Home > Westward Expansion > Research and Activity Ideas

The following list of research and activity ideas is intended to offer suggestions for complementing social studies and history curricula, to trigger additional ideas for enhancing learning, and to suggest cross-disciplinary projects for library and classroom use.

Traveling West: You're living in the east in 1849, and hear rumors of gold in California. You decide to pack up your belongings and travel west in search of your fortune. What will you need to pack? How will you get there? Will you go alone or with a group of other goldseekers? Draw up a plan for your journey that includes a list of those things you will take and a description of the route on which you will travel. Your plan should address problems you may encounter and what preparations you've made to overcome these obstacles.

Indian Cultures Before and After Contact: There were hundreds...