Title – History of Travel

By – Jose

Primary Subject – Social Studies

Secondary Subjects – Other

Grade Level – 4-7

Preparation

(To be done about a week before the lesson to give time for the questionnaires to be completed)

Brainstorm with the children all the various forms of transport, which they have used to get around from roller skates, bikes and scooters to jet skis, helicopters and aeroplanes.

Make a list on the whiteboard or the interactive whiteboard of all the various modes of transport suggested by the children.

Ask the children to suggest other exciting ways to travel they have not yet experienced (hot air balloon, camel or dolphin back, space shuttle) and would like to try in the future. Make a second list. Make a copy of these lists for future use.

Tell the children you are going to give them three questionnaires to take home and fill in. One is for them, one is for their parents and one is for a grandparent or an older person to fill in. These three are to be brought to the next lesson.

Lesson Plan Details

Introduction


(10 mins, Whole class)


Explain to the children that we live an age where there have been more exciting technological inventions and advances than in any other period of time.

Ask them to suggest inventions.

People travel around the world all the time very easily because airplanes are so efficient and plentiful. There has been space travel for some time now and soon there will be space tourists!

Activity


(15 mins, Whole class in groups of six)


In groups of six

(mixed ability)

, children compare in turn the answers they have back from the three generations and write up any interesting differences.


(They should focus particularly on the huge developments in transport since their grandparents were young and how these have impacted on family life.)


A feedback session from each group to the class

Children write a few paragraphs summarizing their findings. They try to find reasons to explain the results.

Differentiation

The children will be in mixed ability groups so the more able can assist and guide the less able in the activity.

Children to report their findings to the class one group at a time.

Plenary


(10 mins, Whole class)


Teacher to make notes on interesting findings from all three questionnaires on a master copy on the whiteboard.

Discuss.

How did grandparents get to school?

How did parents get to school? How do the children travel to school today? Why are there differences?

Where did grandparents go for their holidays, if at all? Parents? Children?

Did grandparents and parents go away for half term? Discuss the reasons it may be different now.


(There is more money, loans, credit cards, etc. The world is shrinking because of easier and cheaper air travel; mothers and fathers work hard, so need to get away from it all more often. Some families are split so children take holidays with parents separately. In the 1930′s holiday with pay came about so holiday camps sprung up around the country where people went for their annual holiday. Some families travel together several times a year so their thirst for adventure increases as they have visited all the most popular places.)


What type of family adventures would children like to do in the future when they have families of their own?


(World tour, space travel, time travel)

Visit

www.jetix.co.uk/oban

for some inspiration on futuristic travel.

Resources

Questionnaires (3 for each child) completed.

Enlarged master copy — 1 for each group of 6 (5 in an average class)

Enlarged master copy for the teacher on an easel or an interactive whiteboard.

Suggestions for further development

MATHEMATICS and ICT: Children could produce three bar charts of the whole class results showing the three different generations form and their forms of transport. Also their ideas of future travel. Compare results visually. The results could be put into a database on the computer and graphs and pie charts of the results produced for comparison and discussion and for a colourful display.

HISTORY: Children research the evolution of a chosen form of transport and present their findings as a mini-topic.

GEOGRAPHY: Children produce a page of writing on a country they have visited recently. They could include a map and post cards from the area. These are displayed around a large map of the world.

ENGLISH: Creative writing task. Imagine you and your family go on a holiday to another planet. Describe your journey there, the characters you meet, what it looked like when you arrived, where you stayed, what you ate and what you did all day to entertain yourselves.

Less able pupils could draw up a storyboard of the adventure with brief notes about the adventure accompanying each frame.

More able pupils could produce a play script of one the scenes in their story.

For ideas, look at the adventures of Molly and Jordan, the Oban Star Racers, at

www.jetix.co.uk/oban

.

Questionnaire on Transport and Travel

Name ……………………………

Generation – child, parent or grandparent (Please circle)

Place of birth…………………….

Please check the forms of transport you have used in your lifetime so far

Bicycle

Skateboard

Roller skates

Scooter

Horse

Car

Bus / coach

Airplane

Ferry/hovercraft

Cruise liner

Jet ski

Rowboat

Motorboat

Helicopter

Rocket

Space ship

1. How did you travel to school?…………………………..

2. Before you were twelve years old did you have a regular summer vacation?……………………………………

3. Did you travel abroad? …………………………….

4. If you stayed in this country did you go to a holiday camp? ………………………………….

5. How many times did you travel abroad before you were twelve years old? ………………………………….

6. Have you been to EuroDisney?…………………………….

7. Have you been to Disneyland in Florida? …………..

8. Check the theme parks you have visited in this country:

Disneyland in California

Dollywood

Silver Dollar City

Six Flags
Busch Gardens

Other

9. How many times have you been on an airplane?…………

10. How many times have you been on a ship/ferry/hovercraft? …………….

11. Do you return to the same vacation destination each year? Yes / No / Sometimes (circle)

12. Do you spend your vacations visiting relatives? ……………………

13. Check the school holiday time when you usually go away on a break with your family.

Fall Break / Thanksgiving/ Christmas / Spring Break / Easter / Summer / during school time

14. Where would you most like to go if you got the chance to go somewhere in the world you’ve never been before?…………………………………………

15. Imagine what holidays might be like in the future. Give a brief description of what you imagine families may be able to do in the year 2082. Have a look at

www.jetix.co.uk/oban

and see what exciting possibilities there are!

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16. Which hero(s) would you most like to share an adventure with? ………………………………………………………………………….

E-Mail

Jose

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