GeoCivics
You can be a water protector too!
Author: Ashley Alarcon, Arizona
Grade 4
This lesson focuses on water usage and preservation while exploring cultural differences between the Indigenous perspectives and today’s mainstream cultural perspective on water. This 5E lesson tells the story of how Indigenous people utilized water as well as the land for many things they needed to survive without necessarily changing it. During westward expansion, the treatment of land and water changed dramatically. However, the Indigenous perspective on natural resources has always stayed the same; we see the land as a relative and water as life.
Civic Engagement and Advocacy during an Election Year
K-12 5E Lessons created by Teachers for Teachers!
During the summer of 2024 we will be hosting an exciting place-based educational experience in Washington, DC to learn how to include diverse perspectives in the education space through civic engagement and advocacy in your American history, geography, civics, and government instruction. During the Academy, we will celebrate Juneteenth in our Capital, and meet with educators, historians, experts, and advocacy groups. We will also visit historic locations such as the White House, the Capital, and museums to deepen content knowledge of civic engagement and advocacy, and strengthen pedagogical knowledge and skills.
Lessons available Fall 2024
United States Territories & Regions
K-12 5E Lessons created by Teachers for Teachers!
These lessons were written by our second GeoCivics Academy participants in 2023. Lessons are based on the Academy place-based experiences exploring perspectives and unique history of U.S. Territories in American history, geography, civics, and government. Exploring Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, participants met with senators, historians, representatives from the EPA and NPS, conservation groups, classroom and museum educators, and visited historic locations and museums to deepen content knowledge of civics, geography, and social studies, and strengthen pedagogical knowledge and skills.
More on the way!
K-5 Lessons
-
Grades 3-5: Cantu - Civic Action Project: Creating a Multicultural Library
-
Grade 4 ESL: Dudley-Williams - A Closer Look at the US Virgin Islands
6-8 Lessons
-
Grades 6-8: Lesson 1 Liljemark - Exploring Invasive Species through text evidence
-
Grades 6-8: Lesson 2 Liljemark - Local Invasive Species - Take Action!
-
Grades 6-8: Terlaje - Modern vs. traditional Chamorro / Guamanian diet
High School
Westward Expansion through the lens of Indigenous People
K-12 5E Lessons created by Teachers for Teachers!
These lessons were written by our first GeoCivics Academy participants in 2022. Lessons are based on the Academy place-based experiences of Westward Expansion through the lens of indigenous people. Through an exploration of important historical sites and museums, and meetings with content experts, and leaders and members from various indigenous nations, teachers deepened and broadened their knowledge of Western Expansion through the lens of indigenous peoples.
K-5 Lessons
-
Grade 2: White - Culture & Food
-
Unit: The Long Walk through an Indigenous Lens
-
Grade 4: Burns & Holguin - Introduction to the Long Walk
-
6-8 Lessons
High School
-
Holder - Unit: The Three Sisters
-
Armijo - Unit: Westward Expansion
-
Kuropatkin & Coffey - Tribal Sovereignty and the Navajo Long Walk