About the Guide

Sense of Our Roots: High Educational Standards

The Allegheny Ridge State Heritage Park Discovery Guide© and Passport to the Allegheny Ridge© is a two-volume, heritage-based educational curriculum designed for primary and secondary students, respectively. To create this unique resource, the Allegheny Ridge Corporation put together a team of teachers, curators, historians, museum educators, preservationists and folk life specialists, all having contributed a great deal to the project.

The Discovery Guide© is a site-specific curriculum, offering educational experiences based around existing historical resources that can be visited throughout the Allegheny Ridge Heritage Area in western Pennsylvania. Each site has its own section, so that the book can be used to familiarize students with any one or all of the sites. Targeted to grades 4 through 7the Discovery Guide© is in the form of a loose-leaf notebook, so that the pages, sections, lessons, and activities can be removed.

Suggested sites to visit include the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum, the Horseshoe Curve National Historic Landmark, the Johnstown Flood National Memorial and Museum, and the Johnstown Incline. If you cannot visit the sites in person, there is a video entitled People of the Ridge, which takes you to each of the sites without having to leave your classroom. There is also a cassette tape of original songs entitled Men of Steel - Songs of Pennsylvania's Working Class Heroes that is informative, as well as fun.

The Discovery Guide© adheres to all of the existing and proposed educational standards developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. This resource was piloted in 13 schools within the Allegheny Ridge, and was evaluated by the Program of Instructional Systems at the Pennsylvania State University. The recommendations of these studies were integrated into the Discovery Guide©.

The Allegheny Ridge Corporation believes that all children in the Commonwealth should have a sense of who they are and from where they come. We believe that the Discovery Guide© is an important step in that direction.

Guide Users

For Classrooms, Home school, Scout Troops, Historic Sites: Integration into Existing Curriculum

The Discovery Guide© is intended for anyone interested in understanding, preserving, and promoting the heritage of the Allegheny Ridge. While it has been prepared in a format that makes it useful to elementary or secondary school teachers, other educators will also find it useful. Any group leader or educator can use the guide—home school, scout troops, church youth groups. The Discovery Guide© can also be used in adult education programs and as activities for senior citizens. Staff and volunteers at sites along the Ridge can also mine the Discovery Guide© for ideas and activities that may be incorporated into interpretive programs. The Discovery Guide© provides a process that its users can follow to discover the diverse heritage of the Allegheny Ridge.

An invaluable tool for field trip planning, the real value lies in the Guide’s integration into existing curriculum. Teachers can find lessons in all subjects that will stimulate an excitement and intellectual curiosity for heritage that becomes part of the student's everyday life. Whether part of a math lesson, language exercise, or science experiment, students can learn about local cultural, historical, and natural resources and the legacy that has been bequeathed to them. They begin to appreciate their role as stewards of this legacy and to recognize and respect it in the customs they follow, in the buildings and structures of their communities, and in the other people of the Ridge. They begin to understand that the experiences of the people of the Ridge have had far-reaching influence, and that they are the newest part of that experience.

We hope you will consider using the Discovery Guide© and that you will want to make it a permanent part of your yearly curriculum.

News & Events

Please contact us for more information. If you email, use the words "Discovery Guide" in the subject of your message.