My students need to travel to the Fort Smith Historic Site to experience first-hand the ways in which economics and history intertwine in our local area!
Remember learning about new places and wishing that you could visit them to fully immerse yourself in the learning process? That is exactly what this project aims to do! My Economics Club students LOVE to learn about new places, people, and events, so let's visit the Fort Smith Historic Site!
We attend a Title I, high-poverty school, where students' ability to travel is often very limited.
With this project, Economics Club students will be able to travel to the Fort Smith Historic Site, receiving first-hand knowledge of how economics and history have intertwined for years, right within our own surrounding community! My students love to visit new places, but because we live in a high-poverty area, we do not always have the resources to travel and experience the world around us. Economics Club students have a deep interest in discovering new and exciting ways in which economics surrounds our past, present, and future, and this trip will give us the opportunity to immerse ourselves in our local community's economic past in a fun-filled and educational field trip. What better way to teach economics and history than with a hands-on activity that students are sure to remember!
My Project
Economics Club students will use this field trip as a resource that teaches how economics and history come alive within our local community. Students will tour the Fort Smith Historic Site and learn the history of trade along the Arkansas River, the ways in which early settlers and Native Americans interacted in this economic setting, how settlers dealt with a lack of resources and a scarcity of goods, and how our local area played a major role in the economics of the 19th century. A Fort Smith Historic Site tour guide will showcase to students where the old fort stood, give students a tour of a rebuilt and authentic 19th century building, walk students through a historically accurate museum of the area, and discuss with students a myriad of facts related to economics and the history of our area.
This project will make a difference because instead of simply telling student about the importance of economics and history, this field trip actually takes students to the past, giving them a first-hand look at how history and economics played a major role in our area's past.
It is not enough for students to hear facts from a book; instead, students need to immerse themselves into a location and be given the time and resources to fully understand how history and economics matter in our lives.
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