A. Prior Knowledge Discussion: See if you can borrow an old notebook/diary/journal from a local museum,
library, or check your school library for an example then discuss with the students:
(Cards are included in the package to use for different strategies in completing Part A)
- When Canada was becoming a country why did they send explorers to the Alberta region?
- How did the explorers travel and whom would they meet during their travels?
- How an explorer of the 1800’s might take information back to his employers?
- What technology was available?
- How long would it be before he was to show his information to his employers? So is a memory good enough?
- How available were paper and pencils? Telephones? Computers? Telegraphs?
- Why would his notebook be important to the development of Canada and Alberta in the early years?
- Is there another way to keep a record of what he sees? What would be the expenses for using it?
- What occupation may he have had? (Scientist, Geologist, Surveyor or Fur Traders)
- Was Alberta even a province in the late 1800’s?
- Why did the Government of Canada need to know what was in the area now known as Alberta?
- What was the area around the Drumheller valley like back in the late 1800’s? (Grassland, Red Deer River,
fairly flat, then deep valleys and canyons. This site gives a good description:
http://www.cd.gov.ab.ca/enjoying_alberta/parks/featured/dinosaur/nature.asp
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library, or check your school library for an example then discuss with the students:
(Cards are included in the package to use for different strategies in completing Part A)
- When Canada was becoming a country why did they send explorers to the Alberta region?
- How did the explorers travel and whom would they meet during their travels?
- How an explorer of the 1800’s might take information back to his employers?
- What technology was available?
- How long would it be before he was to show his information to his employers? So is a memory good enough?
- How available were paper and pencils? Telephones? Computers? Telegraphs?
- Why would his notebook be important to the development of Canada and Alberta in the early years?
- Is there another way to keep a record of what he sees? What would be the expenses for using it?
- What occupation may he have had? (Scientist, Geologist, Surveyor or Fur Traders)
- Was Alberta even a province in the late 1800’s?
- Why did the Government of Canada need to know what was in the area now known as Alberta?
- What was the area around the Drumheller valley like back in the late 1800’s? (Grassland, Red Deer River,
fairly flat, then deep valleys and canyons. This site gives a good description:
http://www.cd.gov.ab.ca/enjoying_alberta/parks/featured/dinosaur/nature.asp
4
