EDUCATION

The sky's the limit for educational programs at the Union Pacific Railroad Museum!

2009-2010 Program Guide

Iowa Schools!! Please ask about our field trip grants from Woodmen of the World. While it lasts this grant can pay for your students admission to all three Railroad Tie Museums. Please email below for more information.

Are you a free spirit, but want more information? Try our scavenger hunt. Print it out before your visit for a fun family activity, or hold a contest and see who can complete it first!

Scavenger Hunt

Union Pacific Railroad Museum special programs

• This is MY Museum: pk-2nd grade. This fun and fast paced tour talks about everything you need to know to be successful in a Museum environment. Students will tour though entire Museum looking for "clues" to Museum Manners. Includes the Locomotive Simulator. Ask about the optional "what happens when I touch it?" experiment! 30-45 min. *

• Great Plains, Bison and Tank Towns: In this tour see what came before railroads. Learn about Great plains tribes and discuss cultural borrowing. See how communities developed along railroads. 30-45 min. First Floor only. *

• Time, Telegraph and Trains: Examine the difference between transportation before and after the railroads. Explore the concepts of time zones and communication. Finally contrast and compare the different challenges experienced by the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific as they joined a nation! 30-45 min. First Floor only. *

• Westward by Rail: This interactive tour explores the technological advances made during westward expansion and their impact on history. How did supply and demand influence the settlement of peoples in the West? What are the economics of railroad building? 30-45 min First and Second Floor. *

Rail Talk: Sit down with retired UP employees and find out what life was like "Working on the Railroad". See if you can follow whistle signals in our classification game. Great for Scout groups and summer programs! 30-45 min. Comes with a special booklet for the kids to take home.

Download one of our Lesson Plans/Units!

The Transcontintental Railroad Unit

Settlement of the West Unit

Native Americans and the Iron Road Unit

National History Day?

Railroads are a great way to discuss technology and innovation in history. Railroads are often at the forefront of ingenuity and invention. For example, did you know it that railroads were the first to use the concept of time zones in the United States? As early as 1875? The following document will give you some ideas and some resources to do further research on how technology and innovation applies to railroads. Happy researching. If you need more information, please feel free to contact me through the contact form below.

Technology and Innovation and the Railroad

Contact the Education Department