Quick Summary
Hop aboard this month’s K12 Resource Pack and explore the stories, research, and science behind trains and railways.
Trains are a great entry topic for just about anything you want to work on with students. They’re a natural fit for early readers, but they also open doors for older students to dig into big questions: how transportation shaped communities, how industries grew, and how people moved across regions and generations. Learn how to encourage students to explore the social, political, economic, and engineering elements of trains and railways in this month’s Resource Pack. The March pack includes a variety of engaging resources from eLibrary Minnesota, Ebooks Minnesota, and Minnesota Digital Library that highlight how trains and rail have changed our world.
For younger learners, Britannica School Elementary and EBSCO Explora Kids provide reliable and engaging information for your train-adoring student, while Ebooks Minnesota titles such as All aboard! : How Trains Work, Bullet Trains, and Freight Trains in Action will get them started.
When students are ready for deeper research, trains turn into an interdisciplinary goldmine: industrialization, labor history, corporate power, migration, environmental impact, and the relationship between transportation and economic growth. Using the new AI feature in Britannica, Ask Britannica, is a good way for students to analyze more complex questions in natural language search, while EBSCO Explora allows students to ask a question such as 'What are the challenges with a city implementing light rail?' and find research articles to match.
For some local and statewide examples, be sure to turn to the primary sources in the Minnesota Digital Library. Trains have had a major role in the history and development of Minnesota, transporting lumber, iron ore, grain, livestock, mail, passengers, and much more across the state. A good place to start is MDL's primary source set on Minnesota's Three Major Railroads, but you can also explore a 1919 map of railroads, a poster advertising land along the Northern Pacific Railroad line, and a wide variety of photographs of engines, depots, and trains at work.
Browse the Trains Resource Pack today!
Image credit: Railway station, Clitherall, Minnesota, c. 1906. Northwest Minnesota Historical Center collection, https://collection.mndigital.org/catalog/mhd:80
