By Jenna van der Vegte, secondary Individuals & Societies teacher
In grade 8, the students are nearing the end of the unit on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. One of the topics within the unit was the Underground Railroad, and Mr Ripley developed a fun and engaging activity which the students thoroughly enjoyed.
Finding an escape route
Students were divided into groups and assigned a State, and they needed to do research on the Underground Railroad escape routes for each State. We then aligned the States on the tables so that we could see how the routes connected from one State to the next. The grade 8s practiced their research, organisational, and collaboration skills for this task.
Winner and loser of the Industrial Revolution
In grade 9, the students recently completed an assignment in which they had to select a ‘winner’ and ‘loser’ of the Industrial Revolution and create a poster and present their findings to the class. Not only did the grade 9's have strong arguments that were supported with reliable evidence, but their posters were visually stunning too!
