• Construct a bar graph and understand the purpose of a bar graph.

• Construct a line graph and understand the purpose of a line graph.

• Identify the appropriate kind of graph for displaying different kinds of information.

• Use numerical information to deepen understanding of historical events and situations.

• Use historical thinking in analyzing numerical information.

Per class

• Which Kind of Graph (Activity Sheet 4) answer key  (View)
• Free Black People in Baltimore County (Activity Sheet 3) answer key  (View)
• Population of Anne Arundel County (Activity Sheet 2) answer key  (View)
• changingtimes vsc objectives  (View)

as determined by instructor

• Crayons, colored pencils or markers for coloring bar graphs.

• How Many White People (Activity Sheet 1)  (View)
• Were all black people slaves (Activity Sheet 5)  (View)

Per Student

• Ruler or other straightedge.

• Population of Anne Arundel County (Activity Sheet 2)  (View)
• Free Black People in Baltimore County (Activity Sheet 3)  (View)
• Which Kind of Graph (Activity Sheet 4)  (View)

• bar graph - a graph that shows different numbers of people or things that exist at the same time
• line graph - a graph that shows change over time
• vertical axis - the line that goes up and down on the side of a graph
• horizontal axis - the line that goes from side to side along the bottom of a graph

Set-up Directions:

Each student will need a copy of Activity Sheet 2  ("Population of Anne Arundel County: 1850").  Activity Sheet 1 ("How Many White People Lived in Maryland?") can be distributed at your discretion, either individually or to each pair.  Students will also need access to computers, either individually or in pairs, and colored pencils, crayons or markers for filling in their graphs.

Before beginning the lesson, check the website listed to make sure it is active and that the computers are equipped with the appropriate software to use the online field trips.

Optional:  If you are not using an internet connection/LCD projection, you may want to print out the instructions for navigataing through the website, especially during the Focus for Media Interaction.

Teacher Presentation & Motivation:

It is recommended that you demonstrate the following as a whole class, while students are seated at individual computers.  If an LCD projector is not available, you can simply have students go through the navigation of the site below while you discuss what they're viewing.

Open the "Pathways to Freedom" online field trip from the Thinkport website. http://pathways.thinkport.org/

Click on "mapping it out,"  then click on "go to the interactive."  Click "Start." 
This will take you to a map of Maryland, divided into counties.  As a quick review, very briefly discuss that a  map that shows the borders of counties, states and countries is called a political map.  (A map that shows mountains, rivers and other physical features is called a physical map.)

You can get a closer look by clicking on the small "+" sign on the bottom left-hand corner of the map.  Then, by clicking on the map and holding your finger down on the mouse, you can move the map around to get a look at different parts of the state.  See if you can find your own county.

Tell students: To learn about the geographical features of the state and their relationship to the Underground Railroad, click on the button labeled "Geography" on the left side of the page.  The green dots point out important geographical features of the state.  Click on the green dots to read about these features and the roles they played in the Underground Railroad.
Give students a few minutes to explore this feature. 

Next, tell students: Altogether, historians estimate that about 100,000 people escaped slavery on the Underground Railroad between 1810 and 1850 (check dates).  Is that a lot of people?  (Answers may vary.) 

Tell students: 100,000 is a big number.  But in order to make sense of that number, we need to know how many slaves there were altogether.  That way we can see whether those who escaped were most of the slaves or just a lucky few.  In today's lesson, we will be looking at the numbers of slaves--as well as free blacks and whites--who lived in Maryland at different times before the Civil War.  This will help us put in perspective the number of people who were able to escape.

Activity 1 - Reading the interactive timeline

Students will familiarize themselves with the interactive timeline.  First, they will focus on one year and compare the numbers of people in different counties in that year.  Next, they will choose one county and look at the changing population numbers over time.  Since this activity focuses primarily on use of the online interactive, detailed instructions for what students will be doing are included in the section below.

Reminder:  As an option, the teacher may want to have the instructions below printed for the students to follow along with the activity.

Focus for Media Interaction
Focus for Media Interaction: The focus for media interaction is a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.

Students should still be at the place from the previous Teacher Presentation/ Motivation section.

Tell students:  Close the window with the map of Maryland.  In the remaining window (http://pathways.thinkport.org/flash_home.cfm), choose "figure it out" from the menu on the left side of the screen.  This will take you to the interactive timeline.  Click on "Go to the interactive" to open the timeline window.  Read the brief introduction.

Ask: In what ways do you think numbers help historians get a more complete picture of past events?  (Accept students' ideas.) 
Point out that numbers can help us see patterns - for example, if the number of people living in a particular area increased steadily for many years and then suddenly dropped, that would suggest that a significant event might have happened in that year.  Also, numbers can tell us about events' impacts on people.  For example, how many people were affected by slavery?  How many escaped?  How many were captured and returned?

Click the "start" button. Move the mouse around the map and notice the changing numbers for each county.  To understand the significance of the numbers, read the question at the bottom of the page: "How many slaves lived in Maryland?" and look at the date indicated on the timeline at the top. When you place your mouse over a county, the numbers in the box tell you how many slaves lived in that county in that year. Notice that the tiny number at the bottom of the box tells you the total number of slaves who lived in Maryland in that year. For some of the counties, no data is available for some years. Read the explanation that appears on the right side of the map. This explains why we do not have information about that county in that year. Experiment by choosing different years and looking at different counties. (To change years, you have to drag the red arrow to a different point on the timeline.)   Point out that you can also change (towards the upper left) Male/Female, and the age groups represented.

Give students a few minutes to explore the map.  Have them put in their gender and age group.

Tell students: Find the bar at the bottom of the page that says, "How many slaves lived in Maryland?" Click twice on the arrow on the right side to move to the question: "Were all black people slaves?"  Now when you move the mouse over a county, it will tell you the number of free black people who lived in that county in that year. Practice using this feature for a minute. Finally, use the arrow to move to the next question: "How many white people lived in Maryland?" Move the mouse to see the numbers of white people in each county in a particular year. These three maps give us information about the population of Maryland in each of the given years.

Ask: Do you think there were any people in Maryland who did not fall into any of these categories (slaves, free black people, white people)? What other groups might have lived there at that time? Why do you think they are not included on the map?

Tell students to click on the small box labeled "Get think sheet" underneath the box that shows numbers of people. With a partner, discuss the first three questions on the think sheet. Circulate and answer questions as students complete this activity.

 

Viewing Activities
What will your students be responsible for while viewing this piece of multi-media or video?

Students will go through the Figure It Out map, and learn statistical information about the people represented (males, females, age groups, blacks, whites). They will use this data to complete the ThinkSheet to answer specific questions about population size and increase/decline over a number of years.

Post Viewing Activities
How will students utilize the information they gathered while viewing the multi-media or video?

Circulate the room as students complete Activity Sheet #1.

After students have finished, lead a discussion about their responses.  Connect this information to what students have already learned about Maryland history prior to the Civil War.  Ask students how they might find additional information about the issues raised on the think sheet.  (For example, why were there much larger numbers of white people in some places compared to others?  Use the map to find out whether the counties with the largest numbers of white people also had the largest numbers of black people.)

Finally, read and discuss the last question (#6) from the ThinkSheet:
How could you compare the number of slaves, free black people, and free whites in Maryland during a certain year? As a historian, why would you want to do that? What might you learn?
Note that this question is not included on the activity sheets.  Tell students that in the next activity, they will find this information and use a graph to represent it visually.

Activity 2 - Make a picture with the numbers

In this activity, students will gather information from the interactive timeline and represent it visually using a line graph.  They will then complete an activity in which they identify the appropriate situations for using bar and line graphs.  Finally, they will discuss the historical significance of the information they have gathered.

Focus for Media Interaction
Focus for Media Interaction: The focus for media interaction is a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.

Enter the "Pathways to Freedom" online field trip from the Thinkport website. 
http://pathways.thinkport.org/

Choose "figure it out" from the menu on the left side of the page.  Click on "Go to the interactive," then click "start."

Tell students: For this exercise, students are going to make a graph of the numbers of people who lived in Anne Arundel County in 1850. This way, someone can easily compare the numbers of enslaved blacks, free blacks, and whites simply by looking at the graph.

Instruct students: Start by moving the arrow to the year 1850. Next, use the bar at the bottom of the page to find the numbers of slaves, free black people and white people who lived in that county in that year. Write these numbers in the appropriate places on Activity Sheet 2 ("Population of Anne Arundel County, 1850").

Viewing Activities
What will your students be responsible for while viewing this piece of multi-media or video?

Students will use data from the Figure it Out section of the online interactive to compare data of various populations (free blacks, whites, # of slaves, etc).

Post Viewing Activities
How will students utilize the information they gathered while viewing the multi-media or video?

Students will create graphical representations based on the instructions below:

Tell students: Now that you have collected your data, you will create a graph to represent that information visually. Since we are showing different numbers of people who lived at the same time, we will use a bar graph. (If we wanted to show change over time, we would use a line graph, which we will do that in the next activity.

At the bottom of Activity Sheet 2 there is a blank graph.  When making a graph, the first thing you must do is figure out how many people will be represented by each square on the graph.  The highest number you must show is 16,542, so the graph has to go at least that high.  In this case, there are twenty squares on the graph so we will make each square represent 1000 people.  On the left side of the graph, label each block accordingly.  (The line at the bottom of the graph will be labeled "0", the next line - marking the top of the first square - will be labeled "1000", the next will be labeled "2000", continuing to 20,000.)  Label that side of the graph "Number of people."

The horizontal axis will be used to describe the people who lived in Anne Arundel County.  Create one bar called "enslaved black people", another called "free black people," and a third called "white people."  Label the axis appropriately (e.g., "Different groups of people").  Finally, fill in the appropriate number of squares for each group of people.  Use partial squares to show numbers less than 1000.

Make sure your graph has a title that clearly identifies what the graph is showing.

Wrap Up:

Point out to students that their graphs enable them to compare the numbers of enslaved blacks, free blacks, and whites who lived in a particular place at a particular time.  Graphs help to give us a mental picture of numbers that might be hard to grasp otherwise.

Remind the students that these numbers represent only one part of Maryland at one historical moment.  If we look at other counties and other times, we will find not only different numbers of people, but different proportions.  (For example, in some places at some times, free blacks outnumbered enslaved blacks.)

If time allows, give students a few more minutes to compare the information in their graphs with other counties and other decades.

Set-up Directions:

Each student will need copies of Activity Sheets 3 and 4.  ("Free Black People in Baltimore County" and "Which Kind of Graph?")  Activity Sheet 5 ("Were all Black People Slaves?") can be distributed individually or to each pair or small group, based on your discretion.  Each student will need a ruler or other straightedge for drawing lines on the graph.  Also, students will need access to computers, either individually or in pairs.

Teacher Presentation & Motivation:

Review with students the different population groups.  Tell students: Yesterday you made graphs that showed the numbers of people from three different groups who lived in Anne Arundel County in 1850.  A bar graph like the one you made is useful when you want to compare several different things that exist at the same time.  But what if you want to see how the population changed over time?  A line graph allows you to illustrate this kind of information so that you can see patterns and trends.

Activity 1 - Making a line graph

In this activity, students create a line graph showing the changing population of free black people in Anne Arundel County in the 1800s.

Again, as an option, you may print out the Focus for Media Interaction instructions for students, depending upon whether you will be following along using an LCD or it will be self-directed by the students.

Focus for Media Interaction
Focus for Media Interaction: The focus for media interaction is a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.

Enter the "Pathways to Freedom" online field trip http://pathways.thinkport.org/flash_home.cfm
Choose "figure it out" from the side menu. 

Practice moving the red arrow on the timeline at the top of the page to see the numbers of people who lived in each county at different times.  You can also change the question at the bottom of the page to see how many people in each group (slaves, free blacks, and whites) lived in each county during each decade.  (Note that the data for enslaved children is shown only for the year 1850.)

For this activity, we are going to look at the population of free black people who lived in Baltimore County between 1820 and 1860. (You'll see that the map does not have data for the number of free blacks before 1820.) At the bottom of the page, scroll to the question, "Were all black people slaves?" This question gives information about the number of black people in each county who were not enslaved at any given time.

Set the timeline at 1820 and find Baltimore County with your mouse. Record the number of free black people in the appropriate box on Activity Sheet 3 ("Free Black People in Baltimore County"). Then move the red arrow to the next four positions on the time line and record the number of free black people who lived in Baltimore County in each of those years.

Ask: What do you notice about these numbers? (The number of free blacks grew very quickly until 1850 and then fell dramatically between 1850 and 1860.) Why do you think this might have happened? How could we find out more?

If time allows, give students a few minutes to look at the data for other counties. Did the population of free blacks follow a similar pattern in other parts of Maryland? If you were a historian, what kinds of questions might you ask about events in Maryland based on these numbers?

Viewing Activities
What will your students be responsible for while viewing this piece of multi-media or video?

Students will explore various questions related to the Underground railroad at various points in time and in specific Maryland counties.  Using Activity Sheet #3, students will record numbers for various populations as instructed.

Post Viewing Activities
How will students utilize the information they gathered while viewing the multi-media or video?

Tell students:

Now you will make a line graph to show the change in population in Baltimore County between 1820 and 1860.  First, you will label the line on the left side (vertical axis) with numbers of people, just as you did with the bar graph in yesterday's lesson.  This time, the graph must go up to 29,075.  Since there are only xx square, there is not enough room to make each square represent 1,000 people.  Instead, we will make each square represent 2,000 people.

Label the squares accordingly, making sure that the first line is labeled "0", the next line "2000," the next "4000," etc.  Label the line at the bottom (horizontal axis) with the dates, beginning with 1820 and ending with 1860, and making sure the years are evenly spread out.  Finally, plot the data on the graph so that the graph shows the appropriate number of people for each year.  Use a ruler to connect the dots.

Make sure your graph has a clear title that explains what information is shown.

When students complete their graphs, as a class discuss the patterns.  How does the graph help visualize the dramatic change in the number of free black people who lived in Baltimore County during this time period?

Activity 2 - Which kind of graph?

In this activity, students will apply their understanding of the two different kinds of graphs they have created in this lesson.

Provide each student with a copy of Activity Sheet 4 ("Which kind of graph?")  Students should determine which kind of graph (bar or line) is appropriate in each situation described.

When they have completed the activity, collect the graphs and discuss the answers.  Remind students that bar graphs compare numerical data at a single point in time, while line graphs are used to show change over time.

Activity 3 - Figure it out

Students will work in pairs, still using the Figure it Out section of the Pathways interactive, students will read and discuss the questions on the thinksheet about free black people in Maryland.

Focus for Media Interaction
Focus for Media Interaction: The focus for media interaction is a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.

From the Figure it Out section of Pathways, http://pathways.thinkport.org/figure/

have student pairs open the thinksheet page.  Click "Get ThinkSheet" underneath the box showing numbers of people on the interactive timeline. 

Tell students, In pairs, read and discuss the questions on the Were all Black People Slaves Thinksheet. Keep in mind that these questions ask you to think like a historian. In some cases, you will not have enough information to give a definite answer. (For example, "Why do you think . . . ?") In these cases, you are expected to use the information you do have to make a hypothesis, or educated guess, about what might have happened and why.

Viewing Activities
What will your students be responsible for while viewing this piece of multi-media or video?

Students will use the Thinksheet and Activity Sheet #5 to answer questions and interpret data about number of free black people versus the number of slaves in Maryland, and how the population groups changed over time.

Post Viewing Activities
How will students utilize the information they gathered while viewing the multi-media or video?

Lead a whole-class discussions about students' answers to these questions.  Connect this information to what students have learned previously about Maryland history.  Discuss ways in which students could find additional information about people who lived in Maryland in the 1800s.

Wrap Up:

Tell students: Yesterday you made bar graphs.  Today you made line graphs, which are a helpful way to show change over time.  Ask: How is a line graph different from a bar graph?  (A bar graph shows different numbers of people or things that exist at the same time.)  Ask: How can graphs help us understand numbers more effectively?

Display the bar and line graphs side by side so that students can see the different kinds of information presented.