VISITING THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS IN THE 1950s

Overview
This project has the student investigating the city of St. Louis in the 1950s utilizing the Virtual City website. They will create a letter discussing a visit to the city. The letter will describe people, places and events. Students will also examine problems of the city.

Objectives
After completing this lesson, students will:

Be able to navigate the St. Louis Virtual City website.
Analyze and interpret documents from the Virtual City website. This will include maps and census charts.
Analyze problems of the city and recommend improvements to rectify the problems.
Describe a fun activity to participate in the city of St. Louis during the 1950s.
Evaluate why a person, place or event of the 1950s is important to St. Louis history.

Show Me Standards 1.2, 1.7, 3.1, CA3, SS2, SS6

Process:

Ask the class what they think they know about St. Louis in the 1950s. Include in the discussion how the riverfront and buildings looked in this time period. Discuss transportation, education, shopping, politics, entertainment, etc.
Introduce the website to the class. Pull up the decade of the 1950s. Demonstrate how to navigate the streets and gather information from the right side.
Handouts may include:

Copy of student instructions
Blank letterhead
Scoring Guide

Click here for student instructions