Oregon Trail Project

Purpose: To better understand the lives of American Pioneers of the mid 19^th Century.

Requirements:

Students must work in teams to travel from the Mississippi River to the west coast.

Students must make choices along the way with the intention of getting everyone safely to the west coast.

Students must keep a journal of their journey – either in the game or in their own notebook.

At the end of the game, students must write a minimum two-page historical fiction story about their journey west.

Student teams must give a 5-minute presentation to the class about the events

and results of their game.

Grading:

The Oregon Trail project will be worth 30% of your Project grade. The project is worth 100 points.

10 points daily for working cooperatively in your group

25 points for the historical Fiction Paper

25 Points for the presentation

Historical Fiction Paper:

Technical:

Paper must be typed

Minimum 2 pages – a two page paper can only earn a “C”, 3 – 5 pages a “B”, over 5 pages can earn an “A”.

Paper must be double-spaced

Must use 12 point font

Must have a one inch margin on all sides

Spelling and grammar must be correct

Creative:

Papers must include people and events

List at least two places where your wagon train stopped and write about these places – look them up on the Internet or in an atlas or encyclopedia.

Your paper should tell a story not just list places and events, make it as interesting as possible.

This is a fiction story but try to keep it as accurate as possible.