Description
Students track the coast-to-coast build that rewired America—engineering wins, financial gambles, labor realities, and the fallout for people already living in the West. Reading, mapping, DBQs, and a competitive game keep the pace quick and the learning sticky.
 
Grade Level: 6–10
Duration: 2 days
 
What’s Included
History Cat article: “Transcontinental Railroad” printable version.
Scratch Pad organizer: Targeted questions, a DBQs vocabulary builder, DBQ question, and a free-hand mapping exercise that builds spatial awareness and geographic reasoning.
Simulation game – Great Rail Race: In class simulation, teams manage resources and make historically-based decisions to, overcome obstacles and plot their route to Sacramento.
Answer keys: Complete answer keys
Teacher guide: Step-by-step pacing for 2–3 days, discussion cues, and detailed board game rules and set up instructions 
 
Skills Developed
Evidence gathering and citation from text and documents
Cause-and-effect and change-over-time analysis
Spatial awareness and map interpretation (terrain, constraints, trade-offs)
Economic reasoning (capital, labor, incentives, risk)
 
Perfect For
U.S. History units on Westward Expansion, Industrialization, or Gilded Age foundations
Classes that need a clean balance of reading, maps, and primary sources—plus a game that actually teaches something

Note to teachers:

"The Great Rail Race" simulation is intended to be played as a small group board game. This activity includes resource and event cards that will need to be cut out before play.

Game pieces and dice are not included.