for
4.4 Students explain how California became an agricultural and industrial power, tracing the transformation of the California economy and its political and cultural development since the 1850's.
1. Understand the story and lasting influence of the Pony Express, Overland Mail Service, Western Union, and the building of the transcontinental railroad, including the contributions of Chinese workers to its construction.
2. Explain how the Gold Rush transformed the economy of California, including the types of products produced and consumed, changes in towns (e.g., Sacramento, San Francisco), and economic conflicts between diverse groups of people.
3. Discuss immigration and migration to California between 1850 and 1900, including the diverse composition of those who came; the countries of origin and their relative locations; and conflicts and accords among the diverse groups (e.g., the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act).
1. Students place key events and people of the historical era they are studying in a chronlogical sequence and within a spatial context; they interpret timelines.
3. Students explain how the present is connected to the past, identifying both similariteis and differences between the two, and how some things change over time and some things stay the same.
1. Students differntiate between primary and secondary sources.
2. Students pose relevant questions about events they encounter in historical documents, eyewitness accounts, oral histories, letters, diaries, artifacts, photographs, maps, artworks, and architecture.
1. Students identify and interpret the multiple causes and effects of historical events.
Writing Prompt: In order to foster historical empathy, have your students write about a time when they were strangers somewhere before beginning the webquest. This might have occured when they moved somewhere, when they started school, when they were dropped off at an event, etc. Where did this occur? How old were they? What kinds of experiences did they have? How did they feel? Have students share their writing with their classmates. The students are now better prepared to learn about a group of people who were strangers to California during the Gold Rush- the Chinese.
back to "And They Came to the Streets That Were Paved With Gold"