Woodland Period: Burial Ceremonies

Overview!

Students will create hypotheses about the burial practices of the Adena and Hopewell.

(Time: 50 minutes)

Content Objectives!

1) Students will reflect on inquiries given to them pertaining to the burial customs of people of the Adena (Early Woodland) and Hopewell (Middle Woodland) and build well-justified hypotheses.

Assessment Strategies!

1) Building well-justified hypotheses

2) Critiquing hypotheses

3) Collaborative group-work

4) In-class presentation

Materials!

1) Copies of Burial Ceremonies PDF document

Procedures!

1) Teacher will divide the class into five groups.

2) Teacher will ask students if they know about Egypt’s pyramids and their purpose. Based on their responses, the teacher will provide more information about them and/or ask what kind of knowledge is gained from their study. Following their responses, link the information they have with the ‘Burial Ceremonies’ PDF document that they will be reading.

3) Allot an appropriate amount of time for reading and discussion. Remind students to take notes as they read and then write down the hypothesis for each and the corresponding justification in adjacent columns. Also remind them to keep in mind the facts they know about the pyramids.

4) After the allotted time is up, each group will present their hypothesis for one of the questions and the class will critique it.

5) Teacher will supervise the within-group and in-class discussions and ensure that the justifications are well founded and that students synthesize all the information they have so far about the Woodland Period.