Crossroads: High School Curriculum
Unit I: A World of Their Own: The Americas to 1500

Lesson 3


Contents

Major Concepts

Objectives

Suggested lesson/activities



Major Concept:

The Americas before the arrival of European explorers, missionaries, settlers, and colonists were home to a remarkable range of societies and cultures.

Objectives: The student will be able to:

  1. Use the data presented to the class by the "expert" and "study" groups in Lesson Two to draw some inferences and conclusions about the range and diversity of American Indian societies and culture before 1500.

  2. Evaluate the validity of the above inferences and conclusions, using the criteria developed in Lesson One.

Suggested Lesson /activities:

  1. Using the article "Creation Journey" (Native People, vol. 8, no. 1, Fall 1994), have students construct a list of similarities and difference among the American Indian tribes and their conceptions of the creation of the world and life forms.

    1. Each student should read the article in class.

    2. Following the reading, the class as a whole will construct the two lists. As the lists are constructed, student should underline passages showing differences and circle passages showing similarities.

  2. Pair the students with each student coming from a different ÒhomeÓ group. Direct the pairs to construct a comparison chart, putting their two Indian tribes in columns and the six characteristics of the "expert" groups in the rows. Complete the charts by using the information presented by the groups in Lesson Two to make some succinct inferences about the characteristics for each tribe. Draw some conclusions about the range and diversity of the societies and cultures.

  3. Using the charts developed in Activity Two, the student should rewrite his/her home group's "report."


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