Teaching Pacific Islands
from 
Indigenous Perspectives

A Teacher’s Resource Guide

Pacific Worlds

Compiled by RDK Herman
Draft edition, 2004

	Funding for this Guide
was provided by
PREL and the 
Hawai‘iCouncil for the Humanities		

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction	ii
Using this Guide	iii
Figure: Community Website structure	v
Introductory Lesson: Geography	1
Lesson 1: Arrival	4
Lesson 2: A Native Place	8
Lesson 3: The Sea	11
Lesson 4: The Land	15
Lesson 5: Footprints (Storied Places) 	20
Lesson 6: Visitors	22
Lesson 7: Memories	26
Lesson 8: Onwards	29

Teaching Pacific Islands from Indigenous Perspectives:

A Pacific Worlds Teachers’ Resource Guide

Introduction:

Welcome to Pacific Worlds!  This project is aimed at providing a cultural and educational resource on indigenous geography, history, environment and culture in the Pacific.  The project is comprised of a growing collection of websites on locations in the Pacific region, which each website presenting a standardized package of information on culture, environment, history, and geography about a specific community.

With multiple websites following a similar format, Pacific Worlds aims to provide a tool for the comparative consideration of indigenous Geography of the Pacific Islands.  As of 2004, this project has a small but growing number of sites, concentrated in the North Pacific.  But the communities in which we live also provide an additional point of comparison.  Therefore, the exercises presented here aim at combining your own local area with the existing community websites for an integrated course of study. 

The course of study presented here, however, is not a substitute for a semester course in Pacific Island cultures or in Geography, but can be used either in its entirety, or in selected pieces, to accompany or enhance existing courses.  At the same time, this package does provide a start-to-finish program for those who wish to use it as such.

Teachers themselves know best what works for them, and hold a wealth of experience and information on teaching methods and exercises.  Therefore, Pacific Worlds invites and encourages input from the many skilled teachers in our Islands, to share their wisdom, their successes, and their recommendations for making this guide—and this project—better serve its purpose.

This is a resource for all Pacific Island teachers, and we hope that in the future, it will be mostly authored by Pacific Island teachers who chose to share their experience and wisdom.  Please consider this document to be merely a seed.  We invite you to help it grow.

Using this Guide:

The Guide is divided into an introductory and eight  thematic “Lessons” based on the format of the Pacific Worlds website.  There is a chronological order to the lessons, as students can build on information they have collected along the way, but they need not be done as a whole or in order.  For those who wish to use this Guide extensively, please consider the following:

•	Have students organize a notebook or folder in which to compile their exercises and the data they collect;

•	Produce a “blank” base map of your local land division on a sheet of paper.  It may (and perhaps should) include some sense of the topography.  Run off copies of this base-map for the students to use in each lesson.

•	For some lessons, a blank outline map of your island is necessary as well.

Orientation to the Website:

(A)  The Pacific Worlds Home-Page is the pivot-point for reaching other portions of the website, and contains pages with general information about the project, including educational resources.  From here, one can go directly to specific Community Websites either by clicking hot-spots on the map, or selecting from the drop-down menu.

(B)  The Community Websites are connected to the home page. Each of community website is a complete and detailed presentation of a local community in the Pacific, which are chosen to be representative of their larger island context.

A Community website is composed of an introductory section, which introduces the location, the community participants, an orientation to the land division, and provides an “entry” to the location, as though you had flown in and had to make your journey to this area.  There is also a site map and a “map library” for each Community Website, as well as a list of credits for all those who contributed to producing that community’s website.

(C)  These Community Websites are broken into eight chapters.  The chapters pertain to particular themes (the Sea, the Land, eg), and contain
•	A chapter contents page, that provides a quick glance at the content of each page;
•	Four to Six topical pages;
•	A Glossary of related terms in the local language;
•	A list of references and citations, both printed and on-line.

(D)  Some websites have additional information placed on special javascript pop-up windows.  These are separate windows that “pop up” when a link is clicked, and provide additional material on the topic being discussed.  A list of these special pages, with links to where they are found, is located on the Site Map for each Community Website.

(E)  Interlinking:  Finally, it is the intent of this project that any given page in a community website is linked directly to the same topical page on every other website in the Pacific Worlds network.  Thus, if you are on the “Beaches” page of “THE SEA” chapter on, say, Guam, you could select another location from a pull-down menu and see the the “Beaches” page of “THE SEA” chapter in another community.  This is what will provide the comparative capability of the project.  This stage of the project’s development is currently underway.

Navigation:
Each page includes top and bottom navigation links that allow you to move across the chapters and pages, to the other resource pages, and to the Pacific Worlds Home Page. you get lost, you can always go to the Site Map (there is a link at the bottom of each page), which shows the layout of that Community Website, with direct links to each page.

Disclaimer and Apology:

The circumstances in each island entity are distinct and vary quite considerably across the Pacific, from highly modernized areas and areas that are subsumed by larger colonial powers to areas that are more remote and/or remain highly traditional in leadership and customs.  Also from large and/or high islands to low islands and coral atolls.  As we write this guide, we attempt to provide tools and exercises that are applicable everywhere, but this is not possible.  Therefore, we ask our users to adapt these lessons to the circumstances of their local settings, and to translate our terms into terms that are locally appropriate.

Follow-up:

As you use this Guide, we hope that you will let us know what works or does not work for you, and keep us informed of any suggestions you have.  Information can be sent to 

Doug Herman
Geography
Towson University
8000 York Road
Towson, MD 21252
dherman@towson.edu

Good luck!

Navigation structure for the community websites.

Introductory Lesson: Geographic Basics

Overview and Preparation:
In each Pacific Island entity, territory (both land and sea) is divided in accordance with that culture’s specific system.  These land divisions are the units of study for Pacific Worlds websites and for this Guide.  It allows for a finite and focused study, and one that is personal and immediate, allowing for field and out-of-classroom exercises, contact with local elders and specialists, and the development of a sense in which culture and history play out in one’s immediate local geography.

In preparation for the lessons that follow, you are encouraged to identify the “land” division in which your school is located or that is of most immediate relevance to your students.  You ought to find or produce a map of that area, defining its boundaries as best as is possible, so that the focus area is clear.  We emphasize that these “land divisions” also usually incorporate the ocean offshore.

Location: Following that, students will collect some standard geographic information about your division’s location, in both “absolute” and “relative” terms, as well as within the local system of place names.

“Absolute” location means using the grid of longitude and latitude.  Since this system has nothing to do with traditional cultural understandings of geography, we are putting this task “outside” the main lessons.

Traditional systems often present a different way of looking at “location.”  For example, the Hawaiian system identifies places in a nested hierarchy: mokupuni (island), then moku ‘aina (“district”), then ahupua‘a (administrative division), then by ‘ili or strips of cultivated land.  

Getting Here: “Relative” location describes where you are in terms of other places or phenomena, e.g. “in the Tropics,” “West of California,” “Northwest of Fiji,” etc.  This exercise approaches relative location through describing the journey required to get to your area for an outsider.  The purpose is to understand where we are in relation to other places or geographical features. Other relative-location concepts can be explored.

Lesson at a glance: Students will identify their area and use maps to describe its location using both longitude & latitude, and in terms of their relative location to other landmarks as chosen by the teacher, or as they themselves determine to be relevant.

Key Concepts: Absolute location, Relative location, Longitude & Latitude, your local Land Division system.

Lesson Outcomes: The students will:
•	be familiarized with the concept of the land division system in your culture;
•	understand how to determine Longitude & Latitude using a map;
•	discern their location using the local land-division system;
•	describe the relative location of their land division.

Tools:  
•	An appropriate Atlas or map for your part of the Pacific
•	Map of your Island group (where appropriate)
•	Map showing the traditional administrative divisions of your island or group

Resources:
National Geographic Expedition has three relevant exercises:
•	“Introduction to Latitude and Longitude” for the K-2 Level, 
•	“Which Direction Should I Go?” (on compass directions) for Grades 3-5, 
•	“Latitude, Longitude, and Mapmaking” for the Grades 6-8 Level: 
Go to http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/
Choose “Lesson Plans” and search through their lists to find the appropriate lesson.
Note: these lessons were written for U.S. Mainland students, so you might want to use maps of the Pacific where they say to use a map of the United States.

A Lesson on time zones produced by the Hawai‘i Geographic Alliance for Grade 3 is available online at http://www.hawaii.edu/hga/Lessons/timezones.html

 Exercise 1: Your Land division
Website: Welcome and Location pages.

Using the blank map, draw in the land division boundaries for your area.  Or, if your entire island or atoll is a single division, use a blank map of your island group and designate the divisions within it.

Land divisions are often defined as a natural-resource area, designed to include all available natural-resource zones (e.g. from the mountains to the sea, or from the island center outwards).  These divisions also have some political basis that varies from place to place.

(a)  use a blank map of your land division and have students discuss and sketch in where the traditional resource zones are or would have been:

•	Agricultural land
•	Forest Zone
•	Zone of habitation
•	Etc.

 Exercise 2: Absolute Location (Longitude and Latitude)
Website: Location pages.

Using an atlas or a good map of your region, determine the Longitude and Latitude of your land division as closely as possible.  Depending on the scale of the map, you might use your school as the target location.

You can also pick another location in another portion of the Pacific, on the other side of the 180-degree meridian, and have them determine the longitude and latitude of that location.  This will show how the system of longitude meridians goes half-way around the world in each direction.

This exercise can be extended to include a discussion of time zones, by choosing different locations in and around the Pacific and asking what time it is in each location, given the time where you are.

 Exercise 3: Local-style Location and Direction

Describe your location in terms of your own culture’s system of geographical divisions.  Discuss how these terms serve as a means of conceptually “mapping” where places were.

What are the words for (compass) directions in your language?  How do they differ from the North-South-East-West system commonly used today?  Do you even have four directions, or is your system different altogether?

In Western culture we tend to think of North as the starting point.  But how is your own indigenous system set up?  What does it tell you about your own culture’s geography?

 Exercise 4: Relative Location 
Website: Getting Here pages

Explain the concept of relative location, and then invite students to describe the relative location of your land division in as many ways as you or they feel are significant.  You might start with describing the journey a visitor to your island would have to take—what landmarks would they pass? 

 Exercise 5: Orientation
Website: Orientation pages

Have students describe their land division as it is today: 
•	What  makes for the boundaries that define your area?
•	What are the important landmarks or locations, both in the physical landscape and the built landscape?  
•	Does your land division comprise more than one valley, or more than one island, and if so, why?
You can do this exercise as though they had to describe their land division to an outsider.

Lesson 1: Arrival

Overview:  The concept of “Arrival” as used in the Pacific Worlds website follows from the Location and Getting Here

Come Ashore focuses on the first peoples who might have landed their canoes on your shore. What did this place have to offer them? Knowing what you know about your land division system, would this have been a good place to settle, or maybe not so great? Is it well-watered or dry, for example?  A protective reef?  Shelter from the winds?

The Ancients explores who these earliest peoples might have been, and when they arrived.  Both local tradition and modern archaeological viewpoints are engaged. This is an opportunity to discuss the following ideas:

•	The prevailing migration theory of Pacific Island settlements
•	The possibility of a people previous to your own having been here earlier
•	Archaeological perspectives—how do archaeologists date things?
•	The tension between scientific approaches and indigenous approaches to understanding ancient times.

Legendary Setting: mythology relevant to your area is the next theme. Stories of legendary figures or gods may touch on your area.  Or perhaps stories of famous chiefs, or warriors, or priests.  The aim here is to identify some indigenous historical or mythological connection that is distinct to your area.  It may be lodged in the place names.  

Neighbors:  This is a continuation of the “relative location” theme but emphasizes more the intimate and traditional relationships between neighboring places.  In some cases there are important reciprocal (or hostile) relationships.  Looking at neighboring places, their place names, and proverbs or sayings associated with them helps to enrichen the indigenous sense of place.

Lesson at a glance: Students will use maps, local proverbs, books and the Pacific Worlds web site examples to explore the origins of habitation and the legendary setting in their land division.

Key Concepts:  Pacific Island Migrations: when, how, and where they would have landed and why.  Also, the comparison of scientific ideas about Pacific Island settlements, versus the traditions of your own culture. 

Warning: there is a danger here of presenting Western, scientific accounts as “true” and local legendary accounts as “false.” It is hoped that teachers will focus on what the local stories have to tell today’s generations, rather than discounting them as “superstitious.” They are important to islander identity.

Lesson Outcomes: The students will:
•	learn the basic principles and methods of archaeology
•	learn the principles of Pacific Islander navigation and land-finding
•	be familiar with theories and notions of the settlement of your island entity
•	investigate the origins of peoples in their land division
•	learn meanings of place names in their land division

Tools:  
•	An appropriate Atlas
•	Books, materials or resources on archaeology of your area
•	Books, materials or resources on legends of your culture
•	Books, materials or resources on place names of your culture

Resources:

The Polynesian Voyaging Society website has a range of information and educational materials regarding traditional Polynesian navigation:
http://www.pvs-hawaii.com/navigation.htm 

Traditional Navigation in the Western Pacific, a website by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, is a sequence of dynamic pages on the art and science of navigation.
http://www.museum.upenn.edu/navigation/Intro.html

Let’s Go Voyaging  Teacher’s Guide is a complete set of lessons in pdf format, focused on Hawai‘i and Polynesia, produced by the Moanalua Gardens Foundation and available on the web at
http://www.mgf-hawaii.org/HTML/Resources/lets_go_voyaging.htm 

A user-friendly Archaeology Lesson Plan with exercises is available at the Center for Archaeological Studies' Old Mobile Archaeology website:
http://www.usouthal.edu/archaeology/lesson_plan.htm 

A more detailed Archaeology Lesson Plan for middle school grades (6-8) is available from DiscoverySchool.com at
http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/unearthingsouthamerica/

How Islands Form is another lesson plan from DiscoverySchool.com, this one on island-building (Grades 6-8)
http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/islands/

 Exercise 1:  Come Ashore 
Website: Arrival >Come Ashore pages

•  Use the Traditional Navigation in the Western Pacific website to familiarize students with the principles of traditional navigation in the Pacific.  Micronesian and Hawaiian star charts can be found on the Polynesian Voyaging Society web site.
•  Read the essay, “Voyaging” linked from the top of the Arrival home page.

Questions:

--Why would people leave their homes and go off in seach of other islands?

--What would they need to take with them?

--What would life be like on a long ocean journey with no clear destination?

--What are the characteristics of a “good home” on a Pacific Island to an ancient voyager?

--Explore the voyaging or sailing/navigation tradition in your culture, and/or nearby cultures.  Are there any traditional canoes to be seen today?

 Exercise 2:  The Ancients
Website: Arrival >The Ancients pages

Note: The purpose of  this exercise is to show that “tradition” and “science” are different ways of approaching the same topic. 

Use the Old Mobile website (see Resources, above) and have your students perform Lesson 1: The importance of the Past and Lesson 2: Clues to the Past, in order to gain perspective on the relevance of the past to the present, and the way in which archaeology uses “garbage” to learn about cultures.

Have your students consider the following:

--Are archaeologists likely to find the first place where anyone lived in your island group or local area?

--What do your own traditions say, if anything, about the arrival of your people to these islands?

--Do your traditions agree with what archaeologists say?  If not, what do you make of that difference?  Who is right, or is  anybody right?

 Exercise 3:  Legendary Setting
Website: Arrival >Legendary Setting pages

If you wish to discuss the geological formation of islands, you can use the How Islands Form lesson plan from DiscoverySchool.com (see Resources, above).

--What stories are there about the creation of your island(s)?  How do you interpret them?  What lessons are to be learned from them?  If you are doing a lesson on Pacific Island geology, you can compare the scientific version to the legendary version.

--Does your community fit within a geography defined by your creation story?  Is it, for example, part of the body of a legendary figure? Or is there some other important legend associated with the origins of your geographical area?  Again, what do these stories mean to you? What lessons do they teach?

--In some Pacific Island cultures, there is a geography associated with legendary figures: certain gods, demigods or traditional figures are associated with particular areas, or went on journeys that connected some places, not others.  Is there such a situation within your own culture?

 Exercise 4:  Neighbors
Website: Arrival >Neighbors pages

--Identify the areas nearby that would be considered “neighbors.”  What are the land divisions on either side of yours?  Do the neighboring areas or islands have traditional reputations, proverbs, or stories that say something about them?

--What other areas, if any, do you know of that had traditional ties with yours?  Were they good ties, or hostile ties?  Do these relationships define the geographical position of your area in any way? See examples on the Pacific Worlds websites.

--On the larger scale, what are your neighbor island entities, if any?  How far away are they? How do you view these neighbors?  Do they speak the same language?

Lesson 2: A Native Place

Overview: Pacific Worlds shows that there are layers to the landscape.  The very place where you stand, or where your school is located, reveals layers of history going back to ancient times.  In the last lesson, we investigated what can be learned about the most ancient layer.  In this lesson, we look at features from your culture about which the histories are still known.

The purpose of the “Native Place” chapter is to show that whatever modern layers of the built environment exist, underneath it there is still a landscape of indigenous culture, where the ancestors lived, and worked, and prayed, and died. The emphasis is that culture manifests on the land, that the landscape as a “humanized environment” is itself a history book, and holds markers that are references to the history of indigenous culture in your area.

This lesson looks at the distinct landscape features of your culture that appear in your area.  These are the human-made features that define your area as a “native place,” a place where your culture manifests in distinct and visible forms that have histories and meanings.  These features become tools for teaching such topics as the traditional leadership structure, beliefs, cultural practices, and more.

Clearly there must be a lot of leeway in determining what sorts of features are distinctly indigenous.  In some places, traditional landscape features are readily apparent.  However, in areas where colonization has been severe, one may need to look at indigenous influences on more contemporary structures.  Indigenous cultures, as we know, do  not end with Western contact; they merely take new forms.

Lesson at a glance: Students will use sources on mythology, oral tradition, cultural sites, and other literature to learn about tradition and special sites pertaining to their area.  Use and structure of particular features  may be examined and compared to similar features in other locations.

Key Concepts: “built environment,”  cultural landscape features including religious structures such as temple platforms, shrines, fishponds, meeting houses and birthing stones; the traditional leadership structure of your culture.

Lesson Outcomes: The students will:
1.	identify local cultural sites and learn their significance 

Tools:  
The references needed for these exercises will vary with each island entity.  They would include books or other information on
--traditional architecture
--traditional social and political structure
--traditional beliefs

A Good discussion of Place Names can be found in the Appendix of Pukui, Elbert & Mo‘okini’s Place Names of Hawai‘i (University of Hawai‘i Press)

Notes:
This lesson focuses on the traditional culture of your society, particularly the structure of a community and a village, and the nature and structure of the home or home compound.

Note also that there may be “storied places” in the landscape that are not human-produced sites.  These include, for example, “natural” rock formations about which there is a legend or myth.  Such sites are part of a later lesson.  Here, our focus is on places created by people of the past.

 Exercise 1:  Place Names

Place names represent one of the key ways in which a natural landscape becomes “humanized.”  They are markers from the past, that tell of events, or observations, or activities, or ways of seeing.

--Compile a list of place names for your area.  To the extent possible, find the meaning of each place name.  Some place names come from so far back in the past that they have no contemporary meaning.

--Try to determine how the place names are arranged: are there names for larger regions, and then for sub-regions?  How small a place can still have a name?

--What are the common words associated with place names, if any?  For example, place names often contain words meaning “water, “ “hill”, and so on. Try to categorize these names into groups, for example:
•	Names that simply describe, like “Big Hill”
•	Names that are associated with a legend or legendary being or event
•	Names that refer to human activities, such as “Hunting Ground,”  or “House of ~”
•	Names that refer to plants or wildlife
•	New names, bearing the marks of other cultures

--Discuss with your students what these names say about how the people of your island saw the land.

 Exercise 2: Cultural Sites

--View the Native Place chapters on one or more available websites.  Then work with your students to identify “native places” of those sorts that are found in your area.

--Using a blank map or outline of your land division, mark these sites on your map as best you can.

--Are there particular traditions or stories associated with these sites?

--Use these sites as starting points to discuss the different aspects of your indigenous culture.  If some are abandoned sites, you can consider why they are no longer in use.

--In some areas, there are sites that today are known for being somehow “special,” whether or not any tradition is known about them.  Can you think of any in your land division or nearby?

 Exercise 3:  Activities

Identify any particular indigenous cultural activities known to have been practiced in your area.  Such activities may include particular sports, or dance schools, or ordinary activities for which your area had an extraordinary reputation.

A related question is, what is the traditional reputation of your area, if any?

 Exercise 4:  Political Structure

in every society, there is a Geography to the political structure: who controls how much territory? That power structured spatially.  Politics is thus closely related to the existence of your land division as a distinct geographical entity.

-- Map the relationship between traditional political structure and Geography in your island entity: how was/is land controlled, and by whom?

--How did your area fit within this structure, as a separate place? 

--What was/is the political structure within your land division?

Lesson 3: The Sea

Overview:  We all know that with Pacific Islands, the sea is as much a part of life as the land, and a great deal of traditional lore concerned the sea.  Fishing and boating techniques have changed a lot in many parts of the Pacific, but in most cases much of the traditional knowledge remains.  

In addition, the sea demands a different type of environmental sensitivity.  It is unpredictable, changeable, sometimes dangerous.  So looking more closely at cultural use of the sea helps us understand more about living on Pacific Islands.

The Sea chapters on the websites are laid out such that the topical pages start on the shore and move progressively further out into the ocean.  Likewise, the glossaries try to emphasize that there are different regions of the near-shore and offshore waters, and different activities associated with them

Finally, our concern in this section is the cultural values that are present in association with the sea.

Lesson at a glance: Students will use published sources and local knowledge to gain a comprehensive picture of places, uses, and activities associated with the Sea in your land division.  They will compare these with similar categories of information in the different communities of Pacific Worlds.

Key Concepts: Local uses of the sea; coral reef formation; beaches and dunes; varieties of fish and traditions regarding them; fishing techniques and values.

Lesson Outcomes: The students will:
•	understand the sea as an extension of the land.
•	understand the types of coral reef (if any) found offshore their area;
•	identify local fish or sea foods derived (now or then) offshore;
•	identify places in or near the sea.
•	Understand all of the above in cross-cultural perspective.

Tools:
For these exercises, you will want
•	A map of your shoreline, such as a USGS topographic map, that shows shoreline and reef features, as well as the depths of the sea off your coast.
•	Books or materials on fish and marine life, fishing, canoes and navigation, and cultural practices concerning all of these, for your region.

Resources:

Palau Paradise of the Pacific – Aquatic Classroom
	Part of the Public Broadcasting System website, this “Aquatic Classroom” has four exercises for teachers and students, and explains how each addresses particular National Science Standards in the United States. 
http://www.pbs.org/edens/palau/p_classroom.htm

The Coral Reef Teacher’s Guide from Reef Relief includes lesson plans for grades  K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. It is available through their website for US$45: http://www.reefrelief.org/Coral Forest/tguide.html

There are a range of books and materials on aquatic life in different portions of the Pacific.
•	Shore Fishes of Hawaii by John E. Randall
•	Micronesian Reef Fishes : A Field Guide for Divers and Aquarists by Robert F. Myers
•	Hawaiian Reefs by Ron Russo
•	Hawaiian reefs and Tidepools by Ann Fielding.
•	Tropical Pacific Invertebrates: A Field Guide to Marine Invertebrates Occurring on Tropical Pacific Ocean Coral Reefs, Seagrass Beds, & Mangroves by Patrick L. Colin, Charles Arneson

Notes:

This lesson invites the collection of lore from local people, including surfers, fishermen, swimmers, and others who use the sea and know of its landscape, conditions, places, and habits.

 Exercise 1:  Seaside
Website: The Sea >Seaside

--Using a map such as specified in “Tools,” above, sketch in the coastal and shoreline features for your land division. 

--Identify any coastal locations, such as beach parks, points, rocks, islands, coves, bays, and so forth.  Are there any fishponds or other human-made sites?

--How close did the peoples of your island’s culture live to the shore?  What sorts of activities went on next to the sea?  For example, were there canoe houses?  If so, what went on there?

--Compare your findings with the other cultures found on Pacific Worlds.  How do they differ?  Why?  Where do you see similarities, and where do you see differences?

 Exercise 2: Beaches and Shoreline
Website: The Sea >Beaches

--Add to your map any beach or coastal names that you know of, that were not included on the map you used, including portions of the shore that may have separate names, as well as contemporary surfing or fishing sites, and new names.

--Consider the “characteristics” of each beach or portion of the shoreline: how safe is it to swim, and does that vary from one season to another?  Does beach sand disappear altogether at different times of year?

--Identify on your map any surfing sites, gathering sites, or other usage areas, and their names.  Try to find the story or explanation that goes with each name, whether they are old or new names. Discuss use and gathering practices, and compare to other places on the Pacific Worlds website.

--Consideration: how much of the shoreline is park or otherwise public access, and how much is lined with residential areas?  What impact does this have on your use of the shore area? Discuss usage rights to the shore.

 Exercise 3:  The Reef
Website: The Sea >On the Reef

--Using one of the listed books or any other source on coral reefs, explain the difference between fringing reefs, barrier reefs, and atolls. Which type of reef is present in you land division, if any?  Why?

--Identify names of reefs or locations on the reefs, or even types of reefs in your local language, and discuss or try to determine their meanings.  Consider these in the larger context of your community’s practices.  Compare to other communities.

--What types of reef fishes or aquatic animals are common offshore your land division? List their local names.  What are the traditions concerning these fish and their characteristics.

--Compare your findings with the other cultures found on Pacific Worlds. Where do you see similarities, and where do you see differences?

 Exercise 4:  Fishing
Website: The Sea >Fishing

Pacific Island cultures engage in a number of fishing techniques, and have wide ranges of lore and customs concerning fishing.  Some of these are culturally based, but others have to do with the nature of the sea offshore—for example, whether there is a protective reef or lagoon, or just open ocean.

--In most places, there are particular fish, often at particular seasons, that are of special importance.  Identify these fish.  Then, identify the traditions or lore associated with them.

--Are these the same fish, or different fish, from those discussed in other Pacific Worlds locations?  If they are the same fish, how do other Pacific cultures perceive them?

--The Fishing pages on the Pacific Worlds websites discuss particular fishing techniques, methods, and lures.  What are the techniques specific to your culture?  Are they the same or different from those presented elsewhere?

--What terminology do you have for conditions of the sea?

 Exercise 5:  Language
Website: The Sea > Language

Pacific Island languages are rich in terms for areas and characteristics in the ocean, fishing practices, and types of fish and marine life. Looking at these terms across different cultures is revealing about the ways these cultures understand the sea.

Go to the Language page of any The Sea chapter and compare terms on the different topics:

--Names of areas in the sea, from the shoreline and out to the deep ocean;

--Words for waves and tides;

--Names for fish, and types of fishing;

--Names or terms for fishing grounds.

Are these terms similar to yours? Do you see similarities across Pacific Island languages? What do you make of these, and of the differences? Most importantly, what do these terms and their varieties tell you about these cultures?

Lesson 4: The Land

Overview:  The amount and quality of land available in different Pacific Island locations varies enormously, from high islands to coral atolls.  But in each case, things such as control of land, descriptions of land areas, vegetation, wind, rain, water, and agriculture will be present.

In modern geographic texts, the focus is placed on scientific understandings or categorizations of landforms, vegetation, climate, and so on.  But this approach does not do justice to the subtlety and richness of Pacific Islanders’ perspectives.

Our purpose here is to engage with how Pacific Islanders understand land in distinct and sophisticated ways, and use language and metaphor to describe aspects of the terrestrial environment.

At the same time, we may learn useful modern tools for understanding aspects of the environment, and monitoring them.  But we do not wish to emphasize the modern perspective over the indigenous perspective.  Local knowledge derives from centuries or millennia of careful observation and interpretation.  This knowledge is invaluable and irreplaceable. 

Lesson at a glance: Students will learn about the natural environment using indigenous terms, and in some places comparing these with modern interpretations., to derive a rich perspective on 

Key Concepts: Indigenous divisions of the land by altitude and forest cover; variations in vegetation zones across Pacific Islands; contemporary environmental issues including introduced and endangered species; basic climatology.

Lesson Outcomes: The students will:
1.	gain a sense of how Pacific Islanders distinguished environmental zones;
2.	learn about the natural environment in their area, and how it compares to other Pacific Island areas.

Tools:  
•	An atlas or maps that show environmental themes for your region
•	Topographic map for your area
•	Otherwise, climatic data for as close to your area as possible
•	Any historical maps or material on your area
•	Internet access

Websites:

Endangered Species of Hawai‘i is an excellent on-line K-12 educational resources: http://endangeredspecies.k12.hi.us/
This site also has extensive links to other pages on endangered species in Hawai‘i.

Endangered Species of Hawaii: A Webliography also has extensive links:
http://www.buffalostate.edu/~chris/hawaii.html

Hawaiian Streams: The Mauka to Makai Connection:
http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dar/hawn_streams.htm
An excellent educational site on streams and stream animals by The Department of Land and Natural Resources

Notes:

This lesson explores aspects of climate and terrestrial ecosystems.  As with other topics in this project, these issues may be considered from both “Western” scientific and indigenous scientific approaches.  Pacific Worlds focuses on values and on world-view: how to island people understand and classify the systems and zones of their ecosystem?  

The preservation of indigenous environmental knowledge is important for the good of humanity, and for engaging in locally appropriate environmental action.  This is one area where modern and traditional approaches should work together hand in hand, drawing on the strengths of each.

 Exercise 1: Areas
Website: The Land >Areas

“Areas” can mean different things in different parts of the Pacific.  In some cultures, there are specific terms for elevation zones, regardless of where they re found.  In other cases, “areas” is a matter of specific place names for portions of the land division.  

--Determine which one of the above is the case in your area.

--Then, identify the names for these different areas.  List them and mark them on a map of your land division.

--Investigate the meanings of these names: what do they reveal about cultural perspectives on the environment?

--Compare your classification of “areas” to other places on the Pacific Worlds website.  How do different cultures define their “areas”?  What types of ecosystems correspond to these areas, and why do they differ?  You might consider the role of elevation.

 Exercise 2: Winds & Rain
Website: The Land >Winds; The Land >Rains

--What are the seasons in your location?  Identify them using both modern and indigenous calendrical systems.

--Determine where your land division is located in terms of “Windward” and “Leeward,” and other major climatic forces such as the path of typhoons.  How does your culture describe winds and wind directions?  What proverbs or sayings do you have regarding wind?  

--Obtain and use climatic data to estimate the annual rainfall in your area.  Does it change significantly going inland from the coast?  From one time of year to another?  Compare the rainfall data to the names of months in your calendrical system: is your calendar based on wind or rain, or what?

--Compare your seasons to those in other Pacific Island locations.  How or why do they vary?  Search for information on the web or in books that explains the rainfall pattern in your island entity.

--Winds and Rains in some cases have personal names, and often there are stories, proverbs or poems associated with those names, or with different types of rain in general.  Are there any for your area, or for your culture in general?

--On this note, compare your culture’s attitudes towards rain with the other cultures presented on the Pacific Worlds website.  Are there differences?  If so, how do you explain them?

 Exercise 3: The Forest
Website: The Land >Forest

--Depending on how much change of elevation there is in your area, there will be a range of vegetation zones, starting with the shoreline and going inward (or vice versa).  What are the local terms for these areas?  Or, look for local terms for certain kinds of vegetation groups (similar to “forest,” “grassland,” “jungle,” etc.

--Are there particular traditions regarding these areas, such as how one should behave while in the forest?  What kinds of attitudes and practices regarding the Forest are found in other cultures within Pacific Worlds? How might these influence your own attitude towards the Forest?

--Identify the plants are most important to the indigenous practices of your area. Distinguish between native and introduced plants.  Are these the same plants or different plants from those discussed in other Pacific Worlds communities?  If they are the same, how do the practices and traditions of other cultures compare to your own?

--Identify native birds or other animals about which there are traditions, proverbs, or sayings, or which have important cultural value (including as food).  Again, compare your community to other sites in Pacific Worlds.

--Using internet resources, try to identify some endangered species and invasive species in your area, and discuss any policies regarding them.

 Exercise 4: Water Resources
Website:The Land >Water

--Identify the stream(s) or fresh-water sources in your area.  What are their names?  What do these names mean?

--If you have streams perennial (flow all year round) or intermittent (seasonal)?  Why do some islands have streams and others do not?

--In your culture, are there any freshwater plants or animals that are used for food or medicine? Gather any stories or sayings regarding these, and compare to other communities in the Pacific.

--Because Pacific Islands are small, finite environments, fresh water is a critical resource that is often carefully controlled and respected.  Consider traditional cultural attitudes, beliefs or practices concerning use of water in your community, and compare to other places in the Pacific.

--Where does your fresh water come from today?  Is it treated with respect?  Should it be?

 Exercise 5: Planting
Website:The Land >Planting

Different islands of the Pacific focus on different crops.  And even though the same crops appear in many locations, the emphasis can differ, with taro being very important in some places, breadfruit being more important in others.

--What are the major crop plants associated with the indigenous culture of your area? Where are they grown? Who tends to them? What practices and traditions are there concerning both the plants, and the places where they are grown? Compare to other Pacific Island locations.

-- Who tends to them? What practices and traditions are there concerning both the plants, and the places where they are grown? Compare to other Pacific Island locations.

--If you have a historical map available that shows agricultural areas, compare it to what you see today.  Are the traditional foods still important?  What do you prefer to eat? 

 Exercise 6: Language
Website: The Land > Language

Pacific Island languages discuss land and climate in terms that reflect their physical geography and their cultural practices. Hence these terms tell us about the combination of environment and culture.

Go to the Language page of any The Land chapter and compare terms on the different topics:

--Zones: different types of areas, which may be defined by vegetation, or type of soil (sand, rock, gravel) or cultural uses;

--Landscape features, such as hills, valleys, roads, volcanic calderas;

--Terms for winds and rains, also trees, plants, rocks, and other environmental features;

--Names and types of crops, methods of farming, and other terms related to agriculture.

These terms are best understood within the context of the individual cultures. But at the same time, you can compare this terms across different places to learn more about commonalities and differences in the region.

Lesson 5: Footprints (Storied Places)

Overview:  This lesson follows on the exercises we did in Lesson 2: Native Place.  In that lesson, we looked at remnants of the ancient human-built environment.  Here, we are looking more for legendary places, sites of significance based on mythological or legendary traditions.  

These may be certain rocks, or mountains, or spots in the forest, or hills, or any natural feature in the landscape about which some story remains that may explain its origin or describe its characteristics.

In the event there are no such places in your area, you will need to turn to other ways in which indigenous traditions manifest in life today.  The Guam-Inarajan website provides examples of how indigenous values and practices remain, although in new guises.

Lesson at a glance: Students will consult place-names sources and other materials, including oral tradition and local lore, to build a collection of place-based stories for their land division.  The meanings and morals of these stories will be discussed.  Role-playing may be used to explore them further.

Key Concepts: Landscape as a “book” onto which cultural lessons are “written” in the form of place names and their legends.

Lesson Outcomes: The students will:
1.	compile a portfolio of local place-based stories;
2.	draw conclusions about the lessons of these stories;
3.	Compare and discuss other stories from other places.

Tools:  
•	Books on legends, stories, myths, or tales for your Island or your area specifically.  If your area is associated with a major story from the local culture, sources on these stories should be consulted.
•	Blank map of your land division, to draw on.

 Exercise 1:  Landmarks
Website: Footprints chapters

--What landmarks are there in your land division that you know have stories associated with them?  
•	Identify them by their Local names
•	Find the meanings of those names, and the stories that go with them
•	Mark these places on your map

 Exercise 2:  Interpret Your Stories

-- For each of these stories, discuss and explore the meanings and messages they hold.  Are these messages still valid today? 

 Exercise 3:  Other Cultures’ Stories
Website: Footprints chapters

--Go to the Footprints chapters on other Pacific Worlds websites, and for each of these stories, discuss and explore the meanings and messages they hold.  Are these messages relevant to your culture? 

 Exercise 4:  Role-playing

--Take one of your stories, or one of the stories from any Pacific Worlds website, and engage students into acting it out.  Use this as an opportunity to explore the morals or lessons that the stories present.

 Exercise 5:  Cultural Heritage

On some Pacific Worlds websites, there are communities which have few or no legendary places remembered today. In this places, the focus turns to other ways in which cultural heritage is passed on: through rituals and practices that may be mixed with modern, Western ones, but that retain a distinct flavor or character for that culture. As you come across these places, ask yourself whether there are any comparable situations within your own.

Lesson 6: Visitors

Overview:  This is the first of two lessons on historical transformation in your island entity and in your area specifically.  These lessons—and this lesson in particular—are useful in conjunction with teaching the history of your island entity, and of the Pacific Islands as a whole.

The sections of the Visitors chapter correspond with a generalized sequence of events involved in the Western-colonial encounter with Pacific Islands.  These may or may not all be relevant to your area, or may be relevant to different degrees and in a different order.  The purpose, however, is to outline that there were different stages of colonization that underlie the status of your islands today.

Lesson at a glance: Students will explore the history of Foreign encounters in their island entity and in their area in particular.  This history will be understood in terms of actual geographically based events and impacts.

Key Concepts: Voyages of exploration; missionaries; colonization; and the demographic changes that resulted from the impact of these visitors.

Lesson Outcomes: The students will:
•	Be familiar with the early foreign encounters, the people involved, and the impact of those visits
•	Examine the role of missionaries, if any, in the cultural and political transformation of their islands
•	Understand colonial encounters in the broader geographical context of Western activities in the Pacific
•	Understand the impacts of the colonial encounter on the indigenous population 

Tools:  
•	
•	Other historical resources as necessary, including perhaps journals of the missionaries that were stationed in your area.

Notes:
--This lesson should follow on a general lesson on colonial history in your island entity and/or region.

--Currently, the Visitors chapters on the Hawaiian Islands websites focus on the 1848 Mahele, the foreigner-motivated event that transformed land tenure in the Hawaiian Islands, setting the stage for the struggles and transformations of the subsequent 150-plus years.  This material presents the opportunity to consider similar such changes (usually under the headings “Colony” and “Aftermath” that took place elsewhere in the Pacific. 

 Exercise 1:  Explorers
Website: Visitors > Explorers or Mahele > The People

--Identify the earliest encounters with Explorers in your island entity: who were they, where were they from, when did they arrive?  

--Discuss various aspects of cultural difference between the explorers and the inhabitants of your islands at that time.  Keep in mind that both societies were in a state of evolution: neither was “backwards,” but both were subject to different opportunities, including access to resources such as metals and to innovations and ideas from other places.

--How were these explorers received? Was their violence, or peace?  If there was violence, are there two points of view on why that happened? Are their differences between the stories told by your people, and by Western historians?

--Compare your stories to those of other communities in Pacific Worlds. Discuss similarities and differences.

--How did these first encounters shape the perceptions of your island(s) by outsiders? To what extent are these perceptions maintained today?

--What were the immediate impacts of these visits? How did it change life in your islands?

 Exercise 2: Missionaries
Website: Visitors > Missionaries 

Missionaries and the introduction of Christianity can be a difficult topic to discuss fairly.  In some cases, these people are reviled interlopers who brought on the destruction of local culture.  In other cases, they are revered benefactors who brought the light of Christianity.  Our purpose here, however, is to view them as factors in the cultural and political transformation of Pacific Islands, good or bad (or both).

--Identify the first missionaries, and the most important early missionary figures to your islands: who were they, where did they come from, and when?

--Compare the encounters of early missionaries in your area with those of communities on the Pacific Worlds website. Consider the different receptions the islanders gave them, and the degrees of impact that the missionaries ultimately had.

--How did the values of the Missionaries compare with those of your culture?

--Did the presence of these missionaries help or hinder the process of Western colonization? Discuss.  

--What were the geographic impacts of the missionaries, if any?  For example, did they establish districts for administration of their parishes?  Or create villages where there were not villages before?   Did their presence help establish a new capitol?

--How are these missionaries viewed today?  Compare to other island entities.

 Exercise 3:  Colony
Website: Visitors > Colony

--Almost all Pacific Islands became colonies or protectorates of major powers, sometimes more than one, during the 19th century.  Which power(s) colonized your islands, and what were their motives?  Consider the larger global geo-politics of colonization in the Pacific at that time.

--On that same note, what were the economies that the colonizing powers were pursuing (such as copra, sandalwood, etc)?  How did the promotion of these economies affect your islands?  Compare to other island localities.

--What immediate impacts or changes were brought about as a result of colonization? Compare to other island localities.

 Exercise 4:  Society
Website: Visitors > Society

The Colonial period is generally the time when social and political structures in the islands changed or solidified, sometimes adopting Western forms (monarchy, for example).

--What were the political institutions (chieftainships, titles, clans, etc) of the society in your islands during the early colonial period?  Compare to other island communities.

--Explore population issues in your society during the early “historical” period, including the impact of any introduced diseases.

--What do you see as the outcome, in terms of effects on your society, by the time colonial rule was solidified?

 Exercise 5:  Aftermath
Website: Visitors > Aftermath

“Aftermath” looks at the overall impacts of the early contact or colonial period. Long-term colonial rule had different effects depending on who the new masters were (among other things). Factors include Christianization, the introduction of literacy, or the transformation of the social structure or the economy.

--Did the colonial period involve war, either against the colonizers or within your island entity?  What were the impacts of that (for example, unifying the islands)?

--Was the economy of your island(s) transformed during the colonial period?

--How strong was the presence of the colonizers?  Were there many of them, or just a few?  Did they bring in other peoples to your island(s)?

-- What were the long-term impacts of colonial rule in your case?  How much of the indigenous culture was changed or lost?

Lesson 7: Memories

Overview:  The Memories chapter is most clearly the “oral history” chapter of each website.  It is the intent of this chapter that it contain elements of recent history (post 1900) that are actually remembered by the participants, or at least they can remember their parents talking about them.

This chapter also aims to bring the reader up towards the present, from the more colonial history of the previous chapter.  In this manner, it prepares the reader for the final chapter, Onwards, wherein present-day issues and activities are disussed.

Consequently, exercises associated with this chapter have two potential objectives.  The first is to learn the recent history of your land division, and compare it to the events that took place elsewhere in the Pacific during the 20th century.  Second, it opens up the opportunity for students to conduct oral history research, and to learn what that is about.  This in turn opens up questions about the nature of history, and oral versus written accounts.  We hope that this will engender a respect for oral history and for the lessons of community elders.

Lesson at a glance: Students will explore the historical transformation of their land division since the turn of the 20th century, with particular emphasis on events that are still remembered by living persons.  This includes changes in land use, land ownership, economics, population dynamics, and any special local events that defined the area.

Key Concepts: Oral History, modernization, demographics, economic activities.

Lesson Outcomes: The students will:
•	develop a chronology of major 20th-century events and changes in their island entity and land division; 
•	identify special historical events important to their area;
•	compare the changes within their area with those in other parts of the Pacific;
•	grasp the principle of oral history as an approach to collecting data.

Tools:  
•	History books and resources for your island entity;
•	Books on the War in the Pacific
•	Historical maps of your area, 

Notes:
There are some major themes in 20th century Pacific Island history that are likely to be found widely, for example, WWII, and post-war changes.  These are particularly useful for considering how such shared experiences nonetheless differed in different places.  But as other important historical factors emerge, these can be compared in time to what was happening in other places  at roughly the same time.

 Exercise 1:  Chronology
Website: Memories > Chronology

--Using historical materials your island entity, have students construct a chronology of major events.  You can choose any point as your starting point, such as the arrival of the first explorers, or the unification of your island group.  This exercise focuses both on critical thinking in deciding what constitutes a “major event,” and on the process of constructing a chronology.

--Distinguish different types of major events: for example, epidemics, natural disasters, visits by important figures, revolts or uprisings, and so on.  Use these different types of events to consider how the history of your island entity was shaped by various forces.

--Discuss the concept of “history” as meaning “written history,” in Western culture.  Why does oral history not qualify?  Is this a valid distinction to draw, and what does it say about traditional culture?  Be critical.

 Exercise 2:  Early 20th century
Website: Memories 

Early 20th century events probably pre-date oral history, but not necessarily.  This exercise does not require oral history collection, but that is optional.

--Using historical materials, consider the way of life in your island entity in the early decades of the 20th century:  how different was it from now?  Be specific: what was the major economic activity(s)?  What did most people do for a living?  

--What was the political status of your entity?  

--What was the level of technology, for example, for transportation?

 Exercise 3:  Oral History:
Website: Memories

Have students, either individually or in small groups, use a recording device to interview an older relative or local elder, about their lives.  Have them ask specific questions, such as:

-- Remembering WWII (if the interviewee is old enough) and the post-war years;

--What major changes have they seen in their lives? You can use events from your chronology to prompt them, if necessary, to consider the impact of specific, larger-scale events like Independence or change of political status;

--What sort of work did people do in the “old days”? What did they do for food?

--How did one get around the island?

 Exercise 4:  World War II:
Website: Memories > WWII (if available)

--If you obtained information about WWII in your area, compare these stories to those from other websites.

--Use this information to teach about the War in the Pacific.

--What about changes after the War?  What were the major forces of change?  How effective have they been?

--To what extent have post-War changes been motivated by local, indigenous forces, and to what extent have they come from outside?

 Exercise 5:  Land Use

Using historical maps of your area (if available), discuss the changes of land use in your area for the period that your maps cover.  Maps that show agriculture, housing, roads, and other such features are needed here.

Put these changes into the context of the history you have seen in the previous exercises.  Consider how historical forces manifest in actual changes on the land.

Lesson 8: Onwards

Overview:  This final lesson focuses on cultural preservation and community developments today.  It also asks that students consider the contemporary situation in your land division or island entity, in the light of the historical layers they have seen in the previous lessons.

Consequently, this lesson also asks that students consider the future of their community (people and environment), and ways to balance local culture with global culture.  For this reason, our Pacific Worlds websites tend to focus on places where some community efforts are already underway towards preserving and protecting local culture while adapting and growing with new technologies and modern circumstances.

Lesson at a glance: Students will collect information on the current state of their land division, including demographic data from the most recent census, community and cultural organizations, and any work or projects being done to restore Indigenous cultural or physical landscapes.

Key Concepts: Population statistics, cultural preservation, local action.

Lesson Outcomes: The students will:
1.	analyze the population breakdown for their census tract;
2.	compile a list of community cultural groups
3.	plan a course of future development for their area.

Tools:  
•	Census figures or population data for your area or island entity 
•	Zoning map of your area, if applicable
•	A local telephone directory--Yellow Pages.
•	Graph paper.

Notes:
This lesson provides ample opportunity for students to explore and even map their own areas.  Out-of-classroom data collection; field trips engaging with community groups; and guest presentations by community leaders and “frontline” workers are all possible ways of enhancing this portion of the program.

The ultimate aspect of this exercise is for students to envision a future for their area: what would they like to see, and where?  Imagination is encouraged.

 Exercise 1:  People
Website: Onwards > People

--Using census data, look at the population breakdown for your area with particular attention to the following categories:
•	Ethnic Origin
•	Age
•	Income

--Use graph paper to make simple bar-charts to show the structure of the population in terms of each of the above three categories.

--Discuss what this information tells you about your community.

 Exercise 2: Land Use and Zoning
Website: Onwards > Village

--Traditional land division systems produced self-sustained units in which all necessary resources could be found. Looking at the zoning map (and other maps, as necessary) of your land division today, discuss the new “land-use” zones that have arisen.  Compare these to what you know about traditional zones.

--Is your area “self sufficient?”  Or do you have to travel outside of it to get what you need.  If you need to go elsewhere, where do you go?

 Exercise 3:  Community
Website: Onwards > Village

The purpose of this exercise is to call attention to what is going on in the students’ community.

--Identify the active community groups in your area that are focused on cultural or environmental issues, with particular attention to those with a Indigenous focus.  For example:

•	Dance or Music Schools
•	Canoe Clubs
•	Language Immersion programs
•	Arts

--Are these popular activities?  What do students think about the importance of preserving these arts and traditions?

 Exercise 4:  Replanting
Website: Onwards > Replanting

This page focuses on both physical replanting—preserving or recreating the environment and/or restoring traditional agriculture, or cultural replanting—restoring and preserving cultural practices.  You can focus on either, or both. 

--We looked at agriculture on The Land > Planting page.  To what extent does agriculture—traditional or otherwise—remain in your land division?  Are you fed directly from your land?

--To what extent does education promote and preserve cultural values?  Compare to other communities.

 Exercise 5:  Sacred Sites
Website: Onwards > Sacred Sites

In Lesson 2—“Native Place”—and  Lesson 5—“Footprints”—we looked at important cultural sites in your area.

--How are these sites being treated today?

--What laws, practices, or policies protect and preserve them?

--To what extent are these sites utilized by the community today?  Do you feel they should be?  Or should they be left alone?  Is it appropriate for tourists to visit these sites?

 Exercise 6:  Onwards
Website: Onwards > Farewell

--You have now collected a great deal of information about your land division, and are intimately familiar with its history and transformation, its resources and its people.  If you were a Government Planner, what would you want to do for the future of your area?  Use a blank map of your land division and create a vision of the future you would like to see.

--What would it take to get from the present situation to the future you envision?