American West L15 – Decline of Cowboy and Drives

• This lesson contains:

• An introduction to the ‘open range’ and why the cowboys moved from working on the range rather than performing cattle drives.

• A task to study the reasons why the cattle drives ended and the role of cowboys declined. Students read the information provided and put the reasons into order of importance.

• A discussion of the winter of 1886-87 and the consequences of the great ‘die-up’.

• An opportunity to study the role barbed wire played in the decline of cowboys by studying an exam exemplar and picking out facts and importance words in the answer, then having a go at their own exam question using similar criteria.

• A plenary crossword with the keys words from the cattle ranging and cowboys lessons.

Attachments

• 1 x Powerpoint Presentation

• 1 x Powerpoint Files

• 2 x Word Files