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Anthropology Activities and Lesson Plans

  Web interactive activities: Anthropology   

Image from Freshwater Mussel Identification Activity
Freshwater Mussel Identification Activity

This is an interactive version of the lesson plan in the Mussel Collection Web exhibit. Learn how zoologists use keys to identify mussels by shell texture, color, and shape. Choose among five shells to identify.

This activity requires a flash plugin on your computer, which may be downloaded for free on the Macromedia site.




Image from Projectile Point Identification Activity
Projectile Point Identification Activity

Learn how archaeologists identify and date spear and arrow points with a key based on the point's shape and notches. Use the key to identiify and sort points in the online group of points.

This activity requires a flash plugin on your computer, which may be downloaded for free on the Macromedia site.




  Web-available Lesson Plans: Anthropology   

Image from Comparison of Political Life: Native American Lesson pdf
Comparison of Political Life: Native American Lesson pdf
Complete a Venn diagram after studying the characteristics of political life of the Illini tribe, Eruo-settlers, and modern Americans.


Image from European and Native American Mappping Activity
European and Native American Mappping Activity
European and Native American Mapping Activity from Lewis and Clark in Illinois helps students understand how different peoples have different cultural traditions about subjects even as seemingly "scientific" as measuring the land. Lewis and Clark consulted several sources for maps and brought with them scientific tools for measuring land and making maps.


Image from Forms for Exhibit Creation Lessons
Forms for Exhibit Creation Lessons
In the Classroom Exhibit lesson for the Behind the Scenes module, students can print out and use forms to keep records of the objects or specimens they are planning to exhibit.


Image from Frost Trade Bead Collection Lesson Plan on Loom Weaving
Frost Trade Bead Collection Lesson Plan on Loom Weaving
Lesson plan for grades 5 and up on loom weaving of beads based on the beading designs of Native Americans as seen in Native AMerican beaded objects in the Museum's collection online.


Image from Frost Trade Bead Collection lesson plan on millefiori bead making
Frost Trade Bead Collection lesson plan on millefiori bead making
Lesson plan for grades 5 and up on making millefiori beads of polymer clay


Image from Frost Trade Bead Collection lesson plan on sewn beading
Frost Trade Bead Collection lesson plan on sewn beading
Lesson plan on Ojibwa sewn bead designs for grades 5 and up


Image from Make a Model Wigwam Lesson Plan
Make a Model Wigwam Lesson Plan
Illustrated instructions for making a model of an Eastern Woodlands Native American wigwam. Learn about how Illinois Indians made wigwams in the Native AMerican Web modules.


Image from Mississippian Regalia Lesson Plan pdf
Mississippian Regalia Lesson Plan pdf

Mississippian natives in Illinois wore special clothing for ceremonies. We know about theses costumes through artefacts found that depict dancers.




Image from Native American Dye Plants Lesson
Native American Dye Plants Lesson
Learn how to create fabric dyes from natural substances in onion skins, walnuts, and flowers the way Native Americans and early settlers did. Dyed cloth can be used to make a prairie quilt (see lesson plan) or garment, or dye samples notebook.


Image from Native American Pictionary pdf
Native American Pictionary pdf
Play pictionary to learn Native AMerican vocabulary.



Image from Native American Plum-stone Dice Game pdf
Native American Plum-stone Dice Game pdf
Native Americans played many games, including games of wager. This one uses painted plum stones to use as dice.



Image from Native American Recipes Lesson
Native American Recipes Lesson
Learn about Native American foods and find Web sites with recipes.


Image from Ojibwa Sewn Bead Designs Lesson Plan pdf
Ojibwa Sewn Bead Designs Lesson Plan pdf
Native Americans sewed glass beads onto leather and cloth to decorate clothing and objects. Learn how to sew seed beeds on felt, and go on to decorate your own clothes!



Image from People at Work Lesson Plan pdf
People at Work Lesson Plan pdf
Work was one of the five themes that WPA artists were asked to use in their work. View artworks by the WPA artists on this theme, and create your own painting using the types of jobs we see today.



Image from Polymer Clay Trade Bead Lesson pdf
Polymer Clay Trade Bead Lesson pdf
View the Museum's Frost Trade Bead Collection Online and the Morton Barker Paperweight Collection online to find out how millefiori beads were made from glass, and hos they were traded in America. Create your own beads from polymer clay.


Image from Polymer Clay Trade Beads Lesson
Polymer Clay Trade Beads Lesson
Using the Frost Trade Bead Collection Online and the Barker Paperweight Colleciton online, students will learn how millefiori beads are made from glass and will learn to do a similar technique in ploymer clay.


Image from Predicting the Past: Historic Journals and Archaeology Lesson Plan
Predicting the Past: Historic Journals and Archaeology Lesson Plan
This lesson has students be historians by using journal entries and archaeological finds to understand the nature of anthropological study.


Image from Prehistoric Pottery Methods Lesson Plan pdf
Prehistoric Pottery Methods Lesson Plan pdf
Learn to build a pot of clay by molding, coiling, and pinching.



Image from Someone's in the Kitchen
Someone's in the Kitchen
Learn about Native AMerican foods and find recipes you can make.



Image from Spider Collection and Native American Collections Lesson Plan
Spider Collection and Native American Collections Lesson Plan
Lesson plan for grades 3-6 on making a spider-motif gorget based on an artifact from Dickson Mounds Museum



Image from Spider Gorget Lesson Plan pdf
Spider Gorget Lesson Plan pdf
Early Native Americans in Illinois used shell to create gorgets, or neck pendants.


Image from Weaving Beads on a Loom Lesson Plan pdf
Weaving Beads on a Loom Lesson Plan pdf
This lesson from the Museum's Native American module focuses on bead weaving techniques. You can buy or construct a bead loom and, using a needle and thread and seed beads, weave a bracelet, ring, or even a necklace.



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Last updated 2006-05-09, 14:36 by eks