Through the Eyes of Native Americans
OBJECTIVES:
Students will examine the origins and cultural importance of Native American mythological stories.
K-4: VA3 Constellations are patterns of stars.
K-4: CA1 Read, view, listen to, and evaluate written, visual, and oral communications.
CONTEXT:
Grade Level:
2-6
Group Size:
15-25 Students for StarLab presentation
PREREQUISITE:
Students should have some knowledge of constellations, Native American
culture, and mythological stories. They
will also have the myth, The Story of the Milky Way, by Joseph Bruchac
and Gayle Ross read to them the day before the presentation.
MATERIALS:
StarLab Portable Planetarium
Urban Starfield Cylinder
Native American Mythology Cylinder
Stereo System
Native American music
Red flashlight (for reading)
Arrow pointers
Native American Mythology Script
PROCEDURE:
1.
Play Native American music as students are
entering StarLab.
2.
Introduce the activity saying, “Native
Americans studied the night sky and saw shapes among the stars. They often made up stories to explain the shapes they saw.
Today we are going to look at 5 of these shapes, or constellations, and
the myths that go with them.”
3.
As I turn off the lights say, “I am going to
turn off the lights and while your eyes adjust to the darkness, I’m going to
tell you a Zuni myth that explains the creation of the earth.”
4.
Using red flashlight read the first half of
“Full Dark Story”.
5.
Slowly
turn on the Urban Starfield cylinder while reading the rest of the myth.
6.
Remove Urban
Starfield Cylinder and put on Native American Mythology cylinder.
While removing cylinder ask class what shapes or figures Native Americans
may have seen in the sky.
7.
With pointer at top of dome, go over
directions with class – N, S, E, W.
8.
Say, “The first, and probably the most
important, constellation that we are going to look at is called the “Campfire
of the North”. (With pointer at
top of dome show class campfire.) “As
you can see, in the center of the campfire is a star.
This is the North Star, which we call Polaris, and the Indians called
home star. They called it home star
because it never moves from that spot, and it acts as a guide to travelers.
So if you are ever lost, look for that star and it will help you find
your way. All the other stars
revolve around home star.”
9.
The next 2 constellations we are going to look
at are “Revolving Male” (point at it), which we call the Big Dipper, and
“Revolving Woman” (point at it) which we call Cassiopeia.
The Navajos also referred to these 2 constellations as the First Man and
First Woman. Notice that they are
located on either side of the campfire. They
are the official leaders of all other constellations.
They never leave this area of the sky and no other constellation
interferes with their routine. The arrangement of First Man, First Woman, and Campfire of
the North established a law that still exists today. That law states that only one couple may live by one home
fire.
10. In another group of stars, the Indians saw a shape of a great bear (point at it). They named this bear “Shoshoni”. As you can see Shoshoni looks like he is on a pathway. The Iroquois believed that this pathway was the Milky Way. Can anyone tell me what the Milky Way is? As you know the earth rotates, so I am going to turn on the rotator so that you can see how Shoshoni makes his way across the Milky Way. I also want you to notice how First Woman and Man rotate around the campfire North Star-Polaris. Legend has it that 3 Indian braves were chasing Shoshoni. The chase began at the beginning of time when the first Indian shot the bear in the side with his arrow. The wound wasn’t serious so the bear kept on running. He has been running across the sky ever since. Shoshoni’s path changes from season to season. In the autumn Shoshoni begins low in the northwest (point to northwest). During this season, the arrow wound on the bear opens slightly and a little blood trickles down upon the land. It covers the leaves of the trees and dyes them red and that is why we have autumn. STOP ROTATION!
11.
The final constellation I want to show you is
the Dog Star (point at it and mention that before the sky rotated you could not
see this constellation). Cherokee
legend tells us that all departed souls on their sky journey to the “land of
souls” must pass 2 barking dogs. If
the departed soul feeds the first dog but has nothing for the second dog, the
soul will be left trapped in the sky forever between the dogs.
12.
Slowly decrease projection lamp and increase
side lamp brightness to simulate a rising sun.
Say, “The night sun was brother to the day sun.
He knew man needed the heat and light of the day sun to live and to grow
things. So that man would always
look to the place of the rising sun, he placed the smoke of burning waters there
to make it beautiful.”
13.
Before we finish I’d like to share one final
Native American myth with you. “The
Otoe tribe had a sleep man named Patooyeh.
His job was to watch over children at night so that their dreams would be
happy. When Patooyeh saw the first
light of day, he knew it was time to leave.
But before he left, he would ask the “Great Spirit” to bring sunrise
to their hearts.
14.
Have students carefully exit the planetarium.
15.
Distribute sheets of white construction paper
tell students to close their eyes and put 20 dots on their papers.
16.
Students will then connect dots to create an
Indian Constellation.
EXTENSIONS
AND/OR ADAPTATIONS:
The students will use their Indian Constellation creations to write a myth.
CONTENT
BACKGROUND:
Constellations are patterns of stars.
Each culture had its own set of figures that it identified in the night
sky. These figures correlated to
objects of importance in their culture. Myths
were developed to explain these figures.
APPENDIX:
Full Dark Story
REFERENCE:
Colby, Andrea; Saddler, Philip; Kratzer, Gry; and Kloncz, Joyce editors, Astronomy
and More: A Comprehensive
Curriculum and User’s Guide for the STARLAB and Other Planetaria, Learning
Technologies, Inc., 1997.