Who discovered America?
Lesson #: 8
Grade: 4th
Subject Area: Social Studies
Context
The reason for this lesson is to debunk the idea that Christopher Columbus ‘discovered’ the Americans and that American Indians were here and had been for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
Materials
Introduction/Investment
For this part, you will be having the students do a simulation. Set up the room with two distinct halves of the class, with desks in the middle. One side represents Milwaukee, and the other side represents Madison.
Put half of the class on each side of the desks. Tell the students on the sides that the other side is completely unknown to you.
Once the group gets to the other side, tell everyone that it is a miracle! The Milwaukeeans have just discovered Madison.
Tell the students to just talk very quickly about what they are feeling on each of their sides. Make sure that they take on the perspective of the people and this is something that you as a teacher will have to help manage.
After you have gotten the students thinking about this in a non-European vs. American Indian way.
Content
For this, the most important information is around who first discovered America and why so many people think that Columbus ‘discovered America.
Things to highlight and talk about:
Whole-Class Activity
Keeping the students in the same place, begin to show them some of the facts from the box above. Talk about how American Indians have been here for thousands of year before Columbus and talk very general about how those people lived.
By keeping the students in the spots from the simulation, make sure to ask them:
Practice
Once the class as a whole has discussed what it felt like as a whole group, have the different groups break off and talk about what it felt like from their perspective. The three groups would be:
Assessment
For the Assessment piece, have the students write an exit slip about the simulation and there feelings towards it.Exit slip
Grade: 4th
Subject Area: Social Studies
Context
The reason for this lesson is to debunk the idea that Christopher Columbus ‘discovered’ the Americans and that American Indians were here and had been for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
Materials
- Information about key facts during the pre-Columbus time and 1492 in particular
- Whiteboard/Chalkboard
Introduction/Investment
For this part, you will be having the students do a simulation. Set up the room with two distinct halves of the class, with desks in the middle. One side represents Milwaukee, and the other side represents Madison.
Put half of the class on each side of the desks. Tell the students on the sides that the other side is completely unknown to you.
- This is to make sure that the students realize their respective area is their area.
Once the group gets to the other side, tell everyone that it is a miracle! The Milwaukeeans have just discovered Madison.
Tell the students to just talk very quickly about what they are feeling on each of their sides. Make sure that they take on the perspective of the people and this is something that you as a teacher will have to help manage.
After you have gotten the students thinking about this in a non-European vs. American Indian way.
- Don’t want your students to play Indians
Content
For this, the most important information is around who first discovered America and why so many people think that Columbus ‘discovered America.
Things to highlight and talk about:
- Nations in Wisconsin all have creation stories that are based on their history
- Columbus arrived in 1492 in the Caribbean
- Anywhere from 10-20 million American Indians were in American prior to 1492
- American Indians were very diverse in terms of culture, types of living, and type of sustenance.
- Some were farmers and other were hunters
- Some were nomadic people
- Talk about the large cities like Azatlan, Tenochtitlan, Dejope, and Cahokia.
- Land was controlled by the Nation for the good of the nation
Whole-Class Activity
Keeping the students in the same place, begin to show them some of the facts from the box above. Talk about how American Indians have been here for thousands of year before Columbus and talk very general about how those people lived.
By keeping the students in the spots from the simulation, make sure to ask them:
- What it felt like to have someone come and say they ‘discovered’ this land?
- What would it feel like to see these people? (From both sides)
Practice
Once the class as a whole has discussed what it felt like as a whole group, have the different groups break off and talk about what it felt like from their perspective. The three groups would be:
- American Indians in America in 1492
- Europeans that arrived in America in 1492
- Europeans in Europe in 1492None
Assessment
For the Assessment piece, have the students write an exit slip about the simulation and there feelings towards it.Exit slip
