To Build a Wagon

 Sommer Park, Peoria, IL. Wonderful example of the type of cart pulled by many Mormons on their journey west. Others used this type of cart but it was not as common. The balance is amazing and without a load it is easy to pull. That being said, I was struck by the number of questions that entered my mind while examining this mid-nineteenth century means of transporting goods.

First, the cart:

1. What was the best type of wood?
2. What kind of saw was used to cut the various sizes used? 
3. How long did it take to dry the wood? Air dried or had kiln drying become common?
4. How heavy could the load be and still have a single man handle it?
5. How easily could a harness be attached and an animal used? Was this impossible?
6. Pegs or hand made nails? Glue? If so, what type would hold up to the elements?
7. How much did this cart cost if you bought it new in 1850?

The wheel:

1. Again, what is the best wood? Oak, maple, pine, hickory?
2. How did the builder decide the number and size of he spokes?
3. Would thicker spokes and fewer be a better wheel? What would thicker do the width of the wheel? Did the width of the wheel make it easier or harder to pull? If the cart, fully loaded, weighed in at 500 pounds how much force would it take for a 165 pound man to pull it on the level prairie? Don't get me started on the amount of force needed to pull it up the hills, across the streams, rivers, and through the mud after a rain.
4. How often did the hub have to be greased? What was the grease made from in 1850? How much did the grease impact the energy needed to pull the cart?
5. What held the spokes in place? How long did a wheel last on the trip west? How thick was the axle?
6. What tools helped shape the spokes? Were they turned on a lathe? Start thinking about the ways to power a lathe in 1850?
7. What finish was applied to the wood? How often did it need reapplied?
8. How thick was the metal rim put over the wood and how long did that last?
9. What are the angle sizes created by the spoke? If the wheel has a diameter of 4' can you figure out the specific size of each angle?
10. Why didn't they attach one of the old Roman measurement tools to the wagon so it would drop a little rock every mile? How would that be done?

The people:

1. How many calories per day would a person burn pulling this cart fully loaded on the way west?
2. How much would it help the person pulling the cart to add a leather "harness" over their shoulders to help distribute the weight?
3. How many miles per day could a person travel? How long would it take to travel from Nauvoo, IL to Utah, pulling one of these?

Another combination of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics.

To be a Blacksmith in the 1850s

 Spent time at Sommer Park in Peoria, IL this afternoon examining Illinois rural life as lived in the 1850s. I was intrigued by the blacksmith and his skill with metal. Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, AND Art can all be taught through watching a blacksmith work. Questions pour from your mind as you stand and admire the skills possessed by this individual........working from no drawn plans.

1. What are you burning? 
2. How do you start the fire?
3. How is the bellows piped to increase the heat?
4. How long is the metal, once red hot, workable?
5. What is the name of the stone platform that holds the fire?
6. Upon what do you hammer the heated metal?
7. When were these first made and how?
8. Where were the first blacksmith's?
9. How do you weld metal?
10. How do you know when its heated enough to work?
11. How do you visualize the finished product?
12. What if you make a mistake?
13. Where did you learn about what metals are best for what products?
14. Where did you learn what metals are easiest to work with and provide greatest strength?
15. How long did you apprentice to learn the trade?

To Build a Home

We have been blessed to travel this country and as history teachers our travels always mean stops at historic sites that lead to hours of discussion about how to use the information in lessons. Non-educators are probably surprised to find out that a "summer off" was never really a part of our life. Summer was the opportunity to research (all on our dime) and find materials that might be used to engage students in the coming school year. 

The three photos above from three different locations show totally different construction techniques. Yes, the bottom one has been restored but it was still constructed differently than the upper two images. Why? If you enjoy thinking about where our ancestors lived, what did the land look like and how did they get there this post is for you.

The top picture is from the plains region, note the use of sod/mud bricks.

1. Why?
2. What was the climate? Terrain? What drew people to the plains region of North America? Were they misled? Lied to? Would you have gone?
3. How were the walls constructed? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this style? What was the interior floor made from?
4. How many people could live in this house?

The middle picture is another high plains home but built later when lumber was more readily available.

1. Why would you settle here? What strengths of character must you possess to live here? What might a female think of living here?
2. What might this family have done for a living?
3. Why isn't anyone still living here?
4. What kind of climate might they have experienced? What kind of food could they have raised or grown?
5. What domesticated animals would do well here? What wild animals do well?

The lower photo is from Minnesota.

1. What type of climate? Extremes of temperature?
2. How were the logs made?
3. Why aren't they nice and straight and laid one on top of the other?
4. What kind of wood might they have used? How were the logs held in place?
5. How were the shake shingles for the roof made? Type of wood?

What kind of tools were used to build homes in the mid to late 19th century? What was used for insulation? What about windows? Did everyone have access to glass? If not, what else works as a window covering that would allow light in and keep bugs out? Where did nails come from for homes (when needed)?

Would you be willing to spend 3 months fixing up and living in a similar house in a similar location? What would be the most difficult part?

To Build a Thai Pavilion

Olbrich's Botanical Garden in Madison, WI is the location of this Thai Pavilion. Please click on my information images  to gain some background. No questions from me, yet. Soak in the images and come up with your own list. My apologies for the image quality, we arrived toward mid-day after getting lost on the Madison Bicycle Path several times. The temperature moved into the 90's so I have a haze.

1. 

To Plow the Prairie

Returning from a short trip we made a stop at this site and it is this theme that I want to explore today. Illinois is known for its prairie history and my first two photos provide some information to read and a visual to give the reader an idea of how the prairie originally looked. To compare, my wife is 5' 1" so you now have a reference point from which to think about travel through that original prairie grass.

Farmers who moved to Illinois and saw this prairie were disappointed. A place that couldn't support trees everywhere could never support farming. How many times are our assumptions wrong? Some questions for research:

• Where was John Deere born? When?
• Describe the geography of area where he was born?
• How is iron made? What was the problem with iron plows?
• How is steel made? When was it first made in the U.S. and by whom?
• What advantage did steel have over iron? How did Deere recognize this advantage?
• Where, in Illinois, were the above pictures taken? Describe the geography of this area?
• What differences do you notice in the geographic descriptions of the two areas? Similarities?
• What did John Deere do with his new invention? What business plan did he follow?
• Who worked with Deere the most?
• Where did Deere eventually move? Besides the namesake corporation what other evidence of Deere exists in that community?
• Back to the plow, how many acres per day could be plowed with an iron plow? What about the new steel plow?
• How did you sharpen an iron plow? Steel? How often did this need to happen?
• In 1837 a plow normally had how many "bottoms?" 
• What was done to prepare the prairie for plowing? 
• What other products did Deere and his company eventually develop and market?
• Today, how many employees does the namesake company have and where are they located?

To Create A Tool From Stone

Take some time to study the 3 images taken of the same stone tool. The owner says it has been dated back several thousand years and as I held the tool I could see where it was used as a grinder and as a hammer. Early technology, a small step toward more complicated tools developed by those who walked this earth before any of us.

The five small cones are a whole different matter. How could these have been used? Why were they used? Did all tribes use some form of these or only particular tribes? 

Finally, a pile of rock. How would you begin to make a tool from the larger chunk. Post a comment.

To Build A Bridge

Back to my favorite activities after rambling about Drive. This is for younger, middle or older students who might be curious about a once popular way to build bridges. Again, I will provide some, hopefully, open-ended questions to get you started on a quest for more.

• Where was the first bridge of this type built in America? When?
• Era of covered bridges began around ___________________ and ended around ________________.
• Why would we build a bridge with a roof?
• What areas of the country built more of these than anywhere else? Why?
• Where can one visit the largest concentration of surviving "covered" bridges?
• What are the most common design styles? Which designs were best? Worst?
• What kind of wood was used? Was the wood consistent with the part of the country where the bridge was built?
• What happened to most of these bridges?
• Why don't we build covered bridges today? Think about all the bridges being repaired this summer around the U.S.
• What was the longest span ever accomplished with a covered bridge? Were piers used? I'll resist the temptation to go into the whole pier building process for now.
• Who financed the building of these bridges? Public? Private?
• How were the deck beams constructed? Best and worst designs? How thick was the lumber used for the deck?

Time to build a scale model and share your picture online?

"Big Question....Small Question"

Credit goes to the "Strategies for Awakening Your Motivation" portion of Drive. I'm still encouraging all who have not read the book to do so. Purpose provides motivation and without purpose we tend to wander about aimlessly seeking what we think we want, need, desire, etc. A whole section of narrowing activities awaits you and I would simply like to bring one to your attention.

According to Clare Booth Luce, "A great man is a sentence." "What's your sentence?"

Now, begin to ask all those small questions about yourself, your day, and whether you were more effective than the previous day. How many items of your "to do" list were completed? Did your "to do" list only contain work related items? Some of us need to include personal, family, and spiritual items on our list. These may need to be there as long as it takes for these to be part of our daily life.

"What's your sentence?"

Drive.............thanks to Dan Pink

Those who have been reading through my summer of interesting research topics.........my apologies, I am still working through Drive. I promise to post some additional topics for summer fun. Today, I want to focus on  Chapter 5 which is about Mastery and mastery has three laws:

1. Mastery is a mindset.
2. Mastery is a pain.
3. Mastery is an asymptote.

Mastery as a mindset was eye-opening. Carol Dweck, psychology professor, Stanford University, writes that some believe in the "entity" theory or intelligence that is finite and can't be increased while others believe in the "incremental" theory. Incremental intelligence varies among people but we can increase it. Now, what amazed me in her (and Pink) research and writing was the education application. The two theories lead to different roads to achieve mastery. One can use "performance goals" or one can use "learning goals." An A in your chosen foreign language is a performance goal, while mastery of a foreign language is a learning goal. "Dweck found that giving children a performance goal was effective for relatively straight-forward problems but inhibited children's ability to apply the concepts to new situations." Am I totally wrong when I see most of what we have been doing in the name of test prep falls into the performance goal category? As a retired history and geography teacher I would become frustrated year in and year out with the inability of students to apply any math principle to a problem given in my class. Latitude and longitude are a means to plotting points on a graph (map) but my students were consistently confused by the instructions. Charts and graphs provided a means to reinforce basic math principles of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and percentages but I always ended up having to walk classes through the basic math. Our goals were performance based not learning based. Common Core, I believe, is attempting to move students toward learning based goals.

Goal 2 needs no further explanation, I want to ride a century or double century on my bicycle, I must train and training isn't always fun.

Goal 3, we never quite achieve mastery. There is always something I could do just a bit better and that is what keeps me motivated to go and ride six days per week.

What I'm Currently Reading

If you have been checking this blog and noticing some "problems" that are fairly open-ended. No answers provided just some information to try and get you "motivated." I'm currently reading Drive by Dan Pink, please take some time to listen to his TED talk on motivation. The research doesn't back most of what we do in the U.S.

To Build a Boat

Imagine you are traveling by boat on the Xingu River (Google Earth search) and stop along the way to visit a small family community. While walking about the area you discover this "project." Your task today is vast (if you are curious):

• Where is the Xingu River?
• What river receives water from the Xingu?
• How deep is the Xingu? How wide at its greatest point? Compare with the Mississippi River.
• What types of marine life are found within this river?
• What would it be like to live along this river? How do the people live? What crops are grown? Where do you go for medical or dental care?
• Explain the "seasons" in this region of the world?
• Explain the division of daylight/darkness.

Now on to the next part of this task:

• How do you build a boat?
• What is the best design for river travel? Think about your research into the size of the Xingu River.
• What tools are needed to harvest the wood, move the wood from the forest site to your working area, cutting the wood into usable pieces, etc.?
• What type of wood is best used for building a boat in this region?
• Draw a step by step handbook for building a boat suitable for travel on the Xingu River. Write clear instructions for each step.
• How are the joints "packed" to reduce leaks?

 What other questions come to mind for this project?

After you have completed my listed tasks, build a model boat of your own and then share pictures with me.

Culture, Physics, Biology, Sociology, Psychology

http://www.vaguedirection.com/blog/

I have been following this trip since November. I won't even begin to list all the topics of study that could be done based on one blog post. Dave has arrived in Fairbanks, AK after beginning this journey in New York. Please check out his posts and think about miles on the road with just you and whatever nature throws at you. There might be a moose, might be rain for days on end, might be unending rollers that mentally beat you down, might be bike issues (flats, derailleurs, spokes, leaky tent, bad food, etc.), or it might be angry motorists. How mentally tough do you think you are? For your after reading task, create two questions for each of the topics above that you would really like to know and then seek to find answers. Oh, let me know what you find on your research journey.

Remember to add, solo or group bike journey, to your list of things to do before your time on earth is done.

Who am I?

Hiking at Crater Lake National Park we saw this furry little creature. Good summer activity for all of you who love animals. Dig into the who, what, when, where, why and how of this little guy. What do they eat? What elevation are they found? Do they travel higher or lower or do they stay in a particular elevation zone? When do they spend most of their waking hours? To whom are they related? Where are they usually found (Google maps)? For the really curious........how long do they live? How fast does their heart beat? Who are their primary enemies? What do they most like to eat? What most likes to eat them? How many young does the typical female have at one time? What do they do for the winter? The research is endless and hopefully it will lead to more and more questions. Make it a goal to find one of these little creatures during your life.

A little math review or preview......

This cedar tree sits in Portland, OR and for the sake of this exercise we are going to assume the tree  is consistently round. The radius of the tree is 17" which makes the diameter ________ and the circumference _________. There is not a branch for the first 40' of the tree which soars to over 100' in total height. My father-in-law is a wood worker and he would love to turn a bedroom closet into a cedar closet. How many linear feet of rough sawn 1" x 6" sized lumber can he get out of the first 40' once he convinces his grandson and granddaughter to have the tree cut down? You also have to remember that a modern 1" x 6" is actually not 1" by 6" but _____________________________. You will also have some waste on the circular portion of the tree. If you really want to add some spice to the project.......pretend that each saw cut takes out 1/8". So, if you are a retired history teacher like me, get out a big piece of butcher paper and get a circle drawn with the proper diameter and starting laying out the most efficient way to slice the 40' trunk of cedar to get the least waste and most linear feet of wood. Dad, Mom, and children of all ages, time to practice your planning skills. Oh, no answer from me, these are simply for some application of math. I'll try and remember to add some additional problems once you see how much wood you will produce.

Crater Lake National Park

Mt. Mazama, sacred Native American site, exploded around 6,000 B.C. The magma chamber emptied and the 12,000' mountain sunk. As you watch this short video clip taken upon our arrival (yes, it was snowing) I have listed some questions for further exploration. I will not identify questions by age group as some grade school students are far more curious than middle school or high school students.

• Where is Crater Lake National Park? Be specific, don't simply give the state. Compare latitude location of Crater to Chicago, IL, is it north or south? How far?
• How did the lake come to be? (Be as detailed as you wish.)
• How deep at its deepest point?
• Are there fish in the lake?
• How wide is the lake?
• What Native American tribes were in the area?   (then and now)
• What have archaeologists found in this area? (Hint, item is older than the eruption?)
• What animals are native to the region?
• How much snow does this region receive during a "normal" winter? What about the 12/13 winter?
• How far is Crater Lake from your home? What roads would you take to get there? How many hours or days would it take? If more than one day travel.....how much fuel would it take your car, truck, camper, etc. to get there?
• What is the elevation of Crater Lake? Average temperature during July? October? February?
• Is swimming allowed in the lake? Water temperature is _______.
• What other major mountains can be seen from Crater Lake trails? How far away are each of them?
• What major west coast trail can be reached from Crater Lake National Park?
• What trails within the park look the most interesting to hike? What would you need to take with you to insure a comfortable hike?
• If camping, what campground looks the most interesting?
• If you were to swim the circumference of the lake, as close to shore as possible, how many miles would you swim?
• How were the "pinnacles" formed?

I hope these questions might make your trip more interesting. I'll try to post another short video from the park and possibly some pictures.