Standards

This project is both an inquiry into the local history of a particular area, and also an inquiry into the lives and history of the Native Americans who once lived here. As such, this inquiry could be adapted to either middle school students, or high school students. I’ll give examples of how the inquiry process might differ for each group below.

I am not a teacher, and I’m not terribly familiar with the Indiana State Standards. I chose, instead, to evaluate what might be learned from this inquiry process by measuring it against the AASL Learning Standards. New AASL standards will be launched in October of 2007, according to the info found here: http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslproftools/learningstandards/standards.cfm.

I found an older version of the standards here: http://weblink.scsd.us/~liblinks/AASLstandards.pdf.

Middle-School Inquiry

For middle-school students, I would focus the inquiry on the history and lives of the Miami people. What was their daily life like? Did they farm, trade, or hunt?

I think this group would also be interested in the relationship between the white settlers and the Miamis on a local level. How did they interact? Did they get along?

As for researching information on the location of the Miami village that might or might not existed where Derbyshire is today, I think it would be interesting to try and talk to the local historian who wrote some of the history articles for the Kokomo-Howard County Public Library. Perhaps a field trip could be arranged to the library’s history department to see how records from this era are stored. Discussions about how history records are saved or lost would be of interest, and this could lead to a discussion of how history texts, which seem so factual, could actually have different information. Or, they could consider how some information that is general regarded as factual by all history experts could come under question if a previously unknown historical document comes to light.

High School Inquiry

High school students would be interested in the life of the Miamis, but it might be more relevant to this group to look at that politics involved in the various Indian/US Government conflicts. For example, in the articles I found for the Kokomo area, it talks about how the Miami were moved onto a reserve, and then later, in the treaty of 1826, the Miamis and Pottawatomis gave up large tracts of this land. In later years, most of the Indians from Indiana were moved west. Why did this happen? What pressures were brought to bear upon the Miamis and other tribes that caused them to, again and again, give up large portions of their land?

I think that a visit to the library’s history department would also be of interest. But to tie in with the politics issues as discussed above, perhaps the librarian or history expert could show students on historical maps how much land the Miamis lost, and discuss some of the reasons behind it. This would give students a more personal connection to the lives of Native Americans than they might get in text books.

AASL Standards

The following standards apply to both the middle-school level inquiry and the high-school level inquiry, as outlined above. While L1-1 is relevant, due to the fact that students must recognize that they need information on their topic, and also, they must identify what types of questions they might ask to begin their research.

However, standard L1-2 is the more important, in that this standard encourages students to evaluate their sources. Historical documents on the lives of the Miami Indians in central Indiana may or may not be comprehensive. Some documents, treaty documents, or land surveys, may be difficult for students to analyze as to their value to their topic. Historical newspaper articles may have a political or cultural slant that obscures the facts, and students would have to identify this.

Standard L1-1: Access information efficiently and effectively, as described by the following indicators:

1. recognizes the need for information;

2. recognizes that accurate and comprehensive information is the basis for intelligent decision making;

3. formulates questions based on information needs;

4. identifies a variety of potential sources of information;

5. develops and uses successful strategies for locating information.

Standard L1-2: Evaluates information critically and competently, as described by the following indicators:

1. determines accuracy, relevance, and comprehensiveness;

2. distinguishes among fact, point of view, and opinion;

3. identifies inaccurate and misleading information;

4. selects information appropriate to the problem or question at hand.

Standard L3-1 is appropriate to this topic, in that students would want to consider the different point of view of the various peoples involved. Do Miamis documents or testimonials, or other recorded opinions on land, life, and political issues differ from the opinions of the US Government or the settlers? How would you make sure that your research is balanced, in that you consider both sides of the story?

L3-1: Recognizes the importance of information to a democratic society, as described by the following indicators:

1. seeks information from diverse sources, contexts, disciplines, and cultures;

2. respects the principle of equitable access to information.