Time: 45-60 Minutes
Grades: 3-12
This virtual field trip teaches what happens when human history and conservation converge. Your students will learn about the life of mountain men, what it was like on the frontier, and how trapping impacted beaver populations. This program features mountain man artifacts from the 1800s, artifacts from the beaver hat industry, and beaver biofacts.
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Mountain Men and the Beaver:
Our Mountain Men and the Beaver program is a fantastic way to teach your students about the impact that humans and industry can have on animals and conservation! This program covers multiple aspects of one larger topic, the beaver hat industry.
One aspect of this topic, that we will examine, is how the beaver hat industry led to the near extinction of the beaver in Europe! We’ll discuss how popular this fashion craze was, and what happened to the beavers because of it.
Next, we’ll discuss how the collapse of the beaver populations in Europe led to wide scale trapping in the new world; this is where the mountain men come in. Your students will learn what it was like to be a mountain man in the 1800s. We’ll discuss their everyday life, the dangers they faced, and how they helped create the trails that were later used by immigrants. Your students will see beaver traps, mountain man clothing, weapons, and other artifacts from this important time period.
Finally, we’ll discuss how this wide scale commercial trapping almost led to the extinction of the North American beaver, too. Your students will learn how a small fashion change in Europe (the move from beaver hats to silk hats) not only saved the beavers but ended the mountain man lifestyle!
This virtual field trip is unique and incredibly interesting! Request a program today!
Extra Mountain Man Activities
In addition to this field trip, the museum has created a world-class curriculum to go along with our mountain man education trunk. These activities can be inserted into your own curriculum, within your classroom. The first document will walk you through all the activities, or you can download individual activities below that. A couple of these activities require the mountain man education trunk, but most can be used in your class with or without the trunk.
| # | Title | Description | Size | Hits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complete Teacher Book | This is the complete teacher book for the in-classroom mountain man curriculum. This document has the education trunk inventory with descriptions, the teacher guide to the curriculum, every student worksheet and reading page, and supplemental information. | 9.24 MB | 328 | |
| Section 1 - Activities 1 and 2 - The Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark Expedition - Color | This will allow you to download this individual section of the mountain man curriculum. This is included within the teacher book. | 3.33 MB | 328 | |
| Section 2 - Activity 1 - Exploring History through Artifacts - Color | This will allow you to download this individual section of the mountain man curriculum. This is included within the teacher book. | 107.21 KB | 122 | |
| Section 3 - Activity 1 & 2 - The American Beaver and How Mountain Men Trapped Beavers - Color | This will allow you to download this individual section of the mountain man curriculum. This is included within the teacher book. | 929.55 KB | 143 | |
| Section 4 - Activity 1 and 2 - Making Your Mountain Man and Dressing Your Mountain Man - Color | This will allow you to download this individual section of the mountain man curriculum. This is included within the teacher book. | 1.03 MB | 232 | |
| Section 5 - Activity 1 and 2 - A Year in the Life of a Mountain Man (Teacher Cards) - Color | These are the digital version of the game cards that you can find in the Mountain Man Education Trunk. | 7.07 MB | 139 | |
| Section 6 - Activity 1 - Rendezvous Trading Activity - Color | This will allow you to download this individual section of the mountain man curriculum. This is included within the teacher book. | 5.36 MB | 466 | |
| Section 7 - Activity 1 - Tall Tales Activity - Color | This will allow you to download this individual section of the mountain man curriculum. This is included within the teacher book. | 131.60 KB | 115 |