Reforming Society Project - PBL 19th century Second Great Awakening high school

This is a 4-step project that starts with textbook work and ends with a gallery walk (or traditional presentations, take your pick!).

The 4-step process allows for student choice and voice as they make their way through the guided workbook. They begin by being introduced to 7 topics of the early 19th century reform movement. Then, students choose 2 of those topics to explore in greater depth and complete a primary source analysis for each of their 2 chosen topics. Next, students narrow down their focus by choosing 1 of the 2 topics they analyzed, and conduct research to create a Google Slides/PowerPoint presentation. Lastly, students gather in a Gallery Walk format to present their research to visiting scholars (you can invite another history class, or have classmates present to each other).

Included in this resource:

Reforming Society Project 4-step process document for students

7 primary source documents

Project Timeline and class record of topics

Project Questions for visitors

The 4 steps include:

Step 1 -  Gathering Knowledge - textbook reading on Transcendentalism, Temperance, Public Education, Prison Reform, the Abolitionist Movement, The Cult of Domesticity, and the Seneca Falls Convention

Step 2 - Narrowing Your Interest - students choose 2 of the above topics and read and analyze primary source material. Primary sources include excerpts from “Nature” (1836) by Ralph Waldo Emerson; “Advice to Young Women and Men” from The Temperance Almanac by the New York State Temperance Society (Albany, 1836); excerpts from “The Pecuniary Value of Education” (1837) by Horace Mann, “Memorial to the Massachusetts Legislature” (1843) by Dorothea Dix; excerpts from the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” (1845); excerpt from “A Treatise on Domestic Economy” (1841) by Catharine E. Beecher; and excerpts from “The Seneca Falls Convention and Resolutions” (1848) by Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Step 3 - Investigating Your Interest -  students choose 1 of the topics they chose in step 2 to research further

Step 4 - Putting It All Together - students prepare slides to present. This step contains detailed requirements, a breakdown of what to put on each slide, and tips for crafting good quality slides

A grading rubric is included at the bottom

Notes for use…

For Step 1, I use the textbook America: Pathways to the Present by Prentice Hall, but you can align the topics to whatever your classroom textbook contains.

For Step 2, I have linked all the primary source documents in the body of the document, as well as included them as PDF files. Please let me know if you have any trouble opening them.

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