Home | Lessons & Resources | American Indian Responses to Environmental Challenges
website
instructional resource

American Indian Responses to Environmental Challenges

Visit the website American Indian Responses to Environmental Challenges to see how the Akwesasne Mohawk of northern New York, the Campo Kumeyaay Nation of southern California, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe of northern Minnesota, and the Lummi Nation of Washington State deal with environmental issues in their homelands today. Learn how traditional culture, values, and indigenous knowledge, along with Western science and technology, inform the environmental work of these contemporary Native nations.

Resource Information

grades   6 7 8 9
nations
Akwesasne, Campo Kumeyaay, Leech Lake, Lummi, Mohawk, Ojibwe
subjects
English Language Arts, Environmental Science, Social Studies, STEM
regions
California, Eastern Woodlands, Great Lakes, North America, Northeast, Northwest Coast
keywords
baskets, black ash, emerald ash borer, environment, manoonmin, riparian, rock drops, salmon, sustainability, wetlands, wild rice, culture
Essential Understandings More Close

1: American Indian Cultures
Culture is a result of human socialization. People acquire knowledge and values by interacting with other people through common language, place, and community. In the Americas, there is vast cultural diversity among more than 2,000 tribal groups. Tribes have unique cultures and ways of life that span history from time immemorial to the present day.

3: People, Places, and Environments
For thousands of years, indigenous people have studied, managed, honored, and thrived in their homelands. These foundations continue to influence American Indian relationships and interactions with the land today.


LEARN MORE ABOUT ESSENTIAL UNDERSTANDINGS →

Academic Standards More Close

Common Core State Standards

CCSS.ELA-Reading.CCRA.RL.1
Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.7
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4
Present information , findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.


National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies (High School)–National Council for the Social Studies

III. People, Places, and Environments.
Knowledge–Past and present changes in physical systems, such as seasons, climate and weather, and the water cycle, in both national and global contexts.


College, Career, & Civic Life–C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards

D2.Eco.6.6-8
Explain how changes in supply and demand cause changes in prices and quantities of goods and services, labor, credit, and foreign currencies.

D2.Geo.4.6-8
Analyze the combinations of cultural and environmental characteristics that make places both similar to and different from other places.