Connect students directly to the concept in a personal way. Capture students' attention by initiating a group problem-solving activity before delivery of instruction. Begin with a situation that is familiar to students and builds on what they already know. Construct a learning experience that allows diverse and personal student responses. Facilitate the work of cooperative teams of students.

Group Posters: Indians and their Environments

Objective: to challenge the student to think about the connection between the availability and type of resources in an environment and the way it would affect how a Native American culture would express itself

Activity: Divide the class into five cooperative groups with 4 or 5 students in each group. Assign a leader for each group and have the leaders draw from five slips of paper with these environments written on them: coastal, desert, forest, mountains, plains. On a poster board, using markers, colors, construction paper, wooden sticks, feathers, and whatever else you have available in your art supplies, each group is to show the shelter, clothing, food, and tools of an Indian group that might live in that environment.

Assessment: participation in the activity, thought processes used in deciding what to include in the product