Name: _________________________________
Date: __________Block: ______ Page # _____
Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian:
Traveling Exhibit
The Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian would like to create a traveling interactive
educational exhibit. This exhibit will be used to educate school children on the culture of five major American
Indian groups. You have been selected to participate in the design of a portion of this exhibit.
You are to create a box of artifacts that show the use of the human, capital, and natural resources that
would be found in the area of a specific tribe. Your goal is to allow students to discover how a particular tribal
group utilized their resources to satisfy the wants and needs of their people.
Think in the frames of the anthropologist/archaeologist/archivist to create an interactive museum piece
which allows upper elementary aged children (grades 4/5) to understand how different tribes’ lifestyles and
interactions were dictated by their regions and their resources.
Your exhibit box will include items as listed in the guide below. Anyone viewing the contents of your
exhibit box should be able to determine both the geographic location of your tribe and how the people lived in
that area based upon the artifacts you have chosen to include.
Exhibit Box Guide:
● Place the name of your tribe on the top of the box or on the inside of the lid.
● The shoebox must answer the questions:
In which regions/areas did the American Indians live?
The shoebox should contain artifacts that would demonstrate:
Natural resources of the region – animals, fish, rivers, plants, crops
Capital resources that would have been used in the region– Canoes, Bows, Spears, Tools
How did geography and climate affect the way American Indian groups met their needs?
The shoebox must depict how the tribe used the resources from their environment to create:
Shelter
Clothing
Food
Other economic activities – satisfy wants
Human resources – hunters, fishermen, clothes makers, farmers…what kind of people would
have actually done the different jobs within the tribe?

The shoebox must have an index card attached to the bottom of the box including the following:
o Your name
o An artifact inventory (what’s in the box)
 Which type of resource each item represents
 How that item might have been used
 How each item was influenced by the geographic region
Name__________________________________ Date______________ Block__________ Page #________
Tribe Name___________________________________
How did geography and climate affect the way
American Indian groups met their needs?
In which
regions/areas did
the American
Indians live?
Essential Questions
Things I need to know about my tribe
Natural resources of
the region
Capital resources
that would have
been used in the
region
Shelter
Clothing
Food
Other
Human Resources
Name__________________________
Block: ___________ Item # _______
Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian:
Traveling Exhibit RUBRIC
6.1.8
Locate and
describe the physical
environments inhabited
by the major American
Indian groups. (USI.3b)
6.1.7
Explain how
physical features
influence human
activity. (USI.2d)
6.1.9
Describe how
the American Indians
used the resources from
their environments.
(USI.3c)
6.1.10 Identify
natural, capital, and
human resources used
by the American
Indians. (USI.3c)
Novice
Apprentice
Proficient
Expert
Minimally effective in
analyzing sources &
information during
research and selecting
appropriate artifacts
which allow for the
interpretation of the
tribe’s physical
environment, including
region and climate
Moderately effective in
analyzing sources &
information during
research and selecting
appropriate artifacts
which allow for the
interpretation of the
tribe’s physical
environment, including
region and climate
Effective in analyzing
sources & information
during research and
selecting appropriate
artifacts which allow
for the interpretation of
the tribe’s physical
environment, including
region and climate.
Highly effective in
analyzing sources &
information during
research and selecting
appropriate artifacts
which allow for the
interpretation of the
tribe’s physical
environment, including
region and climate
Does not extend
knowledge and
understanding in order
to develop
generalizations about
common characteristics
of physical regions and
their impact on the
human activity in those
regions or
generalizations may be
vague/incorrect
Extends knowledge and
understanding in order
to develop basic
generalizations about
common characteristics
of physical regions and
their impact on the
human activity in those
regions.
Extends knowledge and
understanding in order
to develop reasonable
generalizations about
common characteristics
of physical regions and
their impact on the
human activity in those
regions.
Extends knowledge and
understanding in order
to develop sophisticated
generalizations about
common characteristics
of physical regions and
their impact on the
human activity in those
regions.
Artifact selection &
inventory explanations
demonstrate basic
understanding of how
the tribe’s environment
affected the tribe’s
activities
Artifact selection &
inventory explanations
demonstrate clear
understanding of how
the tribe’s environment
affected the tribe’s
activities
Artifact selection &
inventory explanations
demonstrate
sophisticated
understanding of how
the tribe’s environment
affected the tribe’s
activities
Artifact selection &
inventory explanations
do not demonstrate
understanding of how
the tribe’s environment
affected the tribe’s
activities
Arctic –
Inuit
Northeast
The Great
Pacific
(Eastern
Plains –
Southwest
Northwest
Woodlands)
Lakota
– Kwakiutl
– Pueblo
– Iroquois
people
Arctic –
Inuit
Northeast
The Great
Pacific
(Eastern
Plains –
Southwest
Northwest
Woodlands)
Lakota
– Kwakiutl
– Pueblo
– Iroquois
people
Arctic –
Inuit
Northeast
The Great
Pacific
(Eastern
Plains –
Southwest
Northwest
Woodlands)
Lakota
– Kwakiutl
– Pueblo
– Iroquois
people
Arctic –
Inuit
Northeast
Pacific
The Great
(Eastern
Northwest Plains –
Southwest
Woodlands) – Kwakiutl
Lakota
– Pueblo
– Iroquois
people
Arctic –
Inuit
Northeast
Pacific
(Eastern
Southwest
Northwest
Woodlands)
– Kwakiutl
– Pueblo
– Iroquois
Arctic –
Inuit
The Great
Plains –
Lakota
people
Northeast
The Great
Pacific
(Eastern
Plains –
Southwest
Northwest
Woodlands)
Lakota
– Kwakiutl
– Pueblo
– Iroquois
people
Name______________ Date________ Block________
Reflection:
Were others able to correctly identify your tribe’s regions and characteristics based on
the artifacts you included? Explain your answer.
What would you change if you had the opportunity to re-do the assignment?
Did you like this assignment? Why/why not?