Copper Traces Online - Maritime History - Activities

Eagle Harbor Lighthouse, Keweenaw County Historical Society

NPS Photo

Navigating the Great Lakes with the Keweenaw County Historical Society

Background

Not familiar with the Keweenaw Peninsula? Start here:

• Keweenaw National Historical Park Website
• Keweenaw County Historical Society

This lesson plan focuses on the Keweenaw County Historical Society, or KCHS for short. KCHS is made up of a group of dedicated volunteers who work to preserve and showcase 11 historic sites on the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, United States. The various sites KCHS maintains are not only known for copper mining, but also shipping, commercial fishing, lumber, and even maritime history.

Although there are many themes that KCHS embodies, the focus of this lesson is going to be on the importance of shipping in the Great Lakes. From 1840 to around 1900, ships were the only way to move people, goods, copper, and other supplies into and out of towns on the Keweenaw Peninsula. Sailors faced great challenges and navigated safely using lighthouses. The Great Lakes waters flow from 602 feet all the way down to sea level. Ships are unable to pass over waterfalls such as Niagara Falls, and so locks were built to efficiently move ships between lakes.

In this lesson students will focus on learning about the danger and difficulties of shipping (fog, blizzards, gales, collisions, sandbars, rocky shores, fire, smoke, and explosions on board), the five great lakes and shipping ports, the locks that allow ships to transition between lakes, and major shipping events.

 

Introduction Video:

Activity Objective
Gain an understanding to basic information about shipping on the Great Lakes. Uses musical, spatial, and linguistic intelligences.

1. Play introductory video to the entire class.
2. Hold a discussion with students after the video. Ask questions such as:
   1. What are some challenges sailors faced when sailing across the Great Lakes? (Storms, fog, blizzards, gales, fires, etc.)
   2. How did lighthouses and fog signals help sailors stay safe? (Helped with navigation, helped sailors stay away from rocks and the shore)
   3. Why do you think shipping on the Great Lakes is so important? (Able to transport materials pretty far inland by water.)

 

Duration:

2 minutes, 47 seconds

Intro Video for the KCHS Maritime History Module

 

Map Exploration - Coming soon!

Activity Objective
Understand the historic routes ships on Lake Superior would take to transport people and cargo. Uses the spatial, interpersonal, and linguistic intelligences.

1. Pull up the shipping map on the Keweenaw National Historical Park website.
2. Guide them through the following questions, or similar questions, that they discuss in small groups:
   1. Why do you think the route shown on the map is the route that sailors took? Why wouldn’t they stick closer to land? (Going out across open water in straight lines is faster, trying to avoid rocky shores or shallow spots, etc.)
   2. How do you think captains knew they were close to land? What if it was foggy or dark out and they couldn’t see the land? (Lighthouses, fog signals)

 

Video Tour of Lighthouse

Activity Objective
Understand the role of lighthouses and fog signals in ship safety and navigation. Uses the spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligences.

1. Start by playing the video tour for the class to watch together.
2. After watching, lead a short discussion on the following questions, or similar questions:
   1. Why do you think the lighthouse is colored a specific color? (to stand out against the land so that sailors can easily see it during the day)
   2. What do you think the other buildings around the lighthouse are for? (housing for the lighthouse keeper and family, assistant keeper, building for the fog signal)

 

Duration:

2 minutes, 7 seconds

Video tour of the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse tower and living quarters.

 

Shipping Board Game

Activity Objective
Understand how slow and difficult the process of shipping on the Great Lakes is. Uses the bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and spatial-visual intelligences.

1. Gather students into groups of 2-4.
2. Hand out printouts of the game board, paper pieces, and spinner to each group.
3. Read the instructions below and have the students start playing the game.
   1. Shipping Board Game Instructions:
      1. Cut out all pieces and spinning wheel.
      2. All pieces start at the same port, either Duluth or Detroit.
      3. One at a time, take turns spinning the wheel. Move the amount of spaces the wheel tells you to.
      4. If you are at a port and the wheel tells you to move backward, stay where you are.
      5. The first to the opposite port wins!
4. Once everyone is done, lead a short discussion which could include the following questions:
   1. What did you think of the game?
   2. Is there any strategy or does it feel random?
   3. Based on this game, do you think sailing on Lake Superior is easy or difficult?

Game Board Template
Spinner Template

 

Alternative Activity Ideas

Letter activity

Activity Objective
Think creatively and apply previously learned material to an open-ended prompt on safety and navigation in sailing the Great Lakes. Uses the linguistic and intrapersonal intelligences.

1. Hand out printouts of the letter paper. Introduce the activity as the students are now captains of their own ship on Lake Superior and have gotten lost in bad fog. They are worried, and they have to write a letter to their family/loved ones about what they are going to do.
2. Give them time to write out a simple letter that they can take home at the end of the day.

Letter Activity Template