Unit Plan
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Transportation Changes [Pdf]

For Teachers 2nd - 4th Standards
"Transportation Changes" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the history of transportation across both land and sea. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes:...
Website
Other

U.s. Route 40: History of Route 40

For Students 9th - 10th
The history of U.S. Route 40, including the development of predecessor roads such as colonial roads, the national road, pioneer trails, and various highways.
Website
Other

U.s. Route 40: History of Route 40

For Students 9th - 10th
The history of U.S. Route 40, including the development of predecessor roads such as colonial roads, the national road, pioneer trails, and various highways.
Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Discovery Education: An Era of Innovation

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Learners research and learn about the history of transportation. Groups design and present a decade in transportation exhibits to share with the class.
Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Discovery Education: An Era of Innovation

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Students research and learn about the history of transportation. Groups design and present a decade in transportation exhibits to share with the class.
Website
Other

Department of Transportation: Maritime Career

For Students 9th - 10th
Resource describes jobs in the maritime industry, ways to get training for various career paths in the industry, and employment opportunities. Links to Maritime Museum websites are included.
Website
Other

Highway History

For Students 9th - 10th
A large collection of articles chronicling the history of our nation's highways. Includes articles showing the history from very early highways to the interstate system. Lots of related articles, pictures, and even songs about roads.
Unit Plan
Other

Virtual Museum of Labrador: History

For Students 9th - 10th
Become acquainted with the "rich and diverse history" of the people of Labrador. Over the years there has been a variety of cultures that have inhabited the land including the Inuit, Metis, Europeans, and more. Information is also given...
Article
A&E Television

History.com: How Interstate Highways Gutted Communities and Reinforced Segregation

For Students 9th - 10th
America's interstate highway system cut through the heart of dozens of urban neighborhoods. Congress approved the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, authorizing what was then the largest public works program in U.S. history. It promised to...
Handout
Other

History World International: Industrial Revolution

For Students 9th - 10th
A short history of the Industrial Revolution, the reasons that it began in England, some of the significant inventions that had a major impact, changes in transportation, the rise of labor unions, its spread to the United States, and the...
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Where's Everyone Going?

For Students 9th - 10th
A great resource from the National Museum of American History that shows various modes and uses of transportation in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Unit Plan
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Transportation Changes [Pdf]

For Teachers 8th
"Transportation Changes" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the history of transportation by land and by sea. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes: determining...
eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: On the Move: The Transportation Revolution

For Students 11th - 12th
By reading this section of a chapter on "Industrial Transformation in the North", students will learn about the development of improved methods of nineteenth-century domestic transportation and identify the ways in which roads, canals,...
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Transportation in America Before 1876

For Students 9th - 10th
In 1800, the United States was made up of 16 states, all east of the Appalachians, and most people lived within 50 miles of the Atlantic. Oceans and rivers were the nations' highways, providing the only viable way to travel long...
Handout
Gabriel Dumont Institute

Virtual Museum of Metis History and Culture: The Red River Cart

For Students 9th - 10th
The Red River Cart, an invention of the Metis, played an important role in the settling of the West by improving transportation of goods. Cart making became an industry for the Metis later on. This article explores the history of the Red...
Activity
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: American Railroads in the 20th Century

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief history of the last century and more of American railroads, from the early locomotives from the mid 1800s to today's fast passenger trains.
Website
University of Alberta

University of Alberta: The Calgary and Edmonton Railway

For Students 9th - 10th
This history of The Calgary and Edmonton Railway is an account of the necessity to build branch lines in order for the Canadian Pacific Railway to develop its vast land holdings on the prairies. Included are maps, photographs and primary...
Website
University of Alberta

University of Alberta: The Crow's Nest Line

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a history of the construction and significance of a railway through the Crowsnest Pass that connected a part of British Columbia that was cut off from the rest of Canada. Included are maps, photographs and primary source documents.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Transforming the Waterfront: San Francisco and Oakland, Ca.

For Students 9th - 10th
Containers-steel boxes stuffed with goods-and the systems for transferring them between ships, trucks, and trains transformed commercial shipping. Containerization streamlined freight handling and slashed the cost of transporting cargoes...
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Roadside Communities: Ring's Rest, Muirkirk, Maryland

For Students 9th - 10th
The exhibition explores historical moments in the area of transportation. As more people took to the road, clusters of roadside businesses sprang up to accommodate motorists' needs including roadside cabins. Ring's Rest, located about 20...
Activity
Other

Sachem Central School District: Your History Site: The Muckrakers [Pdf]

For Students 7th - 8th
Excerpts from the writings of Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, and Jacob Riis on early industrial America. Topics include the horrors that went into the making of sausages, the problem of transportation and the Standard Oil Company, and life...
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Rail Transport

For Students 9th - 10th
Information on railroads is found on this site from Wikipedia encyclopedia. Discusses the history of railways, different parts of the railway, types of trains, and the economic aspects of rail ownership and operation.
Activity
Other

Dot: Office of the Historian

For Students 9th - 10th
Historical information on the U.S. Department of Transportation can be found here. Included: a history of the department, biographies and dates of service of the Secretaries of Transportation, and a chronology of important events.
Unit Plan
Have Fun With History

Have Fun With History: Aviation

For Students 9th - 10th
Module with visual history of aviation in America. Students and teachers can find videos on topics beginning with pioneers in aviation, WWI and WWII, Airships and more. Links to related resources can be found on this site.