UBD Unit Planning Template

Integrated Unit
Chicago World Fair 1893

Enduring Understanding:

Stage 1 - Desired Results

Grade Level: 4

The Chicago Worlds Fair of 1893 was a significant

event in U.S. history which took place in Chicago in
which people of the time came together to
celebrate world cultures and scientific/economic
development in the United States.
Many famous figures from late 19th century
history attended the Chicago worlds Fair of 1893.
Any time a group of people displays important work
or ideas, choices are made about what is included
and what is excluded.
Scientific and engineering advancement is not
linear, but is made through a series of failures and
successes, as well as human choices about which
solutions they are most interested in.

Essential Questions:

Content Areas Addressed (at least 2):

What does it mean to call something a Worlds

Fair? Can that name ever be accurate?

Social Studies
Science

How does the work we share show what we value?

Common Core and/or Illinois Standards (depending

on subject be sure to include all content areas):
Science:

Unit Objectives (label with the assessment number

in Stage 2):

4-PS3-2.
Make observations to provide evidence that energy
can be transferred from place to place by sound,
light, heat, and electric currents.
4-PS3-4.
Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a
device that converts energy from one form to
another.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of
devices could include electric circuits that convert
electrical energy into motion energy of a vehicle,
light, or sound; and, a passive solar heater that
converts light into heat. Examples of constraints
could include the materials, cost, or time to design
the device.] [Assessment Boundary: Devices should
be limited to those that convert motion energy to
electric energy or use stored energy to cause motion
or produce light or sound.]
3-5-ETS1-1.
Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or
a want that includes specified criteria for success and
constraints on materials, time, or cost.
3-5-ETS1-2.
Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to
a problem based on how well each is likely to meet
the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Social Studies
Illinois State Standards
History
16.A.2b Compare different stories about a historical
figure or event and analyze differences in the
portrayals and perspectives they present.
16.A.2c Ask questions and seek answers by
collecting and analyzing data from historic
documents, images and other literary and nonliterary sources.
16.C.2b (US) Explain how individuals, including
John Deere, Thomas Edison, Robert McCormack,
George Washington Carver and Henry Ford,
contributed to economic change through ideas,
inventions and entrepreneurship.
16.D.2c (US) Describe the influence of key
individuals and groups, including Susan B.
Anthony/suffrage and Martin Luther King, Jr./civil
rights, in the historical eras of Illinois and the United
States.

Unit Objective #1 (Linked to Assessment #1)

Students will conduct general research about the Fair
in order to find information about what the fair was,
when and where it was held, how it was a showplace
for science and technology of the time, and how it
displayed or excluded cultural information. Students
should be able to research and collect information
from a range of sources and, working in small
groups, assemble that information into a digital
presentation using iPads, digital cameras, and
chrome books.
Unit Objective #2 (linked to Assessment #2)
Students should learn things about the Fair which
challenge their idea of what a fair is and help them
understand its significance as a major cultural,
economic, and scientific/engineering event at the
end of the 19th century.
Unit Objective #3 (linked to Assessment #3)
Students will be able to discuss with thoughtful
details what they have learned about the Chicago
Worlds Fair, the multiple perspectives on the
science and anthropology presented there, and how
those things impact the way we think and live today.

16.E.2b (W) Identify individuals and their inventions

(e.g., Watt/steam engine, Nobel/TNT, Edison/electric
light) which influenced world environmental history.
Stage 2 Assessment Evidence (name the three kinds of assessment you have chosen and provide a brief
description of these assessments). Remember, each assessment MUST assess all subjects in your unit.
One assessment MUST involve technology.
Assessment #1:
Assessment #3:
Week 1 Day 2
Week 2 day 5
Digital Presentations Introducing the Fair.
Informal/Formative assessment Grand
Conversation
Each Presentation should include at least one
Each student should participate in the conversation,
scientific display or innovation related to the fair,
sharing something that theyve learned about the
one cultural/social display or issue related to the
science and cultural impacts of the worlds fair.
fair, and information about the buildings, size, or
Students should begin making connections between
location of the fair.
the past weve been studying and the present, as
well as be able to give examples of the multiple
Assessment #2:
perspectives on topics weve learned about in class.
This assessment is designed to help the teacher
Week 1 Day 2
determine in what ways the class is and is not
Quick Write How does the Worlds Fair of 1893
prepared for the next phase of the unit, which will
differ from what you thought a fair was. This
focus on democratically creating a worlds fair of the
assessment is done in the form of a quick write after present and the future.
the initial informational presentations. It is a
formative assessment to see how well the students
Assessment #4:
are getting the significance and complexity of
understanding the Worlds Fair then and now. This
Week 2 Day 5
assessment is not formally graded, but students
should be able to identify at least one scientific and Performative Assessment
one social/cultural connection to the Fair based on
Biography Presentations
what theyve learned so far. Students should also be Students will use performative assessment to share
able to contrast the scale and significance of this
what they have learned about their selected person
event to smaller fairs or carnivals they were
and that persons life and connection with the fair.
previously familiar with.
Projects should take the form of skits/dramatic
readings (with costumes and set pieces), poems, or
other performative forms. Presentations should
include social conflicts/issues surrounding the person
and how that person was viewed at the time vs now,
when relevant. This assessment will be used as a
summative assessment for this phase of the unit.

Stage 3 Learning Plan (briefly outline your unit in the two boxes below)

How Many Lessons of What Length?

The section of this unit included in this plan includes
activities for 2 weeks. I envision the entire unit as
extending at least 2 more weeks to include lessons
and activities connecting the past studied in the first
two weeks to the present and then the future.
A complete 2 week plan is available separately. It
includes general research and digital presentations,

Bullet Your Lesson Plans (specify which lesson you

will be submitting as a full lesson plan):
Science - The Ferris Wheel
Engineering design lesson.
Social studies Cultural Appropriation and Artifact
Ownership The Stave Church of Norway.