Lesson 4: People, Places and Environments
Middle school : Lesson 1 | Lesson 2 | Lesson 3 | Lesson 4
Lesson plan developed by Laurie Welken.
US Steel was producing all their major steel in Pennsylvania in the early 1900s. As the cost of transporting steel began to rise, so did the need to create a US Steel Plant in an area more centralized to reduce the distances in transporting the steel products. US Steel searched for the ideal location. An ideal location needed to fulfill these criteria: cheap land, plentiful space, lake transportation to easily access iron ore, a deep harbor for ore freighters, a great water supply and a major railroad system. Gary, Indiana met all the criteria, and the decision was made to build the steel plant in that location.
Standards alignment
-
Indiana Academic Standards 2000 for Science: Grade 8
- 8.1.8: Explain that humans help shape the future by generating knowledge, developing new technologies, and communicating ideas to others.
-
Indiana Academic Standards for Social Studies: Grade 8
- 8.1.30: Form historical research questions and seek responses by analyzing primary resources...
- 8.5.3: Examine the concepts of a work ethic, philanthropy, volunteerism, and concern for the common good as important aspects of American society in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
-
National Council for the Social Studies
- Strand II: Time, Continuity, and Change
- Strand III: People, Places and Environments
-
National Standards for Arts Education: Grades K-4: Visual Arts
- 4. Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures
-
NCTE/IRA List of Standards for the English Language Arts
- 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world...
- 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions ... media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
- 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems...
- 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources ... to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
- 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes...
Guiding questions
- How can land be adapted to fit industrial purposes?
- What economic effects do large factories have on local economies?
Learning objectives
After completing this lesson, students will be able to:
- Predict a future for Gary, IN and US Steel Works.
- Explain how their own town would change if US Steel built this large of a facility in it.
- Discuss why or shy not their town would have been an alternative to choosing Gary.
- Analyze what they have learned about the creation of Gary and explain what is most fascinating to them.
Preparation
-
Become familiar with the very beginning stages of building the town of Gary, IN. Possible resources include:
- The online tour of the US Steel Photograph Collection.
- The Online Articles & Essays page of this web site.
- Related articles from the EBSCOhost databases.
- Other readings from this site's bibliography.
Lesson plan
- Assign students reading from the selected resources above.
- Discuss with the class how the location of US Steel's proposed mill was key and how everything at the US Steel Gary Works was built to enhance the location.
- Have students formulate past/present/future predictions of Gary IN. Identify issues and problems, suggest alternatives. How would your own town change if this happened to it?
- Discuss why Gary was chosen, would your town be an alternative? Why or why not?
- Discuss the building up of the land to make Gary an ideal location.
- Make a model of Gary and the building of the town and US Steel Co. Students may use plaster of Paris, clay or any similar substance to create a miniature of Gary, IN in the early 1900s.
Extending the lesson
- Create a class trade show displaying what they learned about Gary, IN, and US Steel Company's endeavor in creating this town out of nothing, and turn it into a thriving community and corporation.
- Have each student create a booth describing what most fascinates them about the creation of Gary, IN. Encourage them to be creative, this will be a class project. Invite the whole school and families to come and see the trade show. Have a slide show of US Steel photos rolling for the public to see.
