How to run Crossing the Continent, 1845 as Problem-Based Learning: your role, the pre-planning maps, pacing, stakeholder role cards, sources, and debrief prompts. The golden rule — guide, don't tell. In PBL the students should feel they, not you, planned the investigation.
| Phase | What you do | What you resist |
|---|---|---|
| ① Surface | Teach vocabulary and facts efficiently; run the jigsaw; check acquisition. | Rushing to the problem before facts are secure. |
| ② Deep | Facilitate the costs-and-benefits map and source routine; model claim + evidence and steelmanning. | Giving your own interpretation of the sources. |
| ③ Transfer | Read the problem well; hold the KWHL chart; answer questions with questions; point to sources. | Answering the "Need to know" questions yourself. |
The Surface phase uses a four-topic jigsaw (The pull west) — a high-leverage move (d ≈ 0.92) because every student must teach. The flow: expert groups each study one topic and take notes → students re-mix into home groups with one expert per topic → each expert teaches → an individual check for understanding holds everyone accountable.
The per-expert-group source links (documents + articles) live on the Surface page, one set per topic. Confirm access through your district before class.
Before teaching, brainstorm every direction the expansion problem could branch — so you can steer discussion and decide, in advance, which threads are productive and which need care because they are sensitive. The human cost to Native nations, to Mexican residents of the ceded lands, and the expansion of slavery must be handled honestly, factually, and with gravity — they are central, not optional.
| If students investigate… | They are working toward… |
|---|---|
| westward expansion and its political, economic, and social effects | §113.20(c)(6) |
| how expansion grew sectionalism (free vs. slave territory) | §113.20(c)(7) |
| the location & physical characteristics of the U.S. and how they shaped expansion | §113.20(c)(10), (c)(11) |
| why the North, South, and West developed different economic systems | §113.20(c)(12) |
| different points of view and relationships among people from various backgrounds | §113.20(c)(21), (c)(23) |
| using and questioning sources; points of view; claim + evidence | §113.20(c)(29)(A–H) |
| defining the problem, weighing options, choosing & evaluating a solution | §113.20(c)(31)(B) |
Confirm access through your district's approved catalog before class. Vetted, free starting points:
Aligned to (not reproduced from) 19 TAC Ch.113 §113.20.