Oregon History Wayfinder

• This interactive map provides a large assortment of information on various events and aspects of Oregon's history.
• Students can click on any of the dots on the map to learn what makes that area historically significant or filter the results by era, region, county, or theme.

Positives

• Each point on the map provides students with a quick look at a more in-depth article that can be found by following the link.
• There are links to other Oregon history databases on the left side of the map.
• You can select multiple filters at once to reduce the number of highlighted results on the map.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• Younger students should have the filter features of the website shown to them and explained before using this resource.
• The filter feature will not reduce the number of dots on the map, but it will give a list of articles relating to that area of interest and highlight the dots referenced in the results.
• Students who feel overwhelmed by the amount of points on the map would benefit from a very specific task related to the map.

Differentiation

• To connect this resource to climate change, try focusing on the filters for "Agriculture and Ranching," "Environment and Natural Resources," and "Science, Medicine, and Technology."
  
• History classes can have students work in groups to create a timeline of a certain era in Oregon history, with each group working on a different era to identify events that connect to power generation, industry, or changes in land use that might connect to climate change topics.
• Geography classes can create their own map for events that changed the way people interacted with or used the land in Oregon, thinking about the impacts of those changes on greenhouse gas emissions.
• Social studies or history classes can use the filter to see important events related to women and can use this for a discussion about the role of women throughout Oregon's history.
• Social studies classes discussing the treatment of and events relating to minority groups throughout Oregon's history can take a localized look at this subject to determine if there are correlations with environmental justice topics.