Section 6: COULD YOU SURVIVE?
4 to 7 days
OBJECTIVES
Students will exhibit an overall
understanding of the concepts of basic needs, natural environment,
adaptation, yearly cycle, and culture through the performance of
one or more of the activities listed below.
MATERIALS
1.Art supplies
2.Resource material on plants and animals of Alaska (refer to
Appendix D).
3. Upper Tanana House Poster
4. Books on Athabascan life or legends (See Appendix C)
PREPARATION
1.Arrange for small-group visits
to the museum (optional)
2.Gather information and books on natural resources in your area.
(See Appendix D)
ACTIVITIES
1.Design and/or build a model of
a shelter which can be made entirely with natural resources from
your area or
2.Study and report on one animal indigenous to the Athabascan
area, including its life history, yearly cycle, hunting practices
and uses by the Athabascans or
3.Make seasonal murals of an Athabascan area or
4.Read one of the books listed in Appendix C of this guide, and
find those parts which indicate a) adaptations to the environment
and b) values. Report orally to the class or in written form to
the teacher or
5.Make a resource nap of the natural resources in your area or
6.Draw up a plan for survival in the natural environment
throughout the yearly cycle for your area.
SUMATIVE PROJECTS
The final activity for the unit is designed to help students tie
together the information and concepts they have learned. It is also
designed to test their understanding of those concepts through their
application.
Six different project ideas, all of which
center around the question, "could you survive in the natural
environment?", have been outlined below. Allow your students the
choice of projects. Group work should be encouraged. Your task will
be to gather sufficient resource material so that the students can
successfully finish their projects.
The projects are listed in increasing
order of difficulty. Try to steer lower students toward those at the
beginning of the list.
SHELTER MODEL
1.Design and/or build a model of
a shelter which can be made entirely with natural resources from
your area.
Resources:Upper Tanana House Poster,
books on different types of shelters around the world, art
supplies. Things for students to consider: What makes a house
warm? How many people will live in your house? How long will the
house last? How long will it take to make the house?
ANIMAL REPORT
2.Study and report on one animal
indigenous to the Athabascan parts of Alaska. Include the animal's
life history, yearly cycle, the way it was traditionally hunted by
the Athabascans, and the ways they used the animal.
Resources:Local residents, if you live
in an Athabascan area; William 0. Pruitt, Jr.'s Animals of the
North Alaska Department of Fish and Game Wildlife Notebook Series
Nelson's Hunters of the Northern Forests (for good readers); other
books on Alaskan wildlife; Anchorage Historical and Fine Arts
Museum for information on the uses of the animal.
BOOK REPORT
3.Read one of the books listed
at the end of Alaskan Athabascans. Find those parts which indicate
adaptations to the environment. Find the parts which indicate
cultural values. Report either orally to the class or in written
form to the teacher on your findings.
SEASONAL
MURAL
4.Working in small groups, have
students make murals showing their home area or another Athabascan
area during the four seasons. Resources shown should be those
which would actually be available at the season shown.
RESOURCE MAP
5.Make a resource map of the
natural resources in your area.
Resources:local hunters or biologists;
the volume of Alaska Regional Profiles which deals with your area,
published by the University of Alaska Arctic Environmental
Information and Data Center; Christine Heller's Wild, Edible and
Poisonous Plants of Alaska James E. Morrow's Illustrated Keys to
the Fresh Water Fishes of Alaska.
SURVIVAL PLAN
6.Draw up a plan for survival in
the natural environment throughout the yearly cycle for your
area.
Resources:Same as number 5
preceding.
Things for students to consider: What
basic needs must be met? When can different animals most easily be
hunted? Can some resources be stored from one season to the next?
How much travelling will you have to do through the yearly cycle?
How would travel be accomplished in your area? How will you use or
prepare the natural resources?
Athabascans
of Interior Alaska
