All learning activities are designed to be student led.
Lesson One- Defining the Characteristics of Culture Gallery Walk
Students will need to determine a working definition of what culture is. To do this, I will divide students into groups of three or four. They will work around the room on chart paper. The chart will be divided in half. The top half will have the prompt “Characteristics of Culture”. The bottom half will have the prompt “Culture is defined as…” Students will work collaboratively to determine at least 6 cultural traits, more is encouraged. Then they will travel around the room and look at their peers’ charts and see if inspiration comes from others. They will then return to their own chart and add ideas. Next, while still working in groups they will determine what a proper definition of culture is. They will work through a definition on their charts under the second prompt. We will come together as a class and determine the characteristics and definition of culture. During this activity, students should practice Accountable Talk. This is an example of how students can disagree or add to one another’s thoughts. This chart should be up in the room already and the students will already be familiar with it from SEL.
Lesson Two- How does the Natural World Influence Culture?
Students will participate in a Question Formulation Technique (QFT). This technique is a process that allows students to generate questions about a topic that will guide their instruction. The objective is for students to generate questions about what information they want to know more about that will bridge science and social studies. The student generated questions will determine the focus of the unit.
Steps to the QFT
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Place chart paper around the room for each group or topic you want to learn about. Write a Question Focus (QFocus) at the top of each paper.
- Latitude/longitude and culture
- Plate tectonics and culture
- Landscape and culture
- Food and water availability and culture
- Natural resources and culture
- Divide students into groups. Using the Question Focus (the topic), generate as many questions as possible. Write every single question down in your group for 5 minutes. Do not censor any questions.
- Place a “C” next to closed ended questions, put an “O” next to open-ended questions
- Now go through and change open ended questions to closed ended and closed questions to open.
- Prioritize the questions beginning with 1. Which questions are the best ones.
- Finally discuss with your group which questions will help guide your new learning.
- Determine whole class which questions will be the driving questions of the unit from each topic
Lesson Three- Political, Physical, Thematic especially geology maps and Topographical or Raised Relief Maps
Student groupings will be distributed at least 3 random maps to examine with their group. They will determine the characteristics of each of their maps. With guidance from the teacher, the students will create a working definition of each kind of map. The goal of this lesson is for students to understand what features different maps can show, what kind of maps are used based on the information needed. Students will also understand that political maps that show boarders and cities are very different from raised relief maps that will show the physical features of the land such as mountains and plains. Students will share out their new learning.
Lesson Four- Map Skills
Students will understand what a compass rose is and why it is important in navigation. We will use a flat map of the world to identify where the compass rose is and label north, south, east and west. Students will then find the Equator and Prime Meridian and mark it completely with a dry erase marker. Next, we will discuss the hemispheres and label those correctly. The teacher will lead a discussion on how to find an exact location on the Earth’s surface. Students will generate ideas and the teacher will model whole group. Finally, each group will be given a set of coordinates Students will review and understand the hemispheres and important lines of latitude (equator) and longitude (prime meridian). Students will then focus on the main skill of the lesson which is how to find a specific location on earth using latitude and longitude. They will then practice finding locations using latitude and longitude coordinates by working with a partner to “Land on A Continent” (similar to the game Battleship). This is a multidisciplinary lesson that students will use skills obtained in math. Learners should be able to identify the relationship between quadrants and plotting x,y intercepts.
Lesson Five- Pangea and Plate Tectonics
In this lesson, students will learn about the super continent Pangea. They will need to understand this concept in order to make a prediction in their essay about where their country might be located in the future. This lesson will also gain understanding on geologic patterns in the Earths crust. First students will have a short turn and talk to determine what they already know about Pangea. Each group will share out information. We will also write down any questions that come up and hold them in the parking lot. We will begin by watching a video about Pangea. Students will then explore what they think happens when continents collide with each other. Students will be broken into 3 groups. Divergent, convergent and transform boundaries. They will research using texts to conduct a close read as a group to determine what their vocabulary term is. Students will complete a vocabulary word mapping for each kind of boundary. The word mapping worksheet will consist of four boxes which the students will identify the kind of boundary they are defining, draw or write down the characteristics of that boundary, construct a definition, then find the definition in the textbook.
Lesson Six- Climate and Natural Disasters
Students will review the difference between climate and weather. Using a globe, students will identify the areas on the globe where it is warmest and coolest and explore reasons why. In their groups, students will work together to research what natural disasters occur in their country of interest. Events such as tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. They will be able to relate these events back to plate boundaries. This is also a cultural characteristic. Students will be expected to form an opinion in their paper if they would want to live in their country based on the possibility of some of these natural disasters and explain why.
Lesson Seven- Landscapes of Countries and Food Availability
Now that students understand how and why mountains and rift valleys form, we can move onto identifying them on a map. Using Google Earth, Students will look closely at the landscape of their country of choice. They will determine if there are mountains, rift valleys and/or plains. They will identify if the mountains or valleys are on a plate boundary. Many countries will have a variety of these features. Students will determine how each of these features will affect the lifestyle of the people who live there. Due to the nature of the landscape, students will also be able to determine what kind of food is available for the people to live on. Is the country an island or on the coast? If so, culturally seafood would be prevalent in their diet. Is there a great deal of farmland or rice fields? The kind of food that is grown will impact the food that is associated with the culture.
Lesson Eight- Natural Resources
Students will use Natural Resource Maps to determine what resources occur naturally in their country of study. Using a computer, students will research what are the main exports in the country. This is one of the ways that countries make money and helps determine their economic growth. Many countries will nave natural gas, oil or minerals that they mine. Using a thematic map, students will determine what minerals are in the ground of their country such as iron, oil, gold, aluminum or copper, this impacts what kind of jobs are available and what exports the country has. Students will need to understand how to represent these natural resources on a map using a map key or legend.
Performance Task
The performance task will be a cartography project highlighting areas of culture that are influenced by the natural world. Cartography is the study of map making. Students will create their own maps of a country of their choice. Highlighted in their project will be the characteristics of their country. The capital showing latitude and longitude. The project will also include a four-paragraph opinion essay on whether they would want to live in their country of interest. They will include elements from each lesson that highlight how the culture is impacted by the natural world.
