The California Gold Rush, Environmental Harm and Health Consequences of Mining

The California Gold Rush, Environmental Harm and Health Consequences of Mining

Essential Questions - How do new ideas change the way people live? How did the gold rush and Mormons affect the West? How did the discovery of gold help California? To what extent did mining for gold and other precious metals and minerals contaminate the environment (water, soil, air and food supply) causing illness, disease, irreparable harm and premature death?

Lesson Components Include:

- Lesson Plan (8 pages)

- California Standards

- Relevance Key Points

- Student Learning Success Criteria

- 17 Videos (3 hours and 6 minutes in total), pick and choose as you wish

- 6 Pages of Text for Reading

- 10 Question Quiz based on the Text (with pages numbers after each question)

- Answer Key (for easy grading)

Learning Intention - Students will learn the importance of economics, discovery, innovation, new ideas and how these change the way people live, where they choose to live, job opportunities and economic development. Students will consider the negative environmental impact of industry, mining and development and to what extent that compromises environmental health and public health via contaminating the purity and quality of the water, air, soil and food we grow therein and eat.