Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: Full Steam Ahead: The Steam Engine and Transportation in the Nineteenth Century
This primary source set uses illustrations, documents, and photographs to tell the story of how the steam engine transformed the railroad industry and played crucial roles in the Industrial Revolution and westward expansion.
Other
New York Subway History: Beach Pneumatic Transit
Not all inventions turn out to be good ideas! Read about Alfred Ely Beach's idea to build a pneumatic tube under the streets of New York City for subway trains to use.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Holt, Rinehart and Winston: Professional Writer's Models: Grade 10: Persuasive Essay [Pdf]
From the novel titled "We the Media," this essay from writer Adam Hochschild presents a persuasive argument against the volume of televisions in places of public transport. A good model which can be used as a resource for students.
Other
Us Department of Justice: Americans With Disabilities Act
The official homepage for the Americans with Disabilities Act provides information on standards for accessible design, business connections, public transportation, housing, labor, and stories on how communities have improved civic access.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control: Public Health, 1900 1999 Motor Vehicle Safety
Read about the reduction in vehicle-related deaths and the safety measures that made traveling safer. This article includes some information on the Highway Safety Act and the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Acts, through which...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Traffic Lights
Students learn about traffic lights and their importance in maintaining public safety and order. Using a Parallax Basic Stamp 2 microcontroller, students work in teams on the engineering challenge to build a traffic light with a specific...
PBS
Nova: Car of the Future
In this activity, student teams research and develop a proposal to decrease the carbon footprint of their city's/town's public transportation system and then prepare a report that explains why their transportation plan is the best for...
Open Door Team
Open Door Web Site: The Second Industrial Revolution
An overview of the achievements that occurred during the second Industrial Revolution are found on this site. It includes information on gas and electric power, communications, public transportation, the motor and flight industries, and...
Other
How Do I? A Practical Guide to Living in America
Miami-based law firm, Immigration Law Offices, Inc., provides information for new immigrants about basic tasks, such as finding housing, making phone calls, mailing letters, opening bank accounts, learning English, finding a doctor, and...
Read Works
Read Works: New Lives for Old Buses
[Free Registration/Login Required] A literary text about old school buses being used for public transportation in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: Rosa Parks Arrested
This 3-part article explores Rosa Park's famous act of civil disobedience -- refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger. Her subsequent arrest sparked a 381-day boycott of the Montgomery bus system and the 1956 Supreme...
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: Two Hundred Years on the Erie Canal
Learn about the Erie Canal, one of the most famous man-made bodies of water in the world. Completed in 1825, the Erie Canal connected the port of New York City on the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes transforming trade, industry, and...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Energy and the Environment
An experiment illustrating how people's decision to drive instead of using more environmentally friendly means of transportation can lead to negative consequences. Students develop policy recommendations to solve the resulting public...
Countries and Their Cultures
Countries and Their Cultures: Kanuri
The Kanuri are the dominant ethnic group of Borno Province in northeastern Nigeria. They number over 3 million in Nigeria, about 500,000 in Niger, 100,000 in Chad, and 60,000 in Cameroon. They are called "Beri-beri" by the Hausa, but...
A&E Television
History.com: How Interstate Highways Gutted Communities and Reinforced Segregation
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...
Digital History
Digital History: The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement
On December 1, 1955, the late Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat and made civil rights history.
The Henry Ford
Rosa Parks Bus at Henry Ford Museum
This site tells the story of Rosa Parks but also the story of the bus and what happened to it and with it through the years.
Curated OER
Reeko's Favorite Means Up Public Transportation!
With this simple experiment, one can replicate the sinking and rising of a submarine with a bottle filled with water and a pen cap.
Read Works
Read Works: Safe Ride
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read about safety concerns on school busses. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in cause and effect.
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: The Panama Canal
This primary source set includes photographs, documents, maps, and footage that can be used to explore the stories of environmental issues, political struggle, and human labor that built the Panama Canal.
Other
North Dakota State University: Managing the Risks
An in-depth look at the risks of using anhydrous ammonia as an agricultural fertilizer. Provides plenty of safety and equipment information, as well as exposure, transport, and storage guidelines.
US Department of Agriculture
China's Food and Agriculture: Issues for the 21st Cent.
A series of reports published but the United States Department of Agriculture in April of 2002 (in PDF format) from the USDA that covers "China's food consumption, marketing, international trade, agricultural policy, transportation...
PBS
Nh Pbs: Nature Works: Trachaeophytes
Vascular plant transport, adaptations for growth, and seed versus nonseed vascular plants are discussed in this succinct site.
Read Works
Read Works: Young Couple Finds a Way to Make Commuting Fun
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about two students who took a picture of themselves at every subway stop in New York City. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.