- Students will examine how geography, technology and economics have interacted over time to change travel and transportation in the Ohio Valley.

- Students will examine how competition, supply and demand, and transportation concerns have influenced the industry of the Ohio Valley.

- Students will learn about the various historical, heritage and other tourist sites in the Wheeling area, and their significance to our history.

- As a group activity, students will plan the travel of various people of different eras from point A to point B in West Virginia. Each group will present their person's travel plans to the class.

- In an activity we call "Yesterday's News", students will study information sources from the past referencing a famous historical event, and compare how different sources from different eras can explain the same event in very different terms.

This program will take about a half day for your students to complete, so it can be done either in the morning or afternoon. The Toy Museum has an area where your students can have a bag lunch that they bring, and we also have refrigeration capacity, so that you will not need to make a separate lunch stop on your fieldtrip.

Target Grade Level/Audience and related instructional goals, "Time Passages":

West Virginia Content Standards and Objectives addressed (7th Grade):
SS.7.3.1 Demonstrate an understanding of how competition among buyers of a product results in higher prices of that product.
SS.7.3.2 Analyze how geography influences the economy of a region.
SS.7.3.3 Describe the relationship between supply, demand, price of a product.
SS.7.4.12 Analyze the growth of tourism and its impact on regional environments and culture.
SS.7.4.17 Analyze the technological improvements in transportation and communication that have helped create a global society.
SS.7.5.9 Use a variety of credible sources to construct and interpret the past.

Ohio 6-8 Social Studies Benchmarks addressed:
Geography Benchmark C: Explain how the environment influences the way people live in different places and the consequences of modifying the environment.
Geography Benchmark D: Explain reasons that people, products and ideas move from place to place and the effects of that movement on geographic patterns.
Social Studies Skills & Methods Benchmark A: Analyze different perspectives on a topic obtained from a variety of sources.

Ohio most appropriate for Grade 6 OR Grade 7; academic content standards addressed:
Grade 6 Geography #3: Explain the distribution patterns of economic activities and how changes to technology, transportation, communication and resources affect those patterns including (a) agriculture, (b) mining, (c) fishing, and (d) manufacturing.
Grade 6 Social Studies Skills & Methods #7: Work effectively to achieve group goals.
Grade 7 Geography #4: Use physical and historical maps to analyze the reasons that human features are located in particular places.
Grade 7 Social Studies Skills & Methods #1: Describe historical events and issues from the perspectives of people living at the time in order to avoid evaluating the past in terms of today's norms and values.