The lessons plans and activities developed for this Web site comprise a multidisciplinary unit that uses television and computers as learning tools in the subject areas of science, mathematics, social studies, and language arts. Although the lessons are written for middle level students, they do contain suggested extensions and adaptations to facilitate their use with elementary and secondary students. Each lesson could also be modified to be conducted at home.

Piegan Dandy

The classroom activities were created by a team of award-winning educators to parallel the four-hour television documentary, “Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery.” PreK-12 teachers may videotape the documentary and use it in the classroom for one year. (For more information on teacher resources to accompany PBS programs and on PBS extended taping rights for educators, please visit the PBS TeacherSource Web site.) After the broadcast, teachers may purchase a copy of the program from PBS Video.

Each lesson includes Teacher Notes and downloadable Student Activity Sheets that can be printed, copied, and distributed to students. The Teacher Notes for each lesson provide learning objectives, related national content standards, a list of tools and materials needed, the time necessary to complete each lesson, extensions and adaptations, assessment recommendations, and the teaching strategy. Specifically, the unit lessons will ask students to:

• Examine geographic, scientific, and other discoveries made by the expedition to learn why it is considered one of the most successful expeditions in United States history;
• Identify and analyze the short- and long-term effects of the expedition, including how the expedition affected Native American tribes in the region;
• Develop complex and systematic reasoning about expedition- related decisions;
• Practice participating in collaborative assignments;
• Improve their knowledge of and skill required to use multimedia resources as tools in the learning process.