The mission of the Native American Historical Society is to promote an understanding and awareness of the history, culture and spirituality of indigenous Americans. We believe we can best fulfill our mission by helping students gain an understanding of the norms, values, and beliefs of different Native American cultures. We are pleased to announce that we have recently received a grant to commission the creation of an educational exhibit that will study tribes throughout the United States and explore the regions in which they lived. Your class has been chosen to help create this exhibit!

The above is an excerpt from the scenario you can use to introduce the Many Peoples, Many Histories to your students. This project provides students with the opportunity to master historical content, to learn how to conduct research, and to build upon their language and critical thinking skills as they assist a historical society in planning, organizing, advertising, and presenting an exhibit. Students become “authorities” on Native American history and culture as they engage in the activities throughout the project.

Many Peoples, Many Histories is designed for middle-school students and is driven by the national standards of several disciplines, including social studies, geography, English language arts, mathematics, and fine arts. The project begins with a comprehensive introduction that assesses and augments students’ prior knowledge about indigenous peoples of the Americas and how they got here. This is followed by three distinct yet interrelated learning phases specific to the study of tribes of the United States:

Phase One: The Land – Students will research the geography and climatic record of various regions of the United States. They will identify the tribes who lived in these regions and will create a multimedia presentation demonstrating how and why geography and geology shaped the way native people lived.

Phase Two: The People – Students will work cooperatively to conduct in-depth research on specific Native American tribes. Each cooperative group will explore the traditions, religions, myths, clothing, food sources and living quarters of one tribe and create various educational products, such as web sites, artifacts, posters, and more.

Phase Three: Famous Native Americans – Students will explore the genre of biography as they read biographies of famous Native Americans. Each cooperative group will write and publish a biography.

This project strives to engage students by appealing to their natural creativity and curiosity, while providing students with a strong foundation in research skills using the Internet, print material, and computer software. Students will use technology to employ a variety of different learning styles and will demonstrate their understanding of the material in multiple formats.

The Many Peoples, Many Histories project sets high academic goals and offers students the means to achieve them. The project emphasizes the use of primary source documents and Internet-based research. A distinct component of the Many Peoples, Many Histories project is its adaptability. Teachers can adjust any or all of the following structures to meet their students’ needs more adequately:

• Group Size: The number of students in each group can be altered.

• Time On Task: The time students are given to complete a task can be varied to reflect your students’ needs.

• Level of Support: Student support can be accentuated when needed.

• Task Difficulty: The skill level of each activity can be modified to address student individual needs.

To download a copy of this project, you will need a userid and password. Please go to the Terms of Use page for more information. If you have a userid and password, click here.