Get your class working on the railroad with this detailed and interactive lesson. After reading and discussing Ten Mile Day, learners explore division of labor, human capital, and productivity with a hands-on group activity in which they build their own railroads 

Concepts

incentives, economics, human capital, capital resources, collaboration, railroads, the transcontinental railroad, competition, division of labor

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Use this plan during a unit on the transcontinental railroad
• Help build an understanding of how collaboration can be a powerful tool with this lesson

Classroom Considerations

• You will either need to buy or borrow a copy of Ten Mile Day by Mary Ann Fraser
• The presentation listed in the included materials is for an interactive whiteboard

Pros

• Comes with everything you need: detailed lesson procedures, printables, worksheets, and assessment with an answer key, and more
• Requires pupils to pay close attention to how working together changes productivity
• Combines the study of a text with the study of economic terms

Cons

• None