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Education

Goals of Our Project

These lessons are designed to support a visit to the exhibition on the Van of Enchantment. They use primary and secondary sources—writing, images and maps—as bases for activities and exploration. 

How to Use These Lessons

Ideally these lessons should be used in conjunction with a visit to the exhibition on the Van of Enchantment. If used before a visit to the Van exhibition, be sure to let the Van staff know. We may be able to tailor your experience to enhance what your students have been working on in the classroom. If you cannot take your students to the Van exhibition, these lessons can be used by themselves, either in relation to other topics or as part of a larger unit on the Santa Fe Trail or Railroad. Few additional materials are required and all are either inexpensive or already available in the classroom or on-line. Our goal is to make these lessons as flexible and easy to use as possible. There are many quality educational materials that can be used to explore the history the Santa Fe Trail and the Santa Fe railroad. We have listed web sites and sources in the bibliography of this exhibition curriculum.