Curriculum Resources for the Alaskan Environment

Square bullet Activities

• Compile a list of the most common game animals in your community. Make life-cycle charts of each animal. Label the charts with English, Native, and scientific names for each stage of an animal's life.
• Divide the class into groups, each to research one species of animal. Let the group record as much as they themselves know about the animals: where they live, what they eat, how they spend their seasons, changes in coloration, size, relative value to humans, etc.
• Compile lists of questions, based on areas where students lack knowledge. Find answers in books and by interviewing hunters, cooks, sewers, and elders. (Book research and interviewing skills must be taught first. Let students practice on each other and on school personnel before interviewing outside of school.) Students may write for written material on their animal.
• Compare traditional knowledge to book knowledge. Do they always agree? Which will you trust more when hunting? Why?
• How have animal habitats and habits changed over the years according to local informants? How does this alter human lifestyles? How have changes in human lifestyles affected animal populations?
• After researching and discussing information gathered, each group should write up a final report using similar formats for each group. These reports will be compiled into chapters of a manual.

Square bullet Resources

• Foxfire publications for ideas, methods
• Chamai: A Curriculum Guide to Community and Culturally Based Communications Skills Development-7-12, Department of Education

Variations

• Write a series of short articles to publish in the school or community newsletter. These articles would give informants and students intermittent feedback and keep interest up, and after two years, they could be compiled in the larger booklet.
• Concentrate on one or two animals and divide the work according to a method of research (book, interviews, report writing), research topic (life cycle, historical perspective, human consumption, etc.), or some other division of labor.

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