Experience history hands-on with an exciting Land Rush simulation where students race to claim land, manage resources, and compete for the most valuable property.
What’s Covered?
Students will make strategic decisions on farming, mining, and livestock, all while grappling with historical and ethical questions about land division and its impact on indigenous peoples. Fast-paced rounds, teamwork, and reflection ensure engagement, critical thinking, and deeper learning. This activity combines fun, strategy, and education.
Educational Standards
Applicable Standards:
- SS 4.2: Students describe the social, political, cultural, and economic life and interactions among people of California from the pre-Columbian societies to the Spanish mission and Mexican rancho periods.
- 4.2.3: Describe the Spanish exploration and colonization of California, including the relationships among soldiers, missionaries, and Indians (e.g., Juan Crespi, Junipero Serra, Gaspar de Portola).
- SS 5.2: Students trace the routes of early explorers and describe the early explorations of the Americas. Students trace the routes of early explorers and describe the early explorations of the Americas.
- SS 5.8: Students trace the colonization, immigration, and settlement patterns of the American people from 1789 to the mid-1800s, with emphasis on the role of economic incentives, effects of the physical and political geography, and transportation systems.
- SS 8.8: Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people in the West from 1800 to the mid-1800s and the challenges they faced.
- 8.8.2: Describe the purpose, challenges, and economic incentives associated with westward expansion, including the concept of Manifest Destiny (e.g., the Lewis and Clark expedition, accounts of the removal of Indians, the Cherokees’ “Trail of Tears,” settlement of the Great Plains) and the territorial acquisitions that spanned numerous decades.
- SS 10.4: Students analyze patterns of global change in the era of New Imperialism in at least two of the following regions or countries: Africa, Southeast Asia, China, India, Latin America, and the Philippines.