Social Studies Grade Five

Module One - Learning about the Past

• history, archaeology, artifacts, oral tradition

Students will know that:

• people learn about history from written and oral records and from archaeology.
• writers of history do so within the context of their own beliefs, values, and perspectives.

Students will:

• use various resources to identify perspectives and points of view.

Attitudes/Values Objectives

Students will:

• appreciate the processes of learning about the past.

Students may:

• practice seeing things from various points of view.

• Begin a timeline. Start with a section to represent the present year. Add information that is important to the class, for example, field trips. As the year progresses extend the timeline into the past and future. Measure time using a cyclical method. Divide a circle into quadrants to represent the four (or six) seasons (or other period of time). Have pupils create personal timelines, using either the linear or cyclical model.
  
• Explore the various methods of learning about the past such as diaries, oral and written histories, journals, records, artifacts, and ecofacts. Reflect on the positive and negative aspects of each method.

• Organize a simulated or real (if possible) archaeological dig.

• Using the Student Information Page: Point of View as well as appropriate selections and activities in language arts (mystery stories, folk tales, news articles, historical fiction) practise identifying and stating various points of view.
• Explore the concept of time. Add to the linear and cyclical timelines, using illustrations of significant events. Discuss the relationships of the events and their relative positions on the timeline. Point out that although we now learn about history mainly from books, information about the distant past comes mainly from artifacts and oral history. Relate cyclical time to Indian and Métis perspective.

• Learn about the oral tradition of Indian peoples. Use stories as one source of information as you study history. Also, create stories and present them in the oral tradition.

• Study artifacts and ecofacts or pictures of them. Ask, "What do they tell us about the people who made/used them?" Visit a museum to study some artifacts and share background information about them. Explain in writing the meaning of each artifact.

• Prepare a package of materials from the school, house and garage. Working in groups, have students imagine they are living in another time and have them interpret the "artifacts" and make assumptions about the people who used them.

Module 1: Activity Guide

Teacher background

Some pertinent ideas and information that may be incorporated in this module include:

• the concept of time may be illustrated in a linear or cyclical fashion:
• information about the recent and distant past is obtained primarily from books, whose authors write on the basis of information obtained through observation, original documents, other history books, artifacts, fossils, oral history, legends, and myths;
• much of what is recorded in history books about pre-historic peoples and events is based on interpretations of artifacts and oral history;
• artifacts may have sacred significance and importance in recording the past;
• oral history was and still is of great value in many cultures including the Indian peoples, where Elders were/are revered as historians;
• oral history has been an important means of transmitting information ever since the dawn of humanity;
• it is/has been an important source of information about pre-historical and historical time periods;
• people who did not utilize a pen and paper written language did rely upon other forms of communication as well as upon oral history;
• an historical document is generally written from one perspective, so does not necessarily tell the whole story;
• our knowledge or assumptions about the past changes as new information is found;
• authors, no matter how hard they try to be unbiased, write within the context of their own values, beliefs, and perspectives;
• new information about the past is very slow to find its way into historical documents; and
• in the past, most of the documents written about Canada's First Peoples have been written from a Eurocentric perspective.

Students and teachers should consider that the `facts' presented may or may not be technically correct or appropriate, the language used may or may not be correct or appropriate, and the points of view especially of Aboriginal peoples may be quite different from a Eurocentric perspective.

Archaeological dig

Organize an archaeological dig. Obtain necessary permission and be familiar with correct procedures. Designate a plot where various things will be found, for example, a dry creek bed, a deserted farm yard. Students will need to be taught some appropriate procedures. Acting as historians, `interpret' the articles found.

Simulate a dig. Choose a plot outdoors or use a deep box of sand in the classroom. Bury various artifacts (old or new) that students may find and interpret. Alternately, plan and prepare a site for a dig for younger students.

Artifacts, Tradition, Culture

Have students identify examples of artifacts, features, and ecofacts. Collect pictures of each and make cards for a sorting game.

• Artifacts (tools, weapons, utensils, carvings, sculpture, etc.) provide a way of revealing the history of various cultures. Artifacts have told us much about people of the past. The things that people produce today may someday become artifacts.
• Features can also tell us about people. Features include the things from the past that cannot be moved without changing their appearance. Things such as buildings, walls, large stone formations, and so on are features.
• Ecofacts show how people adjusted to or used their environment. Ecofacts include animal bones, seeds from plants, evidence of agriculture, and so on.

• What did they represent?
• What people may have made them?
• What kind of life did the people lead?
• Were the artifacts made by labourers, artists, hunters, or people who combined all of these skills?
• What cultural traditions do artifacts represent (religion, family life, agriculture, hunting, sports, birth, death and so on)?
• Is there a connection between artifacts and the environment?
• What can artifacts tell us?
• How are artifacts similar to living things?

Discuss:

• What kinds of information can we discover from artifacts?
• How is an artifact similar to an encyclopedia?
• What risks are there when people from one culture attempt to interpret artifacts from another culture?

For other activity ideas, see the Grade 5 Arts Education curriculum, pages 329-339.

Learn about different ways Canadian history has been interpreted. Use Heritage Post: A View from Quebec, Number 9, 1992/93.

Point of view

Have the students move their desks so that they are facing a variety of directions. Ask them to describe the classroom on the asis of what they can see.

• Have students record only what they can see from their desks.
• Compare what each student has recorded. (Students recorded their own point of view.)
• Discuss point of view. Use the Student Information Page: Point of View.

Guide the discussion to the way we interpret various aspects of other cultures.

Learn that because of the rich multicultural mix of our Canadian identity there are many varying points of view. Have students work in groups to identify varying views regarding topics such as food, clothing, place of worship, and celebrations. Make a web.

Use the following questions to discuss point of view:

• Why is it important to attempt to see the "other side of the story"?
• How can we lose important information when we examine things only from our own point of view?
• What are advantages and disadvantages of examining issues from several points of view?

 Against Oblivion: Stone and Metal (MHP, V3378)
The Dig (MHP, V8313)
Past (MHP, V5050)
Rebuilding History (MHP, V3264)
Time (MHP, 8296)
This Land (MHP, V2026)

Student Information Page: Point of View

Read the following statememts. Each expresses a point of view. Discuss each statement with your partner or group. Be prepared to answer the following questions:

 
• Who might have this point of view?
• What might cause someone to have this point of view?
• Can you think of other points of view regarding this topic?

Gerbils

 
1. Gerbils are the best pets a person could have.
2. Gerbils are a nuisance to look after.
3. Gerbils are noisy, smelly, and bad tempered.
4. I love gerbils. They are so cute and cuddly.

Math

 
1. Math is the hardest subject in the world.
2. Math makes sense and is easy to learn.
3. I get really tense when I do math; I'm so scared of making mistakes.
4. Math is fun to do. I find it really relaxing.

Flowers

 
1. These flowers look pretty and smell good too.
2. These flowers make me sneeze. Please take them away.
3. Flowers belong in the garden, not in the house.
4. There aren't enough flowers in this bouquet. We need more.

A Broken Radio

 
1. I'll buy that radio. I can use some of the parts.
2. My radio is a worthless piece of junk.
3. That radio is an antique.

Valuable Things

 
1. A friend is the best thing a person can have.
2. These old clothes are worthless.
3. I could use those old clothes to make a quilt.

With your partner or group, write sentences that express different points of view on a topic such as:

 
• a hero
• a sport, book, story, tv program, or movie
• younger brothers or sisters
• holidays
• a rainy day