This is a photo of the Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. The photo does not do it justice.
Native Americans built these dwellings over 700 years ago. This is just one example of amazing structures built by humans long ago. Authentic Project Idea: Depending on your students’ interests, you could study limitless examples of structures built without the use of modern tools. How were these constructed? Why? How did the local land features influence the construction? How long were they used for? Why were they abandoned?
How can we use the ingenuity of past constructions to influence how we may build on the Earth in the future? What about the moon? Or Mars?
Perhaps…planning, reading, writing, math, and creativity could lead to models, diagrams, descriptions, etc, in building your own classroom museum highlighting what your students learned. (My bias – what a great way to start a school year!)
The Educational Journey 