Native Americans
a Problem-Based Learning Project about Native American Issues

The Problem:

Your organization has won a technology grant. You are to use it to create online resources that provide information about an issue for Native Americans. The goal is to promote change by providing facts, opinions and potential solutions.

Which issue/problem do you think should be covered?

Step 1 -

Each member of the group identifies what they know about issues that concern Native Americans.

Step 2 -

Identify what you need to learn about the life, history and problems of Native Americans.

Be specific. Make a list. (Worksheet example)

Assign who will find the answers/info. Everyone will be researching info.

Learn how to research elementary | middle school & high school

Step 3 -

Discuss your findings on individual issues/problems. Decide on one and list the reasons for its selection.

Step 4 -

Create a project/report to explain your choice and support its selection.

Once you have chosen the issue/problem, create a report to explain the selection to your class/school. Be sure to show the relevance and importance of the issue/problem.

Online Resources: I have collected a set of valuable sites for researching Native Americans. I suggest you use them first. Surf the web to fill in the missing facts. You may also use print resources and video based info. If you use a resource not listed here, document it in your cited works (bibliography) at the end of your report. If a link is broken, use your online research skills to find the site/page. Copy the title of the source. Paste it in a web search engine. Search.

Anton Treuer "Everything you wanted to Know About Indians, but Were Afraid to ask." on NPR

Public Broadcasting Service has many resources. Harness their search engine to access them. http://www.pbs.org/search/?q=native%20americans

The Library of Congress is another rich resource - http://www.loc.gov/search/?q=indian

Thanksgiving a day of Mourning

The Map Of Native American Tribes story and map

Hawaiian Sovereignty & Culture

American Indian Issues resources - http://www.hanksville.org/NAresources/

In the Light of Reverence - sacred places

Lakota Winter Counts - https://historyexplorer.si.edu/resource/lakota-winter-counts

Mascots - http://www.main.nc.us/wncceib/BruceTwoEagMTXP.htm

Indian Mascots and Logos - http://www.indianmascots.com/

National Museum of the American Indian http://www.nmai.si.edu/

Gaming - NIGA / CNIGA

Indian Country Today - https://indiancountrytoday.com/

American Centuries...view from New England (Memorial Hall Museum Online)

Our People, Our Future essay

Trail of Broken Treaties position paper - http://www.aimovement.org/ggc/trailofbrokentreaties.html

Bureau of Indian Affairs - http://www.bia.gov/

Native American Rights Fund - http://www.narf.org/

Native Americans Today: Resources and Activities for Educators book online

A Line in the Sand - http://hanksville.org/sand/

Tribal Sovereignty - http://www.sagchip.org/council/events/2000/082800-sovereignty-defined.htm

Sovereignty Defined http://www.sagchip.org/council/events/2000/082800-sovereignty-defined.htm

American Indian Policy Center - http://www.airpi.org/index.html

Native-American Health - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/nativeamericanhealth.html

Assimilation Through Education - http://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/marr.html

eXplorations - Indian Removal - http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/active_learning/explorations/indian_removal/indian_menu.cfm

eXplorations - Pocahantas and Squanto

Digital History - Native Voices

Broken Justice - http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11142008/profile2.html

Digital History Correcting Myths and Misconceptions

Carlise Indian Industrial School - http://home.epix.net/~landis/

Desecration - Return of the remains of the ancestors. Kennewick Man / Who Owns the Past?

Accuracy of history taught in schools - NativeTech.org / Native American History Resources

American Indian History as told by them - http://www.manataka.org/page10.html

First Nations resources - http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dgwhite/resources/first_nations.htm

American Indians and the Natural World - http://www.carnegiemnh.org/online/indians/index.html

American Indian.Net - http://www.americanindian.net/

Oyate - http://www.oyate.org/

American Indian Studies Center - http://www.aisc.ucla.edu/

Native American homepages - http://www.nativeculturelinks.com/indians.html

Native American Biographies - A- Z http://www.42explore.com/native3.htm

Native Americans at Kidsconnect - http://www.kidskonnect.com/component/content/article/16-history/273-native-americans.html

Contemporary Issues about Native American Art http://www.nativetech.org/art/issues.html

Test your Native IQ - http://www.understandingprejudice.org/nativeiq/

Lobbying Fraud - http://www.indianz.com/News/2004/005414.asp

Native American Genocide - http://www.iearn.org/hgp/aeti/aeti-1997/native-americans.html

Native Amercian Genocide - http://www.wicocomico-indian-nation.com/pages/genocide.html

American Indian Museum at SI - http://www.nmai.si.edu/

Raid on Deerfield - an extraordinary site

U.S. - Dakota War of 1862 - http://www.mnhs.org/library/tips/history_topics/94dakota.html

Edge of the Rez: A Stranger Among the Hopi http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6662251

Museum of Wounded Knee

It’s not surprising that hunger is an ever-present fact of life on the Sioux Reservations of South Dakota when you consider the reality of reservation life…. Unemployment on the Reservations is over 70%. The poorest county in the U.S. is on the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation, with over 63% of the people living below the federal poverty line. Native American Heritage Association

"Abuse no one and nothing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools
and robs the spirit of its vision." ~ Tecumseh

Main problem page

What you know

What you do not know

Worksheet example

Project examples

Problem-based learning
Harness the Student Process Guides to prepare your students to be more successful problem solvers and group participants.
Check out my activity to harness the resource.

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2003 Cynthia J. O'Hora posted 1/2004 Updated 9/2012

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