Instructional Strategies - Early Dams

In this module students learn about how water was used to power water wheels, and thus work the machinery of the mills. Students deepen their understanding of how European settlement changed the landscape with the building of dams and millraces, and then the houses and businesses that began the city of Baraboo.

Students are given the opportunity to speculate and then research the workings of water wheel power. Have them work in pairs, as a small team, or if home schooled with an older sibling or adult to research the history of water wheels and their use in the turning of gears of 19th century machinery.

Discuss the importance of the river to settlement. Compare water as a renewable resource with other renewable resources mentioned in Module 5, including timber. Emphasize how Abe Wood, the first European settler to the Baraboo valley, built his cabin near a water source. Compare the life of living in a log cabin with today's homes. If possible, visit the Reedsburg Log Village on Hwy 33 just east of the city of Reedsburg. Explain that the technology used by European settlers solved  significant barriers to economic development. Talk about the brilliance of the technology they developed, and how it was built on the life experiences they brought with them from other places.

Wisconsin Social Studies Standards Alignment

Learning Priority: (Inq1.b) Plan an inquiry

3-5: Develop a list of questions that support the research through discussion and investigation to guide inquiry.

Learning Priority: (Inq2.b) Evaluate sources

3-5: Evaluate resources to determine which best support the inquiry and supporting questions.

Learning Priority: (Inq3.b) Cite evidence from multiple sources to support a claim

3-5: Select appropriate evidence from sources to support a claim.

Learning Priority: (BH4.a) Progression of technology

3-5: Classify technologies based on intended use, access, and design, and how they might change people’s lives (for better or worse).

Learning Priority: (Econ1.a) Choices and decision making

3-5: Use economic reasoning to compare and contrast the costs and benefits of a decision. Categorize different limited resources.

Learning Priority: (Econ1.b) Incentives

3-5: Infer potential incentives in a real-world situation.

Learning Priority: (Econ2.c) Firm/business behavior and costs of production

3-5: Compare the skills and knowledge required to produce certain goods and services. Provide an example of the factors of production (i.e., land, labor, capital, entrepreneurship) for a given product.

Learning Priority: (Geog1.a) Tools of geography

3-5: Summarize how location (absolute and relative) affects people, places, and environment.

Learning Priority: (Geog2.b) Reasons people move

3-5: Investigate push and pull factors of movement in their community, state, country, and world.

Learning Priority: (Geog2.c) Impact of movement

3-5: Describe population changes in their state and country over time.

Learning Priority: (Geog2.d) Urbanization

3-5: Summarize positive and negative factors of cities. Identify the location and patterns of cities within our state and country.

Learning Priority: (Geog3.a) Distribution of resources

3-5: Classify a provided set of resources as renewable or nonrenewable, and analyze the implications of both at the local, national, and global level.

Learning Priority: (Geog5.a) Human environment interaction

3-5: Compare the positive and negative effects of human actions on our physical environment (e.g., availability of water, fertility of soils) over time.

Learning Priority: (Geog5.b) Interdependence

3-5: Examine how human actions modify the physical environment when using natural resources (renewable and nonrenewable).