Native Peoples of North America
1) Who were the Native Americans?
You will recieve a copy of this grid for your books. Your teacher will indicate your achievements in the skill areas whenevre you complete some assessed work or tests.
How did the first humans arrive in North America? Watch these videos for some ideas, and look at the pages in your text book. Write an explanation of the different theories as to how humans arrived on the American continent. Explain with reasons which theory you believe.
You are going to choose TWO regions of North America to research and create a project about how the native peoples in those regions lived their lives BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF THE EUROPEANS. You must include the type of climate in each region, and then cover at least THREE areas of their lives for example; housing, food, clothing, young people, old people, beliefs or another aspect of life you choose, explaining WHY they live in this way (perhaps linked to the climate!!) ENSURE THAT YOU INCLUDE COMPARISONS, EXPLAINING WHY NATIVE PEOPLES IN EACH REGION LIVE DIFFERENTLY.
This is an ASSESSMENT on RESEARCH AND PRESENTATION
SKILLS: Chronology and Language, Research and Presentation
The Great Plains...
2) How essential were the Buffalo to the people of the plains?
Look at the photograph above. How does the land look? Plenty of resources?
This made one animal which roamed the plains essential to the people who lived...the buffalo. In fact so essential that in the late 1950's archaeologist Joe Ben Wheat studied a buffalo hunt site. From the site and the remains he worked out a great deal about the hunt that had taken place around 8,500 years ago! Can YOU answer the questions that he was able to? Use the two pdf files to complete this work.
SKILLS: Historical Interpretation
So...it is clear the buffalo were important, but what might they have been used for? Use the first Word document here to write down your ideas, before seeing many you got by checking the answers.
'Dances with Wolves' is a feature film about a United States soldier in the 1800's who befriends a tribe of Plains Indians. These three clips show aspects before, during and after the buffalo hunt. Watch them and complete the questions.
3) What effect did the arrival of the Europeans have?
Life changed very quickly once the European settlers arrived. Look at the map and design a timeline to show the arrival of Europeans into North America.
Watch the video and make notes about the first contact. What did the Native people think about these new arrivals? What were relations like? What clues were there about how the Europeans might act in the future? How reliable is this source for discovering about these early contacts?
SKILLS: Knowledge and Understanding
4) Disney's 'Pocahontas'...myth or reality?
So now we know more about the real life of Native Americans, and have a source on first contact with Europeans, but 'stories' persist, led by films like Disney's 'Pocahontas'. It cannot be true can it? A cartoon?.....
THEN...look at the pdf task, read the sources and answer all of the questions. Finish with the 'THOUGHT' questions of WHY you think there are different versions of both primary and secondary evidence here? What does this mean for historians trying to accurately interpret? This is an ASSESSMENT on HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION
Re-write the 'Pocahontas' scene based on what you think is an accurate portrayal. Here is an example of how to set it out, from the original film clip.
SKILLS: Historical Interpretation
5) How reliable is evidence about The Battle of the Little Bighorn?
Watch the video on this link from 25.18 to 44.22 and answer the questions
The Battle of the Little Bighorn represents both the height of Native resistance and the beginning of the end for their way of life. Today, the battlefield is a memorial...but for whom? Look at the ppt and Word doc for an introduction.
Complete the preliminary work then the investigation which is an ASSESSMENT on EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS
Now complete the investigation.....
SKILLS: Evaluation and Analysis