Each lesson in this unit includes maps, primary source documents, photographs, and artifacts that help students learn the natural resources found in the Taconic Mountain Range and how they connect to the industrial growth of New York State. Students participate in hands-on activities while learning about a significant place in history.
In this lesson Students will engage in three hands-on activities (time permitting) to re-enact the collision of the tectonic plates causing the land to be uplifted and mountains to rise (Activity #1); simulate an earthquake (Activity #2); and examine rocks and match them to the appropriate rock cycle story (Activity #3).
This is the first of three stations that can be completed while on the site visit to Copake Iron Works. In this station, students will walk along a trail through a forested area near the Bash Bish Brook where they will measure and stack wood into a charcoal kiln, and measure a quarter acre of land (time permitting).
This is the second of three stations that can be completed while on the site visit to Copake Iron Works. In this station, students will participate in two activities:
This is the third and final station to be completed while on the site visit to Copake Iron Works. At this station, students will visit the blast furnace and hear an interpretation of the the processing of making iron while viewing the display board. Students will re-enact the physical loading of the "ingredients" into the "human blast furnace" portrayed by classmates.
Students engage in hands-on activities to calculate the amount of fresh water available on Earth, and play a game simulating society's use of renewal and non-renewable resources. You can use this lesson for discussion following a trip to Copake Iron Works. It can also be used to cultivate students' abilities to analyze, categorize, calculate, compose, represent, predict, and/or summarize. Can be done inside or outside.