Library @ Little Big Horn College

Subject: Science - Social Studies

Grade: 4-12

Topic: Land Management and Conservation, Respect

Content: Students will read about Apsáalooke Nation land management practices and gain a better understanding of the difficulty in preserving land for future generations.

Goals: Students will identify changes in land management and people’s attitudes towards the environment.

Standards:

Science Standard 5: Students, through the inquiry process, understand how scientific knowledge and technological developments impact communities, cultures and societies.

Science Standard 6: Students understand historical developments in science and technology.

Social Studies Standard 2: Students analyze how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance to understand the operation of government and to demonstrate civic responsibility.

Social Studies Standard 3: Students apply geographic knowledge and skills (e.g., location, place, human/environment interactions, movement, and regions).

Social Studies Standard 5: Students make informed decisions based on an understanding of the economic principles of production, distribution, exchange, and consumption.

Social Studies Standard 6: Students demonstrate an understanding of the impact of human interaction and cultural diversity on societies.

Essential Understanding 1: There is great diversity among the 12 tribal Nations of Montana in their languages, cultures, histories and governments. Each Nation has a distinct and unique cultural heritage that contributes to modern Montana.

Essential Understanding 4: Reservations are lands that have been reserved by the tribes for their own use through treaties, statutes, and executive orders and were not “given” to them. The principle that land should be acquired from the Indians only through their consent with treaties involved three assumptions: I. Both parties to treaties were sovereign powers. II. Indian tribes had some form of transferable title to the land. III. Acquisition of Indian lands was solely a government matter not to be left to individual colonies.

Essential Understanding 5: Federal policies, put into place throughout American history, have affected Indian people and still shape who they are today. Much of Indian history can be related through several major federal policy periods.

Essential Understanding 7: Under the American legal system, Indian tribes have sovereign powers, separate and independent from the federal and state governments. However, the extent and breadth of tribal sovereignty is not the same for each tribe.

Objectives: After completing this lesson students will understand the need to respect each other’s space, and how land managers work to overcome conservation obstacles.

Materials: One hula hoop, tire, base or circle of some sort for each team, and six bean bags for each hoop.

Introduction: Students will outline the need for land management practices in their neighborhood and on the Apsáalooke reservation.

Development: This hands-on approach will change the way students think about littering, land management, and their responsibility for their environment.

Practice: The teacher will divide students into teams of 5 or 6. Each team stands near “their” hula-hoop land. The teacher will yell GO! Each group has to empty their hula-hoop land by carrying the beanbags, one per trip, to another team’s land. The beanbags have to be put into another teams “land’. Tossing is acceptable if the bag makes it to their land, if not they have to retrieve it and put it in. Watch out for the other team members so that students do not bump into one another. Count the number of bags in each hoop land at the end of a set amount of time--about 3 minutes. The team with the least amount of beanbags on their land wins.

Checking for Understanding/Evaluation: Students will explain the differences in land management practices over time and how they affect their own environment. Teachers may request that students write about the management of resources across Montana and in Apsáalooke country.

Closure: Students will discuss the need for land management and how the Apsáalooke Nation is fulfilling that role.