groups.

Students come up with a definition of mining together as a class. They take notes and explore how three mining towns in Nevada were begun.

Students examine the relationship between agriculture and the slave trade during the 1860s. In groups, they research how two factors led to the explosion of slavery in the Southern United States. Using maps, they answer comprehension...

Students explore the views of both sides of the Civil War. Through class discussion and debate, they look at how each side justified their position during the Civil War. Students write a letter explaining one of the viewpoints from the...

Seventh graders comprehend the interaction and conflict beween Native Americans and white settlers in the years following the Civil War. They listen to T"his Land is Your Land." Students are asked what their interpretation of the...

This site highlights the westward expansion of settlers in North America and the effects this expansion had on Native Americans between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.

What was life like for a western pioneer? Learners take a journey through westward expansion using music to understand the experience of the pioneers. As they listen to lyrics and analyze the different types of music that was being sung...

Learners will explore how westward expansion increased the number of jobs available in the nineteenth century, including being a flat boatman through a painting by George Caleb Bingham.

Information on the building of the National Road and its historical significance.

Learn about this document that charted a government for the Northwest Territory. View the complete text and images of the original document.

The critically acclaimed PBS series, "The West," provides the text of the actual Pacific Railway Act, designed to aid in the construction of a Railroad and Telegraph Line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

This website provides a good introduction to the Santa Fe Trail. It describes life on the trail, provides pictures of the trail today, and includes major events concerning the trail.

This site written by teachers provides lesson ideas and links to a number of topics related to the Oregon Trail.

A map of the American colonies and territories west to the Mississippi River between the end of the French and Indian War of 1763 and the beginnings of westward expansion of the trans-Appalachian colony proposed in the Vandalia Project...

This site from PBS provides a short description and map of "the Indian Territory set aside by the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the areas designated for each tribe."

Contains selections from "With the Nez Perces: Alice Fletcher in the Field, 1889-92" by E. Jane Gay, which provided an anthropological look at the Nez Perce Indians and their bewilderment at the Dawes Act.