Drama, adventure, friendship, teamwork, controversy—the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition has them all. As the bicentennial anniversary of the expedition (180306) approaches, magazines, television programs, public events, and even an IMAX film will commemorate the historical event.
Generations of school children in the United States have learned about the expedition as part of the "discovery" of the U.S. West. But now teachers and students are realizing not only that the expedition offers opportunities for learning in different disciplines, but also that many different voices need to tell the story.
Learning Opportunities
"The Lewis and Clark story is really two stories," according to Larry McClure, who recently retired as unit manager of the Education, Career, and Community Program at the Northwest Regional Education Laboratory (NWREL) in Portland, Ore. "It's the story of adventurous people looking up at the world around them from a river, and it's the story of more than 50 Indian tribes and nations looking down from the riverbanks."
It's also a story that allows teachers to integrate learning in social studies, language arts, math, science, and other disciplines, say educators. "The expedition was a landmark event in U.S. history," says McClure. It's a well-known account: After the Louisiana Purchase, President Thomas Jefferson was anxious to learn about the newest part of the nation. Jefferson detailed the scientific, political, commercial, and peacemaking mission of the trip in a June 20, 1803, letter to Meriwether Lewis. Lewis and William Clark were charged with leading a Corps of Discovery of about 25 men into the unknown to seek a river route to the Pacific Ocean; observe the climate, flora, and fauna; gather information for mapmaking; and observe the cultural, political, and health concerns of the native peoples while expressly maintaining good relations with them.
Curriculum Hooks
Because of their specific mission and the meticulous record keeping in what became the Lewis and Clark journals, the expedition provides a jumping-off point for teachers who want to explore integrated learning opportunities in different academic disciplines.
For example, Marilyn Jackson, a 3rd grade teacher at Edwards Elementary School in Newbury, Ore., used trunks to create interdisciplinary units for NWREL that help teachers use Lewis and Clark to teach math. She filled the two trunks—one for grades 46 and one for grades 78—with lesson plans, maps, camping equipment catalogs, compasses, books, resources, and replicas of tools used on the expedition. Teachers in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington may borrow the trunks.
Activities in the trunks meet state and national math standards and pose problems that the corps faced. For example, students in grades 46 might learn how to measure a tree or a cliff without scaling it. Both trunks include activities that require students to estimate how far Lewis and Clark traveled and how long it took them. Students then plan a two-week trip into the wilderness, figuring out what equipment they would need, estimating the costs, and researching the actual costs.
More Than History
In addition to finding hooks to the math curriculum, students in the trail states of Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon might study the expedition as part of their state and U.S. history requirements. Teachers in states with no direct connection to the expedition should frame their lessons to highlight its importance in U.S. history and how it fostered "a spirit of exploration," suggests McClure.
Kurt Weinberg, an elementary physical educator at Pioneer and Highland Acres Elementary Schools in Bismarck, N.D., was fascinated by the U.S. West when he grew up in upstate New York. Now he tries to bring the spirit of the expedition to life for his students, for whom the story is especially relevant because Lewis and Clark spent more than four months in North Dakota. His students use jump ropes to form a map of the United States on the gym floor and to mark rivers and other important geographic features. As the students physically follow Lewis and Clark's journey, they read excerpts from the journals and place the excerpts on the sites mentioned.
In another activity, Weinberg describes the backbreaking work of the expedition—such as the effort it took to push and pull a keel boat up the river all day—and how the men would still have the energy to dance jigs around the campfire. Weinberg teaches students to dance jigs and invites Native Americans to teach traditional dances to the students. These guest instructors explain the purpose of the dances and why only boys or girls can perform particular dances.
These activities address geography and reading requirements and meet state physical education standards for nurturing social and kinesthetic skills and developing cultural understanding. In fact, a benefit of activities centered around the expedition, says McClure, is that such activities "get at lessons that are not covered in the curriculum, such as how to get along with people different from you."
Such lessons can also move beyond curriculum requirements, says Todd Hanson, who teaches 5th grade at Dorothy Moses Elementary School in Bismarck. He and his students talk about how York—Clark's slave—and Sacagawea—the expedition's female Native American guide—could vote with other corps members about which direction to go or where to camp, despite their social status under normal circumstances. But after the expedition, York was still a slave. "This teaches kids that although we may all get along in the classroom, we need to continue to have respect and acceptance on the playground," says Hanson.
The Native American Story
The lessons that students learn about other cultures and tolerance are especially important as historians, educators, and students revisit the Lewis and Clark tale. Amy Mossett, director of tourism for the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara in New Town, N.D., remembers loving social studies in school. But the books she read barely mentioned the Lewis and Clark expedition or failed to note that Sacagawea had grown up near her school.
Sacagawea and the other Native American people whom Lewis and Clark encountered have been left out of the story, contends Mossett. "Their cultures had been living and thriving there for years. They weren't there waiting for Lewis and Clark to discover them." The Lewis and Clark story is also their story.
As a board member of the National Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Council, Mossett, like others interested in the expedition, wants to ensure that the Native American story is heard accurately. "We prefer that if teachers address an Indian topic that they invite an Indian into their classrooms rather than use a book. People need to experience Indian cultures and learn about Indians' traditional cultures and contemporary lives." As long as educators approach these encounters with honesty and respect, they can dispel misinformation. For example, Mossett says, when she has led teacher workshops, teachers have told her that they thought the Mandan people were extinct. One teacher asked Mossett if, as a Native American, she received a welfare check from the government each month.
The teaching approach differs depending on grade and developmental level. When Mossett visits primary classrooms, for example, she wears a work dress of early 19th century style and shows artifacts such as animal hides, garden produce, and garden tools, including a rake made from antlers. She brings a trunk made of buffalo hide that contains items made from a buffalo to show students how Native Americans used every part of the animal.
For middle grades, Mossett describes the tribes' community life. She tells students about the commercial reasons behind the Lewis and Clark expedition and notes that the Native Americans had already established wide-ranging trade routes before Lewis and Clark arrived.
The lesson is that "life in the northern plains didn't begin after Lewis and Clark," says Mossett. "Life evolves and culture evolves. Every time something is introduced into a culture it has an effect. The aftermath of the expedition was not good for Indians, but we're still here, surviving and moving ahead."
Hitting the Road
Educators and students will continue to learn important historical and cultural lessons as the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial approaches. From 2003 through 2006, the Corps of Discovery II: 200 Years to the Future will offer education opportunities across the United States. Starting at Jefferson's home, Monticello, in Charlottesville, Va., several vehicles will retrace Lewis and Clark's trail, following the time line of the journals. According to Gerard Baker, superintendent of the project with the National Park Service's Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail in Omaha, Nebr., activities and materials will address four questions: What was life like before Lewis and Clark? What was it like after? What has life been like in the past 200 years? What will the next 200 years look like?
One vehicle will serve as a classroom center for people to visit. The organizers plan to have experts and guests speak about different aspects of the four questions as they relate to the geographic area. Organizers also hope to have reproductions or good photos of artifacts. The second vehicle will house a multimedia center that will allow students around the world to study the expedition. During the times in the year when the Lewis and Clark expedition would have camped for the winter, the vehicles will visit nontrail states to connect with schools and museums.
Getting Started
For educators who don't want to wait for the Corps of Discovery II to come to their town, teachers interviewed for this article advise: start reading. Begin with Stephen E. Ambrose's Undaunted Courage (Simon & Schuster, 1996), suggests Jackson.
Such efforts should pay off for years to come—Lewis and Clark enthusiasts view the bicentennial as a beginning. "Although the journey ends in 2006, Lewis and Clark will always be there to study," Baker notes. "We hope to reach out to the academic world now to help them strengthen their knowledge about this event and to enter and enhance the school curriculum."