Geographic Alliance of Iowa

By Tami Huegel

The Starlite Village Best Western motel in Waterloo was the site of this year’s winter Geographic Alliance of Iowa workshop, with the focus being Lewis and Clark's migration west. Approximately 40 people attended, and the weather even cooperated for travel this time!

The first weekend began with David Chalfant, who showed us the importance of buffalo robes, beads in bartering, and how to design our own buffalo skin using bark paper. We enjoyed getting a chance to wear an actual buffalo robe -they are heavy! David is an art teacher in Hill City, Kansas, and enjoys anthropological work in his spare time. He brought many artifacts for us to see, some of which may have belonged to General Custer. David showed us the relationship that symbols have between humans and nature.

Lois Lindell, from the Center for Economic Education at UNI, made a presentation relating to economics at the March workshop. She discussed the many different economic links to geography and the expedition. One important issue the men had was to decide between wants and needs when choosing goods to take along. She showed us the PACED model, which is a way of evaluating the criteria to make the best choice. The five steps of the PACED model include, P - identify the Problem that needs to be resolved, A - identify the Alternative solutions to the problem, C - identify the Criteria to evaluate the alternatives, E - Evaluate each of the alternatives given the criteria, and D -make a Decision based on the analysis from above. Lois also mentioned the positives and negatives of the barter and money systems for their expedition. Looking at the outcomes of the men's travels, it is clear that economics played a large role in the journey. It never would have been successful without economic planning. Participants received many lesson plans that tie economics and geography together, as well as a list of economic concepts that can be applied in the classroom.

Later on, Don Peterson reviewed watershed activities, discussed river tributaries and lessons plans we can use to teach our students about the ways water is used by everyone. (Do you know how many states have tributaries to the Mississippi River?) Don also talked about the prairie’s physical features, such as the new species of plants and animals these men had never seen before. Lewis and Clark encountered some difficulties when they tried to communicate. Many of us realized what problems there would be trying to communicate with the native people, but we forgot about the problems that trying to communicate home brings. We learned that messages sent back to President Jefferson were written in a code that only a select few people knew. During one of the lessons, we were given a chance to decipher a code, and learn how to make our own, using an alphabetic table. Don also included lesson plans for jeopardy games, character education, archaeology, and bartering. The bartering lesson was very interesting. We divided the participants into 14 groups, and had to all end up with an equal amount of the 14 objects we had on our list. This was a great lesson that facilitated student interaction and discussion. One thing that this lesson made me realize was how many things Lewis and Clark had to actually take with them, not just for their use, but for trade (and hopefully good relationships) with the Indians they met. (The answer to the above question is 30 states have tributaries to the Mississippi River.)

Dr. David Walker, UNI History Professor, was the historian and content person for the group each weekend. He showed a few different video clips about Lewis & Clark, and gave us a long list of resources we can use in our classroom, ranging from the best web sites to the best books. Many of the workshop participants also contributed helpful resources that they had found. One book that was frequently mentioned was Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage, which has many of the journals from Lewis and Clark's expedition, and also discusses what happened to the crew after they completed the journey. Dr. Walker discussed the different native peoples that Lewis and Clark met on the journey. It was interesting to hear about the many distinct nations of tribes. We also learned about the slave, York, a member of the expedition, and how fascinated the Indians were by him. Also discussed was the inclusion (and later mysterious disappearance of) the Newfoundland dog, Seaman.

Participants received many other maps (including the new Iraq and the Heart of the Middle East map from National Geographic) and lesson plans at the workshop. Each year focuses on a new topic, and these learning experiences are well worth the money. College credit and CEU's are available also.

Finally, the GAI provides wonderful access to networking with other teachers. Hope to see you at the next GAI workshop!

10. I will use information gained from the Lewis and Clark Workshop to create a bridge to other history topics. I would especially like to link them to my Laura Ingalls Wilder Unit. In her books she talks about Native Americans.

11. Students will be paired to research a section of the path followed by Lewis and Clark. When their research is completed, they could give oral reports about their findings and/or display them on a bulletin board in geographical order – east to west. Their research could include what Lewis and Clark encountered as well as what is there today.

12. Have the students compare old (pre-Lewis and Clark) maps of North America to our modern desk maps. We will trace the journey with markers on our modern maps.

13. Write a diary as if each student were actually a part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. This would include analyzing the obstacles that stood in the way of the expedition.

14. Brainstorm some ways students learn about places they have never been. Discuss modern times versus the time period of 1804. Include what type of activities, hardships, living conditions, hobbies, and skills were needed to exist during these times.

15. Make a postcard to send to your parents describing some of the highlights of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Students must list a minimum of six facts they learned on the lined side of the post card. On the other side without lines, draw an interesting picture of something they saw, heard, learned about or experienced during their travels.

16. Students explore the mental, physical, and geographical challenges faced by the Corps of Discovery. Students will develop historical narratives using journal entries from the Corps of Discovery. They could develop a unit to include the great variety of terrain, plant and animal life that the expedition encountered.

17. Brainstorm and discuss student ideas of places they’d like to explore. They could contemplate whether we currently have access to information about these places and comparing that access to the complete lack of information that the Corps of Discovery had about the West.

18. Give each student four items to research. They are as follows: a historical figure that took part in the Corps of Discovery, an Indian tribe, a plant that was discovered and an animal that was discovered on the expedition.

19. This lesson, completed in two or three thirty-minute sessions, explores various Native American musical instruments. Students will discuss the geographical factors leading to the creation of the instruments, listen to recordings of Native American music (both traditional and modern), discuss similarities and/or differences between traditional and modern Native American music, create their own instruments and play them along with the recording.

20. Students learn to differentiate between land claims of competing countries in North America in 1803.

21. Students will provide information on at least six ways buffalo proved useful for Lewis and Clark’s party after reading a teacher-prepared buffalo packet.

22. Draw a story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition that would simulate what the Native Americans did on animal skins. Student could use a brown paper sack or bark paper. Paper bags can be sprayed with water and allowed to dry as a substitute for the true bark paper.

23. Work in small groups to have students search road maps looking for county names, towns, or physical features for names associated with the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

24. Develop an activity in which the students experience the communication challenges when meeting diverse languages. Students explore and experience decoding procedures.

25. Use a Know/Want/Learn chart to organize class ideas and find out the students’ knowledge and interests about the expedition. A timeline will be an organizational tool to help in comprehension.

26. Explain to the students that Lewis and Clark used instruments, such as compasses, to map places they visited. However, much of their successful mapmaking involved careful observation skills. Tell students they are going to practice making maps using their own observation skills by developing an actual expedition of their school grounds.

27. Write a paper or create a power point presentation on the variety of topics studied before they left on their expedition. Topics could include botany, Native American culture, medicine and geography.

28. Read several different journals divided into sections, and each day discuss the significance of what happened and how different journals may have been similar or different focuses in telling the story.

29. In order for the students to really understand the complexities of planning an expedition to an unknown region, such as the Lewis and Clark journey, they will be assigned to plan a class size journey into a modern day unknown area. Regions that could be included in this study would be the Amazon Rainforest, Antarctica, or Sahara Desert. The class will first be divided into groups; with each group planning what they thought would be needed to ensure the success of the expedition. Then each group will present their decisions to the class and the class will come up with a plan that they feel would lead to a successful venture.

30. Assign each student a site along the Lewis and Clark route and have them do research on that site. One of the items in their research could be to search the Internet for climatic information in order to make a climagraph. When all the students have completed the climagraphs, they will be placed in order of where they are located on the route. The students will then take a timeline of the expedition and determine what weather conditions could have been expected versus what they actually had to endure.

 

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Useful Lewis & Clark websites

I want to take the opportunity to extend my sincere appreciation to C. Murray Austin for all his contributions to the GAI. He retired from the UNI faculty at the end of the fall semester. Without Murray the Alliance would have had more challenges as it developed from a dream to a reality. Thank you Murray for the time and effort you so willingly gave to this organization.

When I was hired as the new coordinator in 1996, Murray made certain that he helped me learn to write grants and plan events. He was invaluable to me during that first year. I will be eternally grateful to you Murray for your mentoring. He was always popping by to see how things were going and to give advice as needed.

More important Murray became my dear friend. Through the years I learned much from Murray and I miss him already. It is always difficult for me to say goodbye. In fact, I don’t do that very well so I am just going to say "farewell dear friend and enjoy your retirement." –Kay

Dr. C. Murray Austin, Professor of Geography, has announced his retirement from the UNI faculty after 30 years of service. Murray served as one of the coordinators of the GAI during its early years from 1991-1997.

Dr. Austin completed his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1971. He subsequently taught at the University of Kansas before joining the UNI faculty in August 1973. Murray was promoted to Full Professor in 1987.

Murray played a major role in the growth of UNI’s Department of Geography over the past three decades. Well-known for his tireless service duties including with the GAI, Dr. Austin was presented with the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Outstanding Service Award in 1995.

Dr. Austin and his wife Kitty have owned a summer home in Scotland for many years and will now split their time between their Scottish home and a new winter home in central Florida. Naturally, both homes are located in close proximity to several golf courses!

The GAI wishes Murray and Kitty many happy years ahead in their well-earned retirement. –Phil

Booklist has reviewed "Russia News Stories", a video made with students. Part of a whole series of videos on world cultures, this enlightening program follows a group of American teens as they tour post-Communist Russia. In eight short segments, onscreen teen "reporters" explore the economy, clothes, folk art, religion, family life, buildings, school, and food of their Russian contemporaries… This unique program gives students an understanding of both the history and current struggles of Russia." For more information on this video or other videos on China, Vietnam, Thailand, Ghana, or India checkout NoodleHead’s website at www.noodlehead.com or contact by

Hans Goettsch, GAI Teacher Consultant (TC), has been chosen to participate in GEOEarthKAM, an all expense-paid eight-day workshop on July 6-13, 2003 at Texas A&M University. GEOEarthKAM is a unique workshop to prepare 20 master geography educators teaching in grades 5 to 12 to participate with their students in an ISSEarthKAM mission. ISSEarthKAM engages students in an inquiry-based mission to target, acquire, and analyze images from a camera on the International Space Station. Hans teaches world geography, economics and American History at Charles City High School.

In an effort to help students understand the current world crisis, the National Geographic Society is donating more than 50,000 "Iraq and the Heart of the Middle East" maps, containing the most detailed and up-to-date information available on the region, to elementary, middle and high school classrooms around the country.

Along with the map giveaway, educators and parents can also tap into lesson plans keyed to specific grade levels, additional thematic maps of the region and other timely resources available on www.nationalgeographic.com/iraq.

The two-sided map, produced by National Geographic’s cartographic team, features on one side a political map of the region, showing cities, towns, roads, railroads and airports, as well as the location of water holes, oil fields and oil pipelines. The map also details which areas are sand, swamp, salt desert, dry salt lake or coral reef. Also included are inset street maps of Baghdad, Beirut, Damascus, and Jerusalem, with a description of each city’s troubled history, plus a list of Middle Eastern geographic terms with their English equivalents.

The other side carries a satellite image of the Middle East, showing its physical setting with vast desert areas and mountain regions. Three detailed inset maps highlight conflicts, religions, and oil and water resources. Fact boxes on all 15 Middle East countries and the West Bank and Gaza Strip list their population numbers, religion, gross domestic product per capita, crude oil reserves and troop numbers.

Terry Garcia, National Geographic’s executive vice president for mission programs, said, "Grasping the geographic context for current events helps us understand complex major world events. This timely map giveaway – part of the Geographic’s core education outreach – will help students and teachers place this troubled region into sharper focus."

The maps will be distributed to teachers around the United States through the Society’s geography alliance network. Two hundred schools in the Department of Defense school system around the world will also receive maps.

If you would like to receive a complimentary copy of the new Iraq map, please call the Geographic Alliance of Iowa (GAI) office at 1-800-601-3899 with your name and mailing address. You may also send an e-mail request to the GAI office to: jane.gillen@uni.edu

The Center for the Study of Global Change and the Office of International Programs are pleased to announce International Studies Summer Institutes 2003, two concurrent residential institutes, one for high school students, and the other for middle and high school teachers. They will be held on the Indiana University Bloomington campus from July 13-26, 2003.

American and international participants join Indiana University faculty and internationally prominent speakers in examining such topics as global environmental change, populations at risk, conflict resolution in deeply divided societies, and international economics and trade. During the past seven summers, participants have joined in a computer-assisted simulation game on the use of diminishing global resources, examined human rights issues of children around the world, and exchanged views with presenters in Johannesburg, South Africa, Warsaw, Poland, Ottawa, Canada, Belfast, and Northern Ireland via interactive video connections. In addition, teachers have shared their "best practices" with each other, met as a group to discuss ways in which an international focus can be introduced across the curriculum, and worked individually on curriculum projects. The goal of both institutes is to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills from an international perspective. In so doing, the Summer Institutes create opportunities for meaningful dialogue among people of different world cultures about current issues of global importance.

Visit the following website for an on-line application:  http://globalinstitutes.indiana.edu/

http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/AGSGeoAddressServlet?_lang=en&_programYear=50&_treeId=420 this site allows access to 2000 demographic and economic data, with accompanying maps, down to the block level. URL allows you to enter address to find census data or maps.

http://www.uncwil.edu/smartgrowth/home.html the purpose of the site is to "engage students in hands-on exploration and activities that further their understanding of both the natural systems and human history of industrialization, development of southern cities, suburbs, industrial centers, and coastal areas."

http://teacher.scholastic.com/ilp/index.asp?SubjectID=4 this site focuses on resources for the k-8 audience, including article archives and lesson plans on topics such as Atmosphere, Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Plate tectonics, Solar System, Weather, as well as several other interesting lesson plans.

http://mercury.ornl.gov/ornldaac "A variety of data held by data centers and researchers around the world are available through Mercury, including data related to climate, hydrology, vegetation/land cover, land use, and more.

http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020501thunder.html This short article suggests that dust, smoke, and sulfates can suppress ice crystal formation and perhaps lead to modifications in the earth’s radiation budget and the vigor of thunderstorms.

http://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Observatory/Datasets/tsurf.tovs.html with this website from NASA you have the ability to compare this animation on world surface temperature with other datasets like global population density, temperature, biomass, and more.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/ the site allows you to map and access resources regarding the world’s ecoregions. Search by ecoregion name, habitat, place name, even by zip code.

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/research/lunar_orbiter/index.html a "reference manual to the global photographic coverage of the Moon."

http://www.micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof 10/ Powers of Ten site offers a series of cascading images showing topics frequently studied in science classes, ranging from galaxies to cells. For High school and up.

http://www.time.com/time/2002/inventions/toc.html Keep up with how technology is reshaping transit, clothing, medicine, and other areas. For Middle school and up.

http://www.badastronomy.com These web pages are devoted to airing out myths and misconceptions in astronomy and related topics. For High school and up.

http://www.educeth.ch/stromboli/index-en.html On this site you can find an eruption video, virtual walks, and 360-degree panoramas. For Middle school and up.

http://www.space.com/scienceastonomy/top10_2002_021224-1.html Coolest Space Images of 2002. See attractive pictures of a watery Mars, the heart of the Milky Way, the birth of Saturn, black holes, and more. For all ages

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html 2002 CIA Fact book. Get country maps plus pertinent information on physical features, political process, economic system, infrastructure, and more. For children middle school and up.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/census/index.htm Census 2002 maps: USA Today lends its graphic rich, easily readable format to understanding the 2000 Census. Highly pleasing graphics summarize changes in population and number of representatives in Congress. Data are also available for racial and ethnic composition, center of population, population density, and youth population. For children middle school and up.

http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/ImpactsStateImpacts.html EPA Global Warming by State: the site offers a state by state discussion on the impacts of climate warming. For each state you will find how climate change will affect human health, agriculture, water resources, forest, and ecosystems. For children middle school and up.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explotime.html Explorations through time. This site has a series of interactive web-based K-12 educational modules that address topics such as fossils, the history of life, biological evolution, the science of paleontology, and the scientific process.

http://www.cla.sc.edu/geog/faculty/carbone/modules/mods4car/ccontrol/index.html Climate Control Climographs: Find over 50 Climographs from around the world. Climographs are organized to highlight climate differences as a function of latitude, land-water differences, and wind patterns.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwatch/winter/blizzard/index.htm using Flash animations employing humidity and temperature sliders "you’ll be able to turn a sunny day into a windy day.

One hundred 4-8^th graders competed Friday, April 4^th, for the top prize in the Iowa Geographic Bee – a trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the National Geographic Bee on May 20^th and 21^st. The contest, sponsored by the National Geographic Society was conducted in all 50 states and U.S. territories. The top three Iowans this year were Jason Davis, an 8^th grader from Trinity Lutheran School (first place), Mattias Gassman, a 7^th grader from Ames (second place), and Braxton Excell, an 8^th grader from Gilbert Jr/Sr High School. Congratulations boys!!