Paleoindian Period: Fluted Point

Overview!

Students will learn about the changes brought about by the invention of the fluted point.

(Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes for a two-part lesson plan)

Content Objectives!

1) Students will compare and contrast Paleoindian people who lived before and after the invention of the fluted point.

Process Objectives!

1) Students will identify the importance of a modern invention.

2) Students will hypothesize about the implications of discoveries related to the fluted point.

3) Students will distinguish between life before and after the fluted point.

Assessment Strategies!

1) Collaborative group-work

2) Class debate

3) Graphic Organizer document

Materials!

- Computer with an Internet connection
- Video: “Environmental Change” (1 min 32 sec)
- Copies of PDF Text: Paleoindian Period
- Graphic organizer

Procedures!

Part 1: 40-50 minutes

1) Introduce the topic by generating a discussion about how some inventions have changed our world radically – e.g. the use of electricity. Ask the students to compare what life was like before electricity was widely used. If they are unable to come up with illustrations of the past, ask them to imagine what life would be like if all electrical networks disappeared from the world. Summarize their responses to identify the importance of electricity in our lives. Inform the students that they will be learning about the changes that the invention of the fluted point brought about in the lives of Paleoindians.

2) Play the video: “Environmental Change.”

3) Create groups of three to four students.

4) Tell students the meaning of a hypothesis and give an example. Next, display the following facts and ask the groups to create hypotheses about what they mean in terms of our knowledge of the Paleoindian Period:
a) Fluted points mixed with the bones of mammoth, mastodon, horse and camel were found.
b) The Paleoindian people were nomadic stone tool using people.
c) Making the flutes required high quality lithic (stone) material.
d) Fish bones were recovered from the Shawnee Minisink Site in Monroe County.
e) The Meadowcroft Rockshelter is the only site recorded in Pennsylvania from 16,000 to 12,000 years ago.
f) During the Ice Age, the oceans decreased in depth by 300 feet.

5) Each group will brainstorm for an appropriate amount of time. Ask the groups to share their hypotheses with the class. Encourage the students to debate the validity of each hypothesis.

6) Students and the teacher will together summarize their hypotheses about these statements and create one document per group listing each of these. At this point, there are no right or wrong hypotheses beyond the students’ consensuses. This document will be used in the next activity.

Part 2: 30 minutes

1) Continuing with the same students, each group will use the document created in Part 1(listing each group’s hypotheses), for activities in Part 2.

2) Students will read sections IV, V and VI of the text ‘Paleoindian Period’. Guide their reading by asking them to pay attention to the Paleoindian way of life, the animals, tools, habitat, vegetation and other unique facts. These categories make up the graphic organizer. After the reading, students will fill in the graphic organizer.

3) Students will compare and contrast the document of hypotheses created earlier with the graphic organizer and make changes if necessary. The scope of the current activity goes beyond the topics covered in the earlier activity and therefore, students might not uncover any changes after the reading.

4) Students and teachers together will recap what they have learned about the Paleoindian Period.