Facilitate a classroom discussion about the transportation network in your local community and larger region. How is the local transportation network in your community connected to the larger region? How has this changed over time? Was your community settled along a river before there were trains? Did it ever have steamboat traffic? Did it have stagecoach service? Was your town settled because of railroad development? Did your town have a main line or a spur line? Does it still exist, and if so, do trains still run to or through your town? Does it still have a passenger train? When was the last passenger train? How many passenger trains cross North Dakota each day? What towns are served by passenger trains? Are passenger trains still important to North Dakota? When did the first resident buy a car? When were the highways developed? Are you near an interstate or other major highway? Are there historic bridges in the area? Does your town have an airport? How many flights does it have each day? How do students know what they already know? Talk about what their knowledge is based on. Are they informed by personal experience? Have they read about it before, or saw it in a movie or television show?