NOTE: THIS PAGE AND DOWNLOADABLE TOOLKIT STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The Keystone Marker Trust hopes to soon offer a toolkit for educators to use as a lesson plan organized around the Keystone Markers. The toolkit will be in accord with the Standards Aligned Systems guidelines specified by the Pennsylvania Department of Education available at http://www.pdesas.org/.
Adopting/Caring for marker itself teaches citizenship. What is citizenship? What is volunteerism and why does good citizenship require volunteerism?
- Text on each marker tells about location of your place in relation to other places. Why was your town put there? Why was it named what it was and how did that namesake affect your town? When was your town founded? What was going on in the world at that time?
- Why are the markers blue and gold? Why are they the state colors? (maybe talk about the meanings of colors in medieval heraldry)
- Why are the markers keystone-shaped? Why is PA the keystone state? What is PA’s place in history?
- How were the markers made? Go into the history of iron and steel making in PA. New markers are made of aluminum. Why? What has happened to iron and steelmaking (maybe talk about environmental issues that led to heavy industry becoming too expensive to do in PA because too costly to meet environmental concerns; PA’s subsequent commitment to clean itself up)
- Design your own marker. What would your marker say and why? What colors would you use and why (refer to symbolism of colors above). http://www.keystonehighways.com/keystonemarkers.html
Pennsylvania, Keystone, Town Markers, Keystone Marker Trust, roadside markers historical, KMT KMT-PA.org Pennsylvania history towns cast iron road markers PHMC historical historic highway sign roadside markers road sign Pennsylvania road highway street sign keystone blue and yellow town creek stream river borough trail wayfinding tourism