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Native California Americans

http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/marvin/indians
by
Sharon Kramer

 

Introduction | Task | Resources | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion

Introduction

You have just been contacted by The California History Museum. It seems that they are going to have a contest to see which classroom of students can create the best, most accurate diorama scene depicting the lifestyles of each of five Native California Tribes. They need to make sure that their Native California Americans wing in the Museum is historically correct. Therefore, they need you guys to create the diorama scenes in such a way so as to correctly depict the lifestyles and location of each tribe.
The Task

After the class has been divided into small groups, your group will be assigned one of the following Native California Tribes to study: Chumash, Kumeyaay, Miwok, Mojave, Yurok. Each of you will individually be responsible for gathering information on one of the following aspects of life in your assigned tribe: location, ceremonies, trade, food, shelter, and climate.

Using this Webquest and the internet, you will gather information on your tribe and write an individual one-page paper discussing that topic.

Your small group will work together to create a diorama scene that depicts the different aspects of life in your assigned Native American tribe. Your group will then present the project to the rest of the class. It will also be displayed as a group project and learning resource within the classroom.

Resources

 Click on the star for a list of resources you should search.

The Process

1. Decide as a group which topic each group member will focus on. Each of you will gather information on one of the following aspects of life in the tribe:

• location (where was your tribe located?)
• ceremonies (what special things did your tribe do?)
• trade (what did your tribe trade?)
• food (what did your tribe eat?)
• shelter (what kinds of houses and clothing did they have?)
• climate (what was the weather like?)

3. Once you have your Native Tribe and topic to study, grab your Information Chart and do each of the following:

• browse and take notes from your Oh California Social Studies Book
• browse and take notes from your Native California Americans Handout
• click and take notes on your tribe and subject from the list below:

  Chumash location ... ceremonies ... trade ... food ... shelter ... climate

  Kumeyaay location ... ceremonies ... trade ... food ... shelter ... climate

  Miwok location ... ceremonies ... trade ... food ... shelter ... climate

  Mojave location ... ceremonies ... trade ... food ... shelter ... climate

  Yurok location ... ceremonies ... trade ... food ... shelter ... climate

4. When you are finished taking notes, write a well constructed brief summary of the information you have gathered. Include your Native Tribe name, your specific topic and any information that you think is relevant to life in your tribe.

5. After you have finished your summary, make several sketches based on your particular topic. Sketches will be your practice for the three-dimensional items you plan to include in your diorama scene.

6. Rejoin your group to work on the diorama scene. You will take turns and work cooperatively so that each group member has a chance to add their particular aspect of tribal life to the scene.

7. As a group, decide the order of how you want to present your diorama scene to the rest of the class. Discuss who will present first and what types of things need to be said.

Evaluation

You will be evaluated on the following:

• diorama project (see Rubric 1)
• individual summary of your topic (see Rubric 2)
• presentation (see Rubric 3)

Conclusion

The completion of this Web Quest will demonstrate:

• Knowledge of the location, ceremonies, trade, food, shelter and climate of the Chumash...Kumeyaay...Miwok...Mojave...Yurok tribes.
• An awareness of the importance of learning about the first Californians.
• An understanding of the importance of working cooperatively in a group and being responsible for a particular part of the project.
• An awareness of the benefit of having a visual model from which to learn as a secondary means of retaining information.