In this interactive lesson, students will learn about the Homestead Act, federal legislation that promoted westward expansion. Through an analysis of photographs, maps, videos, and graphs, they discover how the act, along with recently introduced technologies, helped different communities establish a new life on the Great Plains. Students will also explore the obstacles that homesteaders faced while living on the Great Plains and how they survived. At the end of the lesson, students will answer the essential question: What obstacles did homesteaders face on the Great Plains, and what did they do to try to survive and prosper?