Iowa History Course

Overview

This Iowa History professional development is designed to equip teachers to teach a year-long Iowa history course and is connected to a companion student course hosted in the Iowa Department of Education's Iowa e-Learning Central.

Under each unit, teachers and life-long learners will find an overview of the unit, compelling and supporting questions, suggested topics of study, major figures, historic sites in Iowa, photo, document and object highlights from the State Historical Society of Iowa's collections, expert reflections on thinking like a historian, videos, and further reading.

Possible course projects and specifically designed classroom materials are also available for teachers using this content in their classrooms.

Semester 1

Units		Chronology	Compelling Question
Unit 1	Native Iowa	10,000 BCE to 1833 CE	Who were the first inhabitants of the land that would become Iowa?
Unit 2	Iowa Territory	1833 to 1846	How did the arrival of white settlers in the Iowa Territory change the cultural landscape?
Unit 3	Iowa Statehood	1846 to 1857	How did Iowa become a state?
Unit 4	Iowa Before the Civil War	1857 to 1861	How did Iowans respond to the national debate over slavery?
Unit 5	Iowa and the Civil War	1861 to 1870	How did Iowans contribute to the Civil War?
Unit 6	Industrial and Economic Growth in Iowa	1870 to 1920	How did Iowa develop?
Unit 7	The Progressive Era in Iowa	1870 to 1920	To what extent did Progressive Era reforms improve the lives of Iowans?

Semester 2

Units		Chronology	Compelling Question
Unit 8	Iowa During and After World War I	1914 to 1929	How does war influence American values?
Unit 9	The Great Depression in Iowa	1929 to 1939	How did the Great Depression change everyday life for Iowans?
Unit 10	Iowa in World War II	1939 to 1945	How did Iowans contribute to the war effort at home and abroad?
Unit 11	Postwar Society and Economy in Iowa	1945 to 1965	How was life in Iowa transformed after the end of World War II?
Unit 12	Iowa and the Cold War	1950 to 1975	How did the Cold War affect Iowans?
Unit 13	The Farm Crisis in Iowa	1975 to 1989	How did the Farm Crisis affect Iowans?
Unit 14	Iowa in the Modern Era	1990 to 2020	How do our lives today compare to Iowans of the past?