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Lesson Plan Image

Panning for Gold

Students will learn about the California gold rush and create a 3D image of a prospector panning for gold.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

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  • Heavy Paper
  • Tape

Steps

  • Step 1

    The California gold rush began in 1848, when gold was found at Sutter's Mill, California. Have students research the history and its significance and implications. How many people came to California to search for gold? Why were they referred to as forty-niners? From what other countries did people travel? How did the sudden influx of gold into the money supply affect the economy? How did it influence California's path to statehood? How were Native American populations affected?

  • Step 2

    It's called "panning for gold" because prospectors used a flat round pan to dip into river sand and then make circular swirling movements under the water. Have students create a 3D model of a prospector panning for gold. They can bend a large piece of heavy paper so that it stands and displays a background. Have them decorate the base and background with watercolor pencils, pressing firmly for bold colors and using water and the paintbrush to soften the color in other areas, which adds depth and dimension to the art. Student decide on what embellishments they will add to their scenes, such as tree leaves and gold nuggets, by decorating, cutting out, and the gluing construction paper to the base or background. They can make a prospector out of heavy paper and gluing or taping this into the scene.

  • Step 3

    When the art is complete, students can present it to the class and discuss some of the facts they learned about this period in history.

Standards

SS: Time, Continuity, and Change: Analyze the causes and consequences of past events and developments, and place these in the context of the institutions, values and beliefs of the period in which they took place. 

SS: People, Places, and Environments: Use maps, globes, and other geographic tools. Demonstrate understanding of the use and misuse of the environment and the relationship between human populations and the physical world. 

Adaptations

Gold rushes have occurred all over the world. Have students investigate others, such as the varied ones across Australia that played a role in shifting its identity away from a penal colony, the Tierra del Fuego (Chile) gold rush (1883-1906), and a current gold rush in Ghana. Note that the implications of gold rushes around the world have always negatively impacted Indigenous populations.

Have students list and illustrate idioms and phrases associated with gold. Examples include "She has a heart of gold," "All that glitters is not gold," "The streets are paved with gold," "He has a golden touch," etc.