Section 1:
Adaptations to Basic Needs
5 to 7 days
OBJECTIVES
1. Students can list the basic
necessities of life
2. Students can express the difference between man-made and natural environment
3. Students can name 3 edible animals and 3 edible plants indigenous to their
home area
4.Students can define the term "adaptations"
5. Students can identify adaptations which they use
MATERIALS:
1. Native
Peoples and Languages of Alaska map
2. Materials from the library or IMC on natural resources in your area
3. Butcher paper and marker
4. Student text: Alaskan Athabascans
5. Notebook for each student (teacher's choice)
6. Natural Environment Questionnaire
7. Worksheet I
8. Scavenger hunt list
9. Pictures and materials for bulletin board:
Natural environment of Alaska (Enrichment)
10. Quiz I
PREPARATION:
1. Tack up Language map
2. Distribute student text, Alaskan Athabascans
3. Notebook for each student (loose-leaf)
4. Duplicate Natural Environment Questionnaire (6 or 7 copies).
5.Make copies of Worksheet I and Quiz I
6. Copy lists for scavenger hunt
ACTIVITIES
1.Make notebooks
2.Make a wall chart showing different methods of getting the basic needs
3.Read and discuss Chapter I in Alaskan
Athabascans
4.Natural Environment Questionnaire
5.Students set up a bulletin board on natural resources of Anchorage (enrichment)
6.Worksheet I
7.Read and discuss Chapter II in Alaskan
Athabascans
8.Adaptations scavenger hunt
9. Quiz I
NEW VOCABULARY:
fulfill
man-made
natural
environment
Tanaina
Athabascan
adapt/adaptation
Section 1: ADAPTATIONS TO BASIC
NEEDS
MAKE NOTEBOOKS
The first activity for this section is to make notebooks or set aside sections
in loose-leaf binders on Athabascan culture. As worksheets, drawings, tests,
and other papers are completed for this unit the students should add them
to their notebooks.
DISCUSSION
Now begin a class discussion on basic needs which all humans share. Ask students
to name those things which each human being needs in order to survive.
They might list food, water, clothing, shelter, air, heat; consider whether
each of the items is essential.
WALL CHART
Then ask students to think about how they fulfill their basic needs. Begin
a large wall chart recording their responses. Leave the chart up so that
students can add ways in which they meet their basic needs throughout this
section. In addition, you will be adding to it throughout the Athabascan
unit as you learn about new places.
When students have listed a large
number of ways in which they fulfill their basic needs, ask
them to look at the chart from a different perspective. Ask
them to name those things which have been made or obtained
outside of Anchorage. With a pencil, draw a light line through
those items. Look at the remainder of the list. Take inventory
of the locally-obtained items. Now ask students to eliminate
from that list anything that is not hand-made or hand-done.
After drawing lines through those, look again at what is
left.
Ask the students, What does this
tell you about the way we fulfill our basic needs? Could
we survive without imports and machines?"
ENRICHMENT
Research where some of the items came from. For example, ask a grocer where
the produce in the store comes from. Talk to a contractor about where materials
for houses come from, Etc.
SAMPLE WALL CHART:
How People Get Their
Basic Needs
|
Need
|
Your
village or town today
|
Upper
Tanana area 1950 (Tetlin)
|
Other
Athabascan Areas
(enrichment)
|
|
Food
|
Store
Garden
Hunting
Fishing
|
(this
column can be filled in later, when you begin work
with the student book Tetlin as I Knew it)
|
|
|
Shelter
|
Rent,
buy or build: split level, trailer, log cabin, or
an apartment
|
|
|
|
Clothing
|
Buy
finished clothing or woven cloth to make clothing
|
|
|
|
Water
|
Turn
on tap
|
|
|
|
Heat
|
|
|
|
|
Air
|
|
|
|
NOTE: The examples given here may
be different from those which your students come up with.
Honor their choices, providing guidance where necessary.
TEXT: CHAPTER I, ALASKAN ATHABASCANS
Have students read chapter, Basic Needs in Alaskan Athabascans.
Then review what has been read using notes at the tops of the
following pages.
Review new vocabulary:
basic needs, culture, natural environment, man-made environment.
CHAPTER I
BASIC NEEDS
All human beings need
certain things to stay alive. You know what they are: food,
air, water, clothing, and shelter. All human beings need
these things, but different people get them in different
ways. It is the different ways that Alaska Natives have
used to get their basic needs that you will be studying.
These ways are part of what we call a culture.
Before learning about people
in other places or times, look at the way you fulfill
your needs right now in Anchorage. How do you get food,
air, water, clothing, and shelter? Where do the things
you need come from? Could your family get them if you
were the only people living in the area? If there were
no town, stores, or money, could you fulfill your basic
needs?
Perhaps you can imagine how
you would survive: You would make use of the natural
environment of the area. You would get your food clothing,
shelter, water, and air from the plants, animals, minerals,
and features of the natural environment.
DISCUSSION
The Tanaina Athabascan group is the group which
has inhabited the Cook Inlet, Matanuska Valley, Lake Iliamna, and Stoney River
areas of Alaska for about 300 years. If any of your students are Tanaina or
Kenaitze (Kë nï tsë: the Kenai Peninsula subdivision of Tanainas),
ask them to find out where their families originally lived. Mark that spot
on the Native Peoples and Languages of Alaska map.
What is your natural environment?
The natural environment in Anchorage is not always
easy to find. You have to imagine this area without
all its houses, roads, buildings, bike trails, footbridges,
water wells, playgrounds, and lawns. These things are
all part of the man-made environment of Anchorage.
Lets look at Anchorage without
its man-made environment. It is an area with some birch
trees, some spruce and hemlock. There are swampy areas.
There are marshy areas where birds nest. There are
clear streams flowing down from the mountains, with
salmon, and trout swimming up them in the summer and
fall. There is tundra on the hills above the treeline.
And there are many kinds of wildlife, such as moose,
bears, sheep, clams, fish and birds.
This natural environment is
what the Tanaina (also spelled Denaina) Athabascans
found when they first arrived in the Anchorage area
a long time ago. It was from this natural environment
that they fulfilled their basic needs.
When those early Tanainas
came to Anchorage, the first thing they had to do was
learn about the environment. They had to learn what resources
were in it. They had to know what time of year to
get the resources. They had to know where and
how to get the resources. It took each person many
years to learn all those details. You'll be learning
a few of them in this unit.
CONJECTURE
Ask students for conjectures on how the early Tanainas fulfilled their basic
needs. In a class brainstorming activity, make a quick list of the resources
students are aware of in the Anchorage area. Explain to students that early
Athabascans used a very large territory for fulfilling their basic needs,
and traveled a good deal. Therefore, students can include resources for
the Matanuska Valley as well as the Anchorage Bowl in their conjectures.
DESCRIBE THE ENVIRONMENT
The next step is for the students to more specifically describe the environment
of the Anchorage Bowl - one of the home areas of the Tanaina Athabascans.
FIELD TRIP
If the weather is nice and there is little snow cover outside, you might plan
an outing with the class to explore different features within walking distance
of your school. For instance, you might visit a forested area, a spruce
bog, tundra, a creek, hilly and well-drained land, bluffs along the shore,
and so forth. When you return to the classroom, distribute the Natural
Environment Questionnaires as described below.
BRAINSTORM
If weather does not permit an outing, you can involve the students in a brainstorming
session before they work on the Natural Environment Questionnaire.
The brainstorming session
can begin with your writing the words "natural environment" on
the board. Ask students what is included in an environment.
Elicit
general terms, such as weather, geography, plants, and animals.
Or, if students list specific items, such as moose, creeks,
trees, place those on the board and work with students to
group those items into more general categories. Write the
general categories on a piece of butcher paper and tack it
next to the Basic Needs chart. Refer to the sample on the
next page.
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT QUESTIONNAIRE
When you have the categories listed, divide the class into groups of about
5 or 6 students. Explain that you believe that there is enough knowledge
within your class to make an accurate description of the Anchorage environment,
but that you will need to pool all that everyone knows to do it. Each group
will be given a questionnaire to fill out. The students' answers should
come from their own experience, though if they want to look up answers
in books, ask parents, librarians, or others they may do so. The groups
should have the rest of your social studies period to answer the questionnaire,
with the option of taking it home that evening to complete.
The next day, give the groups about
five minutes to reorganize their answers and to compare any
new ones they have come up with. Then begin a class discussion
based on answers by the groups. Be sure that every group
has a chance to answer at least one of the questions. As
students give answers to the questions, have them decide
which categories on your chart those answers fit under (see
next page). Gradually fill in the list. You might point out
to students how little (or how much) relationship there is
between the way students obtain their basic needs now, and
what is available in their natural environment.
SAMPLE NATURAL ENVIROMENT CHART:
Natural Environment
Chart
(to be used with
Natural Environment Questionnaire)
|
Weather
|
Geography
|
Plants
|
Animals
|
|
Answers to
questions 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, 8,9, 10 fit in this category
|
Answers to
questions 15,16,17,18, fit in this category
|
Answers to
questions 12,13,14,16 fit in this category
|
Answers to
questions 11, 15 fit in this category
|
ENRICHMENT: BILLETIN BOARD OR
DISPLAY
Have students collect pictures from magazines or other
sources, or draw pictures which show the natural resources
indigenous to the Anchorage area (see Appendix
D for resource material on this topic) for a bulletin board. Collect Alaskan
animal skins or press plants for a classroom display. Or start a terrarium
consisting of indigenous plants. The students should design, label, and put
up the bulletin board or display, perhaps to be entitled "Natural Environment
of the Anchorage area".
ENRICHMENT: TASTING PARTY
Either collect a number of the edible plants from this area (see Appendix D)
or bring some in from your freezer for a natural foods tasting party. Encourage
everyone from the class to bring in something made from a resource indigenous
to the area.
ADAPTATIONS
WORKSHEET I: SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY
The next activity is a quick introduction to the concept of "adaptations"
Divide the class into
small work groups (3 or 4 students per group). Explain to
the class
that the groups will be racing against each other in the
task of filling out a worksheet. You will hand out a sheet
which contains two columns. The left column lists a number
of different natural environments. The right column lists
things human beings around the world have made to help them
survive in those natural environments. The groups' task is
to match the things people have made to the environment they
have made them for. The first group to complete the worksheet
must be totally quiet and raise their hands when they are
done. Only a 100% correct paper makes a winner.
When you're sure students have understood
the directions, distribute Worksheet I face down to the groups.
Signal for a start. Students may then begin working.
When all groups have completed
the task, discuss the sheet with the class. Note that the
heading
at the top of the worksheet is "ADAPTATIONS". Ask if anyone
would like to hazard a definition of that term.
TEXT: CHAPTER II, ALASKAN ATHABASCANS
Now read Chapter II, "Adaptations", as a class. Review the meaning of the term
adaptation. Note and discuss the distinction made in the text between adaptations
that meet basic needs and those that meet other needs.
CHAPTER II
ADAPTATIONS
After the early Tanaina
Athabascans in this area got the things they needed to
fulfill their basic needs, the next step was to use those
things. It takes a lot of knowledge to use the natural
environment well. For instance, after they had found, tracked,
and killed a moose, the Tanainas needed to know how to
butcher it. They needed to know which parts could be used
for food, which parts to make tools, which parts could
become clothes. They needed to know how to preserve the
meat.
The ways in which people use
or change the things from their natural environment
to meet a need are called their adaptations to
the natural environment. One example of an adaptation
to our natural environment is a house. A house uses
materials from the environment to protect against the
rain, snow, and cold. It helps keep people warm, and
so fulfills the basic need for shelter.
The early Athabascans made
many adaptations to their environment. And today, all
Alaskans, both Athabascans and non-Athabascans are
still making and using adaptations. Many of our adaptations
today no longer meet basic needs. Paved roads,
for instance, are an adaptation to the need to travel
quickly in cars. But that is not a basic need.
In this unit, you will be
looking at some of the ways some Alaskan Athabascans
have adapted to their environments in the past. You
will learn that, unlike the way many Alaskans live
today, the early Athabascans used mostly their natural environment
in adapting. You will learn, too, that even today,
many Athabascans prefer to live where they can be close
to the natural environment, and that their adaptations
serve mostly to fulfill basic needs.
ENRICHMENT: PREREQUISITE SKILLS
In a classroom discussion, allow students to conjecture
on the skills that are necessary to obtain a pound of meat
in our society today; those which were necessary for Athabascans
in the past to obtain a pound of meat. Examples of necessary
skills today might be:
what money is
how to count
how to use money
what a store is
how to travel to a store
how to find the meat counter
how to read (helps but is not necessary) etc.
Examples of necessary skills
for past hunters might be:
where to find the animal
how to get there
how to make tools to kill it (helps but not necessary)
how to kill it
how to butcher it, etc.
ADAPTATIONS SCAVENGER HUNT
The next activity will be an Adaptations Scavenger Hunt. The class should be
divided into teams (about four - these may be P.E. squads or other previously
established groups). Each team will be given a list and it will be that
team's task to find items that fit the requirements on the list, then to
bring them back to the classroom.
You will need to give your students
free access to parts of the school other than their classroom:
the playground, library, multipurpose room, etc. Be sure
to clear this with your principal before beginning.
Explain to students that the first
team to return to the room with all 12 requirements satisfied
wins the game. If a team is first, but is incomplete or incorrect
in its choice of items, then the next team with 12 correct
items wins. After 20 minutes, all teams must return to the
room, regardless of whether or not they have found all items.
Then the team with the most items wins.
Now give each team a copy of the
Scavenger Hunt list. Read the directions aloud with the students.
Note that the items are scrambled so that all squads will
not be searching for the same thing at the same time. Go
over the 12 items on the list and make sure students understand
the vocabulary.
Then allow them to begin
their hunt.
When students have reassembled, check
the items they have chosen in the following manner:
The presumptive winner must go through
the list, item by item, and explain to the rest of the class
what its adaptation to each requirement is. The rest of the
class should have the opportunity to discuss whether or not
the item chosen is, in fact, an adaptation to the requirement.
In cases of a disagreement, you should have the final word.
When a winner has been found, ask
other teams for adaptations which they have come up with
that were not mentioned by the winning team. Briefly discuss
which of the requirements mentioned had to do with a basic
need. Ask for opinions: do you think most adaptations we
use refer to basic needs or luxuries?
ENRICHMENT: WRITING
An extra activity for students might be to write a paragraph or story which
begins this way:
"All changes that people make in
the natural environment do not help people adapt better to
that environment. In fact, some change might actually be
called non-adaptive". For instance...
QUIZ:
Administer Quiz I.
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
QUESTIONNAIRE
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT YOUR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT?
1. What is the coldest temperature
you remember in your home town?
2. What month did it
occur in?
3. What is the hottest
temperature you remember in your home town?
4. What month did it
occur in?
5. Which month has the
most rain or snow?
6. Which month has the
most clear weather?
7. Which months can
you play outside without a sweater?
8. Which months can
you sled or ski?
9. At about what time
does the sun set on the shortest day of the year in Anchorage?
10. At about what time
does the sun set on the longest day of the year in Anchorage?
11. Name as many animals
(other than pets or farm animals) that live in this area
as you
can.
12. Name as many kinds
of plants (other than trees and garden plants) that grow
in this area
as you can.
13. Name as many edible
kinds of plants that grow in this area as you can.
14. Name as many kinds
of trees that grow in this area as you can.
15. Can you think of a place near
Anchorage where many birds like to nest? What is it called?
16. Can you think of
a place near Anchorage where you can pick lots of berries?
Where?
17. Name as many creeks
in the Anchorage area as you can.
18. Anchorage has the
following kinds of areas: tundra, spruce and birch forest,
swamp spruce
area, marshland, and bluffs. Tell where at least three of
those different areas can be found.
BONUS: Tell what the
natural environment used to be like on the spot where your
classroom
now stands.
WORKSHEET l
ADAPTATIONS
DIRECTIONS:On the left-hand side of the page you will
find a list of different natural environments. On the right-hand
side, you will see some things people have made to help
them survive in those environments. Match the environments
with the things that would help people adapt to those environments
by placing the correct letters in the blanks.
ENVIRONMENTS ADAPTATIONS
|
___1. Rainy climate
|
a. Slanted roof to shed water
|
|
___2. Dry climate
|
b. snowshoes
|
|
___3. Bright sun
|
c. Face nets
|
|
___4. No daylight in winter
|
d. sunglasses
|
|
___5. Tall, thick forests
|
e. flat roofs to catch water
|
|
___6. Lots of snow
|
f. sod houses
|
|
___7. Thick grass no trees
|
g. wooden houses
|
|
___8. Lots of mosquitoes
|
h. flashlights
|
ANSWER GUIDE
WORKSHEET l
ADAPTATIONS
DIRECTIONS:On the left-hand side of the page you will
find a list of different natural environments. On the right-hand
side, you will see some things people have made to help
them survive in those environments. Match the environments
with the things that would help people adapt to those environments
by placing the correct letters in the blanks.
ENVIRONMENTS ADAPTATIONS
|
__a_1. Rainy climate
|
a. Slanted roof to shed
water
|
|
__e_2. Dry climate
|
b. snowshoes
|
|
_d__3. Bright sun
|
c. Face nets
|
|
_h__4. No daylight
in winter
|
d. sunglasses
|
|
_g__5. Tall, thick
forests
|
e. flat roofs to catch
water
|
|
_b__6. Lots of
snow
|
f. sod houses
|
|
__f_7. Thick grass
no trees
|
g. wooden houses
|
|
_c__8. Lots of
mosquitoes
|
h. flashlights
|
GROUP A
ADAPTATIONS
SCAVENGER HUNT
DIRECTIONS: Find 12 items which serve
as adaptations in the ways mentioned below. If necessary,
you may make some of the adaptations yourself. All adaptations
must be portable; that is, you must carry them into the classroom.
Remember, this is a race for speed and accuracy. THE FIRST
TEAM WITH 12 CORRECT ADAPTATIONS WINS.
Find:
1. An adaptation to the rain.
2. An adaptation to the heat.
3. An adaptation to the high cost of
4. An adaptation to lots of paperwork.
5. An adaptation to having lots of kids together in one place.
6. An adaptation to a law.
7. An adaptation that was made in a factory.
8. An adaptation that was made entirely out of natural products.
9. An adaptation to a physical impairment.
10. An adaptation that has been imported to Alaska.
11. An adaptation that was invented in Alaska.
12. An adaptation that changed the environment.
GROUP B
ADAPTATIONS
SCAVENGER HUNT
DIRECTIONS: Find 12 items which serve
as adaptations in the ways mentioned below. If necessary,
you may make some of the adaptations yourself. All adaptations
must be portable; that is, you must carry them into the classroom.
Remember, this is a race for speed and accuracy. THE FIRST
TEAM WITH 12 CORRECT ADAPTATIONS WINS.
Find:
1. An adaptation to having lots of kids together in one place.
2 .An adaptation to a law.
3. An adaptation that changed the environment.
4. An adaptation that was invented in Alaska.
5. An adaptation to the high cost of gasoline.
6. An adaptation to the heat.
7. An adaptation that was made entirely out of natural products.
8. An adaptation that has been imported to Alaska.
9. An adaptation to lots of paperwork.
10.An adaptation to the rain.
11.An adaptation to a physical impairment.
12.An adaptation that was made in a factory.
GROUP C
ADAPTATIONS
SCAVENGER HUNT
DIRECTIONS: Find 12 items which serve
as adaptations in the ways mentioned below. If necessary,
you may make some of the adaptations yourself. All adaptations
must be portable; that is, you must carry them into the classroom.
Remember, this is a race for speed and accuracy. THE FIRST
TEAM WITH 12 CORRECT ADAPTATIONS WINS.
Find:
1. An adaptation that changed the environment.
2. An adaptation that was invented in Alaska.
3.An adaptation that was been imported to Alaska.
4. An adaptation to a physical impairment.
5.An adaptation that was made entirely out of natural products.
6.An adaptation that was made in a factory.
7.An adaptation to a law.
8.An adaptation to having lots of kids together in one place.
9.And adaptation to lots of paperwork.
10.An adaptation the high cost of gasoline.
11.An adaptation to the heat.
12.And adaptation to the rain.
GROUP D
ADAPTATIONS
SCAVENGER HUNT
DIRECTIONS: Find 12 items which serve
as adaptations in the ways mentioned below. If necessary,
you may make some of the adaptations yourself. All adaptations
must be portable; that is, you must carry them into the classroom.
Remember, this is a race for speed and accuracy. THE FIRST
TEAM WITH 12 CORRECT ADAPTATIONS WINS.
Find:
1.An adaptation to a law.
2.An adaptation that was made in a factory.
3.An adaptation to having lots of kids together in one place.
4.An adaptation that was made entirely out of natural products.
5.An adaptation to lots of paperwork.
6.An adaptation to a physical impairment.
7.An adaptation the high cost of gasoline.
8.An adaptation that was been imported to Alaska.
9.An adaptation to the heat.
10.An adaptation that was invented in Alaska.
11.And adaptation to the rain.
12.An adaptation that changed the environment.
QUIZ 1
Basic Needs and Adaptations
1. List all the things
that human beings need if they are to survive (basic needs).
(16
points)
2. Explain the difference between
the man-made environment and the natural environment. (8
points)
3. Some parts of the Anchorage environment
are listed below. On the space next to each one, write whether
it is part of the man-made environment or the natural environment.
(33 points)
|
_________________
|
a. bike path
|
|
_________________
|
b. Campbell Creek
|
|
_________________
|
c. smog
|
|
_________________
|
d. airport
|
|
_________________
|
e. clouds
|
|
_________________
|
f. Eklutna Lake
|
|
_________________
|
g. northern lights (aurora
borealis)
|
|
_________________
|
h. forest
|
|
_________________
|
i. Parkstrip
|
|
_________________
|
j. your school
|
|
_________________
|
k. berry patches
|
-
4. Name three animals from your
area that could be used for food. (Note: these should not
be farm animals. They should be from the natural environment.)
(12 points)
-
a.
b.
c.
-
5. Name three plants from your
area that could be used for food. (Note: these should not
be farm plants. They should be from the natural environment.)
(12 points)
-
a.
b.
c.
6. What group of Native people lived
in the Anchorage area before the city of Anchorage was built?
(7 points)
7. Fill in the blanks below.
There are several possible answers. Use your imagination.
(12 points)
-
a. "Sunglasses are an
adaptation to __________________."
-
b. __________________ is an adaptation
to cold weather.
-
c. Rubber boots are an adaptation
to _________________.
Answer Guide
QUIZ 1
Basic Needs and Adaptations
-
1. List all the things that human
beings need if they are to survive (basic needs). (16 points)
-
Food, shelter, water, clothing,
air
-
2. Explain the difference between
the man-made environment and the natural environment. (8
points)
-
The natural environment was
here when the first people arrived. The man-made environment
is made of changes or additions people made to the natural
environment.
3. Some parts of the Anchorage environment
are listed below. On the space next to each one, write whether
it is part of the man-made environment or the natural environment.
(33 points)
|
___man-made____________
|
a. bike path
|
|
___natural_____________
|
b. Campbell Creek
|
|
___ man-made __________
|
c. smog
|
|
____ man-made ________
|
d. airport
|
|
_____ natural ________
|
e. clouds
|
|
_____ natural ________
|
f. Eklutna Lake
|
|
______ natural _______
|
g. northern lights (aurora
borealis)
|
|
______ natural _______
|
h. forest
|
|
____ man-made ________
|
i. Parkstrip
|
|
_____ man-made _______
|
j. your school
|
|
_____ natural ________
|
k. berry patches
|
-
4. Name three animals from your
area that could be used for food. (Note: these should not
be farm animals. They should be from the natural environment.)
(12 points)
-
Answers will vary
a.
b.
c.
-
5. Name three plants from your
area that could be used for food. (Note: these should not
be farm plants. They should be from the natural environment.)
(12 points)
-
Answers will vary
a.
b.
c.
-
6. What group of Native people
lived in the Anchorage area before the city of Anchorage
was built? (7 points)
-
Tanaina Athabascans
-
7. Fill in the blanks below. There
are several possible answers. Use your imagination.
a. "Sunglasses are an adaptation
to_ bright sun(e.g.)."
b. A fur coat(e.g.)__is an adaptation to cold weather.
c. Rubber boots are an adaptation to_mud puddles(e.g.)_.
Athabascans
of Interior Alaska
