Digital Indigenous Shelters Inquiry and STEM Project - FNMI Building Challenge
- PDF
- Google Apps™
- Internet Activities
Description
This Traditional Indigenous Shelters Inquiry and STEM project is designed for Canadian upper elementary social studies classes. Do you want your students to understand that Indigenous peoples of Canada traditionally lived in a huge variety of shelters, not just tipis? Then this Indigenous Peoples of Canada Shelters Inquiry and Building Challenge is for you!
This fun, engaging, project is a fantastic way to hit Social Studies, Science and Language Arts outcomes. Students will start by completing an inquiry into one type of traditional shelter used by a Canadian Indigenous group.
After the research is complete, they will use their new knowledge to build a miniature prototype of their shelter. This shelter will then be tested against the forces of wind, load, and vibration.
Students will have an opportunity to go back and make changes to their original design before a second test. Finally, students present their new knowledge to the class and complete a self-assessment.
This digital inquiry can be used with Google Drive or Google Classroom. It is perfect for 1:1 and going paperless! You can even use this as a distance learning or home learning activity. I chose to provide the challenges on Google Slides rather than on paper in an attempt to reduce the number of photocopies that you need!
What is Included?
• Teacher Guide
• 23 Google Slides for Students Use
What is the goal of this activity?
The ultimate goal of this inquiry and STEM activity is for students to see the engineering genius behind a variety of traditional Indigenous shelters.
What will students do?
1) Students will complete research to learn more about one traditional Indigenous shelter.
2) Students will design and build a model of their chosen structure.
3) Students will complete tests to see how well their structure withstands the forces of vibration, wind and load.
4) Students will make changes and modify their designs to make them even better.
5) Students will retest with their new designs.
6) Students will reflect on their models.
7) Students will create and share presentations about their chosen traditional Indigenous shelters.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask in the Q&A section and don’t forget to check out the preview!
This product was designed to align with the Alberta Grades 4 and 5 Curriculums. However, it is general enough that it could easily be used in other Canadian contexts.
Don’t forget to check out my other Canadian Social Studies products!
Fatty Legs Interactive Read Aloud
*****************************************************************************
Customer Tips:
How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases:
• Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to
login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button.
Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and
leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you
feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. I value your
feedback greatly as it helps me determine which products are most valuable for your
classroom so I can create more for you. ☺
Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches:
• Look for the green star next to my store logo and
click it to become a follower. Voila! You will now receive email updates
about Chocolate Covered Classroom Creations! ☺
