Learning by Doing in American History

by Jennifer Jordan

For the last 8 weeks, fifth graders have embodied the roles of colonists in 17th and 18th century America. Each student studied a colonial region and with our design chief, Ms. Denise, built a room to showcase his or her daily life. All of this work culminated in our Colonial Living History Project.  

Although our project is officially completed, fifth graders have not abandoned their roles. Our blacksmiths and farmers, our shop owners and wives are now fully immersed, for as colonial America has grown, so too have they. Each student has continued to live alongside the development of the colonies through the French and Indian War, and the debts its mother country, Britain, has to pay. Whether a student lives in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, or Georgia, he or she has felt the effects of the Stamp Act. In fact, through our taxation game, our colonists learned how it felt to have to pay arbitrary taxes upon which they did not vote. Their candy was taxed and given to the King and Parliament just because they happened to wear a blue shirt, or…pants! A massacre occurred in Boston, and our colonists expressed their opinion of this event in a news article. Word now is that the Sons of Liberty are gathering to host a little tea party in Boston. A revolution is on the horizon. Our colonists will likely want to participate and declare themselves as Patriots of America. However, some may still be loyal to Britain. They will have to make a choice. Whatever they may decide, our fifth grade colonists are truly understanding the path to American independence by actively engaging in experiential learning.