Essential Question: How do communities evolve?

Enduring Understanding: Many factors, including natural disasters and technological advances, expansionism, immigration, and emigration have profoundly shaped our nation and its communities. 

Knowledge Focus

In this unit, students will read informational texts about how the transcontinental railroad was built, and how it changed the United States and life for the people who lived there. Students will build schema around the following concepts:

Social Studies

• The development of the transcontinental railroad contributed to the economic development of major industries.

• The technological advancement that created the transcontinental railroad made significant impacts on the United States.

• Time lines sequence key events and help illustrate how communities and places change throughout time.

Cultural Awareness

• As communities develop and change over time, they can become culturally diverse. Interactions between people of different cultures may be positive or negative.