Buying and Borrowing at the Colonial Store
Using primary source material documenting purchases at a general store in Addison, Vermont, students will organize data in order to draw conclusions about Addison County's colonial economy.
Change Over Time: Industry on the Falls
Students identify different periods in history by comparing and contrasting two artworks representing the Otter Creek falls at Vergennes, Vermont, produced at different times for different purposes in different media. Students examine the significance of place and create a list of agents of change which have affected their local landscape.
Change Over Time: Vermont Wildlife
Students explore change over time in ecological terms by comparing Zadock Thompson's illustrated nineteenth century catalog of mammals in Vermont with present-day statistics.
Introduce students to the first and most significant settlement activity, clearing the land, by creating a sequence of events based around primary source material. This lesson provides students with good background for the study of deforestation.
Students will distinguish between different periods in recent history and place important events in historical context. Displaying and adding to the timeline throughout the year helps students understand and relate events in each stage of history and facilitates the exploration of historical cause and effect, as well as synthesizing learning experiences in different subject areas.
By studying two important naturalists from different periods in Vermont's history, students will gain historical perspective on the changes that shaped Vermont's landscape while exploring the cultural and historical role of the naturalist. This lesson builds upon knowledge of ecological interdependence to introduce students to the effects of deforestation, including changes in wildlife population, climate change and erosion.
Students will discuss different modes of waterborne transportation today and during the settlement era in order to understand how and why waterways were important to settlement. Students groups will research a different type of watercraft used on Lake Champlain and apply their knowledge by matching their assigned mode of transportation to an historical scenario in which it was used.
Students are introduced to waterpower as an historically important natural resource. By designing water wheels and studying the development of settlement communities in relation to waterpower, students make connections between the community and its natural resources and technological systems.
By dividing the history of the Basin into three distinct periods associated with very different bodies of water—Lake Vermont, the Champlain Sea and Lake Champlain—students will gain perspective on geologic time and explore the causes and effects of dramatic changes in the landscape.
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