Page 343 - Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students 4th Edition

APPENDIX B
A RESOURCE UNIT FOR UPPER ELEMENTARY U.S. HISTORY: THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Resource units are very useful for developing teaching units. They describe the intellectual substance, learning goals, and big ideas that can inform the teaching units. They also suggest possible activities for the teaching units, readings for teachers to use in developing the teaching units, and related readings for children to use in the teaching units. Although conceived as part of a chrono- logically organized introduction to U.S. history for fifth graders, this unit is designed to focus on a connected set of key ideas developed in depth rather than to offer broad coverage of the details of the revolutionary period. In support of the citizen education goals of social studies, it concentrates on the conflicts over governance issues that developed between England and the colonies, and the ways in which the colonists’ views on these issues shaped the ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the forms of government established through the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution. Many of these ideas about government are relatively abstract and new to fifth graders, so unit plans concen- trate on developing appreciation of the ideas themselves without getting into the history or philosophy that led up to those ideas. Nor do the unit plans call for detailed study of the war itself, because we do not view this con- tent as central to our major goals. However, teachers who wish to incorporate material on the war (because it is highly interesting to many students) can easily do so.
GOALS
• Help students come to understand the conflicts that developed between England and the 13 colonies, how these led to the Declaration of Independence,
how independence was secured through the Revo- lutionary War, and how all this resulted in the establishment of a new nation (federation).
• Help students come to appreciate the political values and governmental ideals that emerged dur- ing this crucial period as keystones of American political traditions, as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution.
KEY IDEAS
Recommendations about key ideas to emphasize have been informed by the findings of McKeown and Beck (1990) and VanSledright, Brophy, and Bredin (1993) concerning the prior knowledge that needs to be in place and the primary storylines that need to be developed to enable students to construct coherent understandings of the nature and implications of the American Revolution. Suggestions about key historical events to emphasize in this unit were taken from Crabtree, Nash, Gagnon, and Waugh (1992) and McBee, Tate, and Wagner (1985).
The Colonies’ Relationship to England Prior to 1763
Either in previous units or in the introduction to this unit, students will need to understand the following key ideas as context for their learning about the American Revolution:
1. More than 150 years elapsed between the founding of the first English colonies at Jamestown and Ply- mouth and the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. During that time, the English colonies
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