One Nation, Many Cultures
Teacher Information Page
It is recommended that you read the article Using Cooperative Learning in the Technology Infused Classroom prior to starting this project.
This project was designed as part of Unit One: The Impact of Geography of the Grade 4 Social Studies Curriculum. The final feature of this unit is the Native Americans of the U.S. project. This webquest was designed to meet the requirements of the unit project utilizing cooperative learning, higher-order thinking skills, and web-based resources to accomplish that task.
The following standards guide this project:
Identify and locate physical and human characteristics of places and explain how those characteristics have affected the people living there (MLO 3.2)
Identify ways and reasons why people adapt to and modify the natural environment with technology, and analyze consequences of the modifications. (MLO 3.8)
Analyze the social, economic, and political characteristics of societies native to North America. (MLO 2.1)
Analyze ways in which diverse groups of people adapt to the environment and modify culture over time. (MLO 6.3)
Enduring Understandings
Human and physical geographic characteristics have influenced the development of cultures.
Native Americans before Columbus, Western Europeans, and West Africans developed unique cultures based on the geographic characteristics of their respective regions.
Essential Questions:
How do the characteristics of a region influence a population and its culture?
What characteristics of a location influene economic prosperity?
How do people change their environment, and what are the consequences?
How can we use geographic tools to acquire and analyze information about geographic systems?
Prior Knowledge: Students must be familiar with the Wheel of Culture for Native Americans in Maryland lesson in the previous section of this unit.
Suggested Timeline:
Step One: Browse, Ask Questions: one session
Step Two: Group meeting: Task definition. Assignment of roles. One session
Step Three: Gather information: 2-3 sessions or at-home research
Step Four: Group meeting: one session
Step Five: Group work time: 2-3 sessions or at-home activity
Step Six: Dress Rehearsal: one session
Step Seven: Presentations: one session