Digital Gallery Tour
Students will learn about the animals of the West and their importance to communities of people by:
- exploring the topic through introductory questions
- analyzing objects from the Autry Museum using guiding questions
- engaging in hands-on activities
Standards
CA NGSS: 3-LS4.D
CA HSS: 3.1.2
CA HSS: 3.5.1
CA HSS: 4.1.3
Digital Gallery Tour Resources
Student Response Sheet: Animals of American West Student Response Sheet
Pre-Lesson: Split students into small groups, each with an image from the digital gallery tour and have students describe what they see in the image making predictions, creating questions or completing a KWL on Animals of the West.
Post Lesson: Post object images from the digital gallery tour throughout the classroom or on a distance learning platform. Students “tour” each station writing down questions they still have on the subject. Assign students to research the answer to a question and present for each image object.
Extension(s): Students choose one project from the “Things to Consider” object prompts or “Conclusion” activities. Students can design their own saddles and spurs, write poetry, record stories, and create drawings. Teachers can also facilitate a conversation about how animals affect and interact each other, using Jamboard to draw a web and record student answers.
Teaching Tips for Different Learning Environments
Whole Class In-Person Learning: Split students into groups based on the Animals of the West digital gallery tour sections: Tools for Horses, Spurred On, Animals in Art, Where the Buffalo Roam. Students review and present the information to the class leading a discussion on one of the “Things to Consider” questions. Alternatively, the teacher could model the horse and assign student groups one of the following animals: bison, salmon, bear, snake, raven, whale, elk.
Whole Class Distance Learning: Create Zoom/GoogleChat/Teams polls, chats or lead a discussion using the “Things to Consider” questions. Create breakout rooms for different aspects of the digital gallery tour (Tools for Horses, Spurred On, Animals in Art, Where the Buffalo Roam) and have students come back to whole class to share what they learned. Alternatively, the teacher could model the horse and assign student breakout rooms the following: bison, salmon, bear, snake, raven, whale, elk.
Tech Fun: Kahoot! to answer multiple choice questions throughout the digital gallery tour; Flipgrid to record skits, dances, or storytelling; Scratch to code a story or an animation; Jamboard to draw or collage images; Google Docs for writing and sharing poems and stories.
Links to Associated Education Resources