Major Concept:

Suggested lesson/activities:

1. Divide the class into six heterogenous groups, making sure that each group represents a reasonable range of academic abilities, interest, and intelligence. Distribute the following to each group:
   1. copies of CROSSROADS Essay I, pp. 1-4.

   2. a glossary of the scientific terms identified in the objective above.

   3. photocopied pages from any scientific encyclopedia which succinctly describe the major tools and techniques which scientists use in their fields (check copyright restrictions with your librarian).

   4. a packet of photographs of topography, products, architecture, and other iconic representations of the culture of a region of the United States today. Each group will receive a different packet. Care should be taken to represent the major culture of the area without using written language.

      For example, a New England packet might contain photographs of the typical ÒCape CodÓ saltbox house, a small fishing harbor, fall foliage, the tapping of maple trees, a country store, a village square, L.L. Bean Catalog, photographs with language removed, cross country ski packages, schools, churches, highways, heating systems, lawnmowers, snowblowers, art galleries, mills, and stone quarries. Southeastern, Midwest, Southwest, and Northwest packets would contain comparable ÒartifactsÓ representative of their region. For example, photographs of houses could include the Georgian, gable, or adobe styles dependent on the region.

   5. a set of directions for group work described below.

2. Direct students to read pp. 1-4 of CROSSROADS Essay I: "The Americas to 1500."

3. Explain to the students that each of the groups is part of an extraterrestrial expedition force visiting Earth, and that the six expedition teams have landed some great distance from one another. All the teams have experts in the use of scientific tools and procedures.

4. The students' first task is to separate the material in the packet so that all students can examine the articles simultaneously. Classify the photographs by placing them into the following groups: buildings, landscapes, clothing, tools and equipment, and miscellaneous.

5. Using the encyclopedia definitions of the various scientists' work methods, students should decide which approaches they can use to examine the materials given to them, and then proceed to apply them.

6. Ask students to draw inferences from the ÒartifactsÓ about the following: How people earn a living; what people think about religion; how people use leisure time; how people dress; how people might communicate; what type of groups might be formed; and the use and level of technological development.

   When the groups have drawn their inferences, have each group report to the class their major inferences about the culture and their bases for drawing them.

7. Following the groups' presentations, reassemble the class for a question-and-answer session. The goal is to develop a classification system for the inferences drawn by each group. The classification should distinguish those characteristics that differ from region to region and those characteristics that appear common across all regions.

8. As a closure activity, conduct a brief discussion to derive a set of criteria to apply when evaluating inferences made by historians using the methods similar to those the groups used. These criteria will form the basis for evaluating historical inferences made for the next several lessons.