Family History Project U.S. History 1 Project description: For this project you are going to investigate your family history (back to AT LEAST your great grandparents) and create a final product which will demonstrate several skills needed in U.S. History class. Those skills are:

 Chronological reasoning (timeline)  Geographical reasoning (map skills)  Push and Pull theory  Cause and effect  Short vs. Long term thinking  Compare and Contrast  Gathering and interpreting evidence

Options for your final product:  Poster  PowerPoint*  Journal entries  Prezis*  Other ideas? Ask your teacher first!

*Technological projects will need to be printed and turned in.

Required components of the project:

1. A map that shows where your family began and where they moved to. Start with where your great grandparents lived (if you can go back farther, please do!) and track your family’s movement through current day. (Skill: geographic reasoning)

2. A timeline that gives date/places/descriptions of the following:  Birth of great grandparents/grandparents/parents/siblings/you  Dates of movements  A significant historical event that occurred during each movement. (Skill: chronological reasoning)

3. One paragraph (at minimum) describing the push and pull factors of why your family made their most significant move. Take into consideration economic, social, or political factors.  Push factors: were there any factors that caused your family to move NOT by free choice?  Pull factors: were there any factors that caused your family to WANT to move to a new location? (Skill: Push and pull factors)

4. One paragraph (at minimum) describing the causes and effects of your family’s most significant move.  Causes: this is very similar to push/pull factors. What caused your family to move?  Effects: this is very different from push/pull factors. What was the effect of the movement on your family? (Skill: cause and effect)

5. Interview your family members and gather evidence about their movements. Examine their short term vs. long term plans when moving. Write one paragraph (minimum) that explains if their plans were short term or long term and why. Family History Project U.S. History 2 (Skills: gathering and interpreting evidence, short vs. long term thinking)

6. The final product will be displayed in class in a gallery walk. After this gallery walk you will be required to compare/contrast your family history with all of the other students in class.  How was your family’s history different from everyone else’s?  How was your family’s history similar to everyone else’s?  Draw an overall conclusion as to why people have chosen to move throughout history and how has that affected people’s lives?  Where do you see yourself living in 10 years? Why? (Skills: Compare and contrast, long term thinking)