Winter Garden Heritage Foundation
Experience History Field Trip
Classroom Exercise
Classroom Exercise: Economic Changes in Central Florida
Grade levels appropriate: Fourth and Fifth
Objectives: What will students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?
Students will use a graph showing the number of acres of citrus from 1900 to 2000 to:
- The student understands that Orange County was once an agriculture area and now is urban;
- The student understands the influences that caused the change.
Sunshine State Standards:
SS.A.6.2.3.4.6 The student understands some ways industrialization and urbanization have affected Florida.
SS.A.6.2.3.4.8 The student knows selected economic, political, and social transformations that have taken place in
Florida since World War
II.SS.B.1.2.1.4.1 The student uses maps, globes, charts, graphs, and other geographic tools to gather and interpret
data and draw
conclusions about physical patterns.
SS.B.1.2.2.4.1 The student knows how regions in Florida are constructed according to physical and human criteria.
Materials needed:
Economic Changes in Central Florida
handout for each student or group
Introductory/background information for teachers and students:
At one time, Central Florida was mostly rural farmland. The graph shows the number of acres of citrus groves in Orange
County in the 20th century. Orange County, from 1925 through 1950, was the top producing area for citrus in the world.
Now Polk County produces more oranges and grapefruit than Orange County. Two main things caused the citrus industry to
move further south.
The population boomed after the 1971 opening of Walt Disney World. Walt Disney's theme park
attracted people from around the world. As a result, other tourist attractions, as well as hotels, restaurants, and
shopping centers, opened nearby. Many people moved here to work in the new businesses. The people coming here needed
homes. As more people moved here, demand for land to build houses and apartments increased. Soon people were buying
grove land to build houses. Many citrus growers sold their land here and moved their groves to places where the demand
for land was not as great.
In addition, weather changes affected the citrus industry. In the winters of 1983, 1985, and
1989, temperatures in Central Florida were very low. Orange trees can not survive below freezing temperatures. In
these three winters, most of the citrus trees in Orange County died. With each freeze, growers had to make a choice.
They could plant new trees on existing grove land in the spring and possibly face another cold winter the next year.
Or they could sell the land to people wanting to build houses and move their groves to land further south in Polk
County, where the temperatures are a few degrees warmer. With each freeze, more farmers decided to move. Now Central
Florida is considered an urban center rather than a rural area.
Lesson process:
Students, working alone or in small groups, study the "History of Orange County Citrus Acreage" graph and answer
questions below the graph.
After giving the small groups time to discuss and answer the questions among themselves, the
teacher poses the questions to the class for discussion. During discussion, the teacher leads the class to observe and
draw conclusions about what Orange County was like before Disney World and how the area is different now.
Reflection/follow-up activities: Provide key questions that could be used after this lesson in classroom
discussion, writing a review, reflective journal entries, or connection to other subjects.
How did the arrival of Walt Disney World affect the Central Florida area?
Would you call Orlando an urban or a rural area?
Additional materials: What other activities or materials would help teachers prepare students for this lesson,
and how can they be accessed? (Print, website, library, other.)
Scott Foresman Social Studies - 4th grade textbook, pages 246-247, Compare Line and Bar Graphs
Connections to other learning:
How does this experience connect with reading, math, science, social studies and other learning?
This lesson connects to the following FCAT Math Benchmarks:
MA.D.2.2.2.4.2: The student uses information from physical models, graphs, or tables to solve real-world problems.
MA.E.1.2.1: The student solves problems by generating, collecting, organizing, displaying, and analyzing data using
histograms, bar graphs, circle graphs, line graphs, pictographs, and charts.
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