Students will explore theories about why the ancient Pueblo people lived in Woods Canyon 700 years. Students will investigate, collect data, and make decisions about which theory they think best answers the archaeological research question. The research question presented in this lesson addresses a topic that is of great interest to archaeologists working in the Southwest today: the settlement of the ancient Pueblo people. The question is: Why do you think the ancient Pueblo people chose to live at Woods Canyon Pueblo?
5T-E1
PO 1 Locate and identify information from electronic research resources
5T-E2
PO 2 Gather research information from a variety of electronic sources and identify the most appropriate information for answering the research question
3SS-E7
PO4 How changes in the natural environment can increase/diminish its capacity to support humans. PO6: Ways humans depend on limited resources and adapt to, and affect, the natural environment.
Students will investigate the idea of scarcity of natural resources and how it affected the Pueblo people.
Students will think like archaeologists by asking research questions, formulating hypotheses, collecting data, and testing theories. Students will evaluate the value of multiple theories and select the one that has the most merit by studying the revealed evidence. Students will identify settlement patterns (where people lived on the landscape). Students will locate and summarize informational text, main ideas and supporting details, and analyze viewpoints.
Students will utilize Internet searching to locate, collect, and evaluate information relevant to the task.
Students should be able to demonstrate basic computer operational skills including identifying the components of a computer (e.g., mouse, keyboard, monitor) the use of basic technological vocabulary (e.g., URL, icon), and the ability to access informational sources (e.g., pre-book marked Internet sites).
Clipboards and pencils
Who, What, Where, and When handout
Internet Access
Native Americans Perspective Study Guides
Evidence Record Matrix handout
Woods Canyon Pre/Post-Assessment handouts
Tiered assignments and creative problem solving.
This lesson differentiates the study guides. The study guides constitute the bulk of the student work for this activity. There are three different study guides for the three student RIT groupings.
All of the students will be using the same site. However, each grouping of students will have different tasks. The lowest grouping will be gathering data by completing a graphic organizer. The middle grouping will be gathering data by completing a questionnaire. The advanced grouping will be recording data in a table and an evidence record matrix. All three groups will be asked to defend a theory from the information they gathered during their interactive archaeological dig as the final product.
Day One:
The instructor will introduce Woods Canyon Pueblo: Life on the Edge in the classroom by giving students a brief background of the Pueblo people of the American Southwest (i.e., Hopi, Zuni) and how traces of their ancient culture can be found at thousands of archaeological sites throughout the southwest, including at Woods Canyon Pueblo.
The instructor will discuss with the students what Woods Canyon is, where Woods Canyon is located, and who settled it.
The instructor will explain that the students will be doing an on-line activity in which they will become archaeologist exploring five theories about why the ancient Pueblo choose to live in this remote and rugged canyon 700 years ago?
Finally, the students will take the Woods Canyon Pre-Assessment.
Day Two:
Students will meet in the computer lab. Each student will need a pencil, a clipboard, and the appropriate handouts for their group. The three different groups should be seated in the same areas in the computer lab. An easy way to do this is to give kids a color and have them sit at computers designated with that color. The instructor may want to place the different handouts at a table in the center of the lab and explain to the students which specific handouts they will need.
After the students have pick-up their handouts, they may log onto Woods Canyon Pueblo: Life On The Edge (place URL on the whiteboard or have it book-marked) and complete the first tailored handout for their group - Who, What, Where, and When. The URL is www.crowcanyon.org./woodslifeontheedge.
Students, after completing their Who,What, Where, and When handout, will begin their Native Americans Perspective Study Guides.
Each of the three student RIT groupings will have their own distinct study guides to use. Students classified in the RIT range of 221 or higher will also be completing the Evidence Record Matrix. Students will complete the handouts using the URL site, a pencil, and a clipboard.
Day Three:
Students will complete their study guides in the computer lab.
Day Four:
Students will discuss their answers and take the Woods Canyon Post-Assessment in the classroom to determine what they have learned from the activity.
Pre-Assessment: Students will take the Woods Canyon Pre-Assessment prior to the activity to help the instructor determine what the students know and do not know. The pre-assessment will be used to tailor the activity to the different learning needs of the students as addressed in the targeted learning continuum skills found on the ICC Differentiated Instruction Ladder.
Assessment: Students will form and support a hypothesis based on the evidence they collected on their Evidence Record Matrix. Students will complete Who, What, Where, and When and the Native American Perspective Study Guide that corresponds to the internet research site and addresses the targeted learning continuum skills located on the ICC Differentiated Instruction Ladder.
Post-Assessment: Students will take the Woods Canyon Post-Assessment after the activity to determine what they have learned. The post-assessment will address the targeted learning continuum skills for each student RIT grouping. Also, as an added student self-reflection, students may be asked to created a line-graph continuum numbered 1 to 10 and place how much fun and how much they learned somewhere on the continuum.