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 JA
America Works provides students with
examples of how business and
entrepreneurship affected the economic
development of the United States during
the 19th century. Six required,
volunteer-led activities.
The key learning objectives listed
beside each activity state the skills
and knowledge students will gain.
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Session One: Who Am I?
Immigrants flocked to the United
States during the second half of
the 19th century (1800s),
bringing a variety of languages,
customs, and cultural practices.
Immigrants made many
contributions to their new home,
especially to its economy and
workforce. Students learn more
about these contributions and
about the immigrants themselves
through reviewing biographical
summaries and identifying
immigrant groups, based on clues
provided in the text.
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Key Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
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provide examples of
immigrants’ contributions to
the U.S. economy during the
19th century.
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identify key information and
characteristics related to
select immigrant groups.
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Session Two: Roughing It
Students recognize the
significance agriculture played
in the economic development of
the United States through
various examples provided during
this session. Working in groups,
students take the role of
pioneers who moved across the
American West to participate in
the Homestead Act of 1862.
Students learn there are
opportunity costs in each
decision
they make.
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Key Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
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give examples of how
pioneers or settlers used
their knowledge, skills, and
experience to acquire a
homestead and produce food
for themselves and others.
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recognize the significant
role agriculture played in
the economic development of
the United States during the
1800s.
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identify the risk factors as
well as the costs and
benefits involved in making
a decision.
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Session Three: Strike-It-Rich
Students learn how natural
resources played a significant
role in the development of the
United States economy. They also
look at how supply and demand,
job opportunities,
entrepreneurship, and mining
played a part in the rise and
fall of boomtowns during the
California Gold Rush.
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Key Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
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Session Four: In Pursuit of
Progress
Students learn about prevalent
modes of transportation used in
America during the 19th century.
They also work in groups to
identify the productive
resources—natural, human, and
capital—that were necessary for
the expansion of transportation
during that time period. They
play a game that simulates
competition between a railroad
company and a canal company to
construct a transportation route
between two towns.
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Key Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
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list several basic modes of
transportation used in
19th-century America.
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identify the productive
resources—natural, human,
and capital—that influenced
the development of
transportation during the
19th century.
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Session Five: Communication
Transformation
Students learn how different
means of communication developed
in America during the 19th
century. They are introduced to
the telegraph, one prominent
form of communication developed
and used during that time that
helped to expand commerce across
the country. Students learn
about and then use Morse Code to
decipher messages in the same
way Americans did during the
19th century. |
Key Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
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Session Six: Now What?
Students learn how entrepreneurs
bring innovative and affordable
products to market. They learn
how industrialization increases
productivity.
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Key Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
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describe how
industrialization led to
increased productivity
during the 19th century.
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describe the role of
entrepreneurs in bringing
new products to market.
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create a plan for a new
innovation.
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JA America Works enhances
students’ learning of the following
concepts and skills:
Concepts–Benefit, Boomtown,
Capital resources, Communication,
Competition, Cost, Cost-benefit
analysis, Demand, Emigration,
Entrepreneurship, Human resources,
Immigration, Industrialization,
Innovation, Invention, Modes of
transportation, Natural resources,
Opportunity cost, Productive resources,
Productivity, Pull factor, Push factor,
Risk, Scarcity, Supply, Technology,
Telegraphy
Skills–Analyzing information,
Critical-thinking skills,
Decision-making, Decoding messages,
Encoding messages, Gathering,
interpreting, and organizing
information, Math calculations, Oral and
written communication, Planning, Reading
and interpreting data, Working in groups
All JA programs are designed to support
the skills and competencies identified
by the Partnership for 21st Century
Skills. These programs also augment
school-based, work-based, and connecting
activities for communities with
school-to-work initiatives.
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