I am working with my students to relate elements, explain cause and effect, and compare and contrast people, events, or concepts. All of these tasks sound pretty basic, but my high schoolers have trouble doing this in a historical context. I would put the picture of the triangle shirt on the board or print it out for them to individually have. Then I would ask them to write what concepts in history this shirt could connect to. After some students share their answers, I might give them a hint and tell them this is from the 1900's to get them thinking more. Since they are in high school, they should have learned about industrialization in middle school and be somewhat familiar with the topic. From there, I would pass out the pictures with paragraphs from the module and have them read them independently. I would also pass out some graphic organizers so after reading, the students could process the cause and effect and piece the information together. As a class, we would then discuss how the shirt fits into history.

Using the content from this model would be a great way to engage students who like science, technology, or hands-on tasks. For a warm up, students could jot down a quick history/evolution of communication/technology. Most students might mention letters, the telephone, and then cell phones and computers. After reviewing their responses, students could break up and go to different stations and have a "how it works" simulation. Students could analyze the content while recording responses on what the object is, how it works, the predecessor, and next generation model. At the end, the class could come together and have a discussion of how these technologies shaped modern-day America by looking at pictures and graphs.

This is probably going to be over elaborate, but gives the students a chance to be hands on. I would break the room into several sections to represent different times in history. Students would be in groups and remain at one station for the simulation. Based on the time period, I would give students materials to construct a house (playing cards, Legos, etc.). Each station would have a description of the time and directions, for example some stations may require students to transport materials, so they would have to calculate added costs. The students would have 5-10 minutes to build a house with their materials based on the direction. After the time is up, the class would rate the stability of each house, compare materials, location, and expenses. As a class, we could discuss the similarities and differences. I would show the classes each type of house each station represented. After explaining the real-life models, I would ask the students if they could pick out which item impacted housing construction the most. From there, we could discuss the nail and how it impacted westward expansion.

As a warm up, students would have a picture to analyze. Some example questions would be "What is the purpose of this photograph?" "Who is the intended audience?" "What broad theme could this photo be related to?" After discussing the warm-up, I would summarize the role of the stereograph. Students would then be broken into groups to compile several pictures "stereograph slides" of an event/country/etc. and have to come up with a caption. The task would be to use the photos and captions to describe how they want to market the event. Then, the students would present their compilation and the class would try to decide what values the group was promoting, the purpose of their compilation, and their intended audience.