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Overview:
Monuments, fortresses, and other public structures form part of the cultural landscapes of local, state, national, and world regions. They offer a wealth of opportunities for analyzing and explaining the distribution of peoples and their values, activities, and available resources. This lesson explores the cultures of ancient and modern people as reflected in their cultural symbols.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, social studies, history, art, language arts
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 6: "How culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions"
Time:
Three or more hours
Materials Required:
- Books, CD-ROMs and magazines that contain information and pictures of human-made structures
- Large white index cards for making picture-fact cards
- Scissors, glue
- Writing materials (e.g., pens or markers)
Objectives:
Students will
- demonstrate an understanding of cultural symbols by compiling a series of photographs that show buildings, structures, or statues that represent a city, place, or region.
Geographic Skills:
Acquiring Geographic Information
Answering Geographic Questions
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Show three or four images with culturally important symbolic meaning. For students in the United States, the images might show predominantly U.S. sites (e.g., the U.S. Capitol, Disney World, the Empire State Building, the Old North Church, the Alamo, or the Vietnam Veterans Memorial), as well as some world-famous monuments, such as the Taj Mahal or the Egyptian pyramids. Ask students to explain what each structure represents to its culture. What makes this structure so famous and who has attached such strong meaning to it? Is the meaning positive or negative?
Explain that cultural symbols exist around the world because people attach meaning to structures, making them icons to represent a place, a region, or a historical period. People's perceptions of the same symbol depend on their individual or collective mental and emotional associations. For example, people interested in U.S. history may place great importance on Boston's Old North Church, an important structure in the fight for American independence. Mexicans and Texans may have quite different views of the Alamo.
Development:
Have students search resources such as the Web, books, calendars, and travel brochures to identify cultural symbols.
Students should select a few of the images to use as examples, trying to choose at least one that no one else has picked. The student should explain what each example represents. Do different cultures have different perceptions on its meaning?
Have students create picture-fact cards with a symbol on the front of each. On the back of each card, students should write facts, such as the symbol's name, location, and approximate date of construction. Students should also describe various cultural perceptions of the symbol.
Closing:
Have students exchange picture-fact cards. Each student should share one card aloud, clearly explaining why the building, statue, or place has enough meaning for a group of people that it can be called a cultural symbol.
Suggested Student Assessment:
Perhaps there is a retailer whose main store is in your town. When people think of that store, they immediately think of your community. Perhaps your town is known for another sort of cultural landmark, or a natural landmark (such as a hill or a bay) that has taken on cultural significance. Students could identify local cultural symbols and give thorough explanations as to why they are important to their local community.
Sarah McCormick of Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, California, contributed classroom ideas for Standard 6.
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