You will follow Steps 1 to 4 below to complete your task.

Step 1  

• Teams - Your teacher will divide you into teams of 4.

• Then your teacher will provide a list of roles/jobs from the book you are assigned. This list will include a Reporter - Team Leader (Wagon Train Master).

• Complete readings as assigned by your teacher.

• Choose your role for the team.

Step 2  

• Introduction - You will research the history of the Oregon Trail using the websites in the  Resources section below.  

• Based on your research and from your assigned book, write an Introduction to the Oregon Trail in a shared Google Doc.  

Step 3

• Teamwork for Preparing the Digital Guide  - You will work in a team to prepare a digital guide with information about  the journey on the Oregon Trail.  

• In this section of the project you will discuss (1) supplies, (2), places, and (3) challenges from the journey on the Oregon Trail.  Each team member will collaborate in a shared Google Doc or Google Sheet on the three components below:

Selection of the Supplies for the Journey

The team will discuss the importance of selecting supplies for the journey. Each member of the team will write a few sentences in the shared Google Doc about the selection of supplies as a reflection from your assigned book reading.

It is time to play a game!  Work as a team and see how successful you will be while  traveling the trail with this game from 1992 - Oregon Trail Game.          

Now read the materials assigned by your teacher and conduct research (see Resources section below) on the Oregon Trail.  Use the information from your readings, research, and playing the game to form your recommendations for selecting supplies.  The reporter will “round-up” the team, ask the questions below, and lead everyone to combine comments as a team in response to the questions and make recommendations on the selection of supplies for the journey. Then you and your team will write a few sentences in the shared Google Doc with your recommendations for selecting supplies.

1. What supplies would you take on the Oregon trail, and why?

2. Based on playing the Oregon Trail game, what surprised you in relation to what you purchased versus the amount you needed on the trail?

3. What supplies should be purchased to help ensure that a family could travel the entire trip?

4. What amounts of supplies did you need to make it across the Oregon Trail?

5. What two recommendations for supplies from today would have been helpful to pioneers on the trail?

A  Place of Significance from the Journey

Your team will reflect on the journey and discuss the places that seem most significant from the Oregon Trail. Explore various sources, look at pictures, and review information. Discuss the features of various locations and decide on your favorite place or the most significant place from the journey.  Each member of the team will write a few sentences about that  significant place from the journey from a personal perspective that matches the role, which was chosen at the beginning of the activity. Then a reporter will “round-up” the team, ask questions, and lead the team as you combine those comments into a page about a significant place from the journey.

1. What do you consider the most significant place in relation to our journey on the Oregon Trail?

2. Why do you think that place is significant?

3. What are some specific features that make that location significant?

4. What are two recommendations for using current advancements in technology (medicine, math, science, health, etc.) from today would be helpful to pioneers to navigate the trail?

Challenges During the Journey

A first hand account by Harriett Scott Palmer on a challenge on the Oregon Trail - click play button

Your team will discuss the challenges pioneers experienced during the journey. Each member of the team will write a few sentences about a significant challenge from the journey from a personal perspective that matches the role, which was chosen at the beginning of the activity. Then the reporter will “round-up” the team, ask questions, and lead the team as they combine those comments into a page about facing challenges during the journey.

1. Consider what you have read about the challenges pioneers experienced on the  Oregon Trail. What do you consider the most significant challenges they faced?

2. As a group, choose one of the challenges that you consider the most significant. Explain why this challenge was significant for the pioneers.

3. What two recommendations using current advancements in technology (medicine, math, science, health, etc.) that would help pioneers to meet the challenges faced on the Oregon Trail?

Step 4

• Preparing the Conclusion for the Digital Guide - Once you have collected information for all sections of your digital guide, discuss your findings as a group.

• Then your group will organize ideas about (1) supplies, (2) places, and (3) challenges for “The Digital Guide for the Oregon Trail.”  Remember to document all information and give credit where credit is due.

Conclusion for the Digital Guide

“The Digital Guide for the Oregon Trail” features information and recommendations for a journey on the Oregon Trail.  You will consider what you know about the experience long ago and compare this with a modern trip to Oregon.  Then the reporter will “round-up” the team, ask questions, and lead your team in selecting one tip or recommendation to finalize your presentation.

1. Imagine a trip back in time to the 1830s on the Oregon Trail.  

2. Just for the fun of it, you are given the magic power to take one item, idea, or invention from modern life back in time, and it would actually work.

3. What one significant tip from modern knowledge or special item would you choose to take back in time to make life better for the pioneers on a wagon train from the 1830s, and make a difference in so many lives?  

Resources

The Oregon Trail (Historyglobe.com) - http://www.historyglobe.com/ot/otmap2.htm

The Oregon Trail - http://oregontrail101.com/

The Oregon Trail Map - http://www.historyglobe.com/ot/otmap1.htm

Virtual Trail - Oregon~California Trail Association - http://www.octa-trails.org/learn/virtual-trail

Photo Tour of the Trail - IndependenceRock.org - http://www.independencerock.org/phototour.html

National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center:

http://www.blm.gov/or/oregontrail/education-kids-trail.php - Kids on the Trail

http://www.blm.gov/or/oregontrail/diary.php - Kids Diaries

http://www.blm.gov/or/oregontrail/education-kids-homework.php - Homework Helpers

http://www.blm.gov/or/oregontrail/junior.php - Junior Explorer Books