Module IV

Essential Question: How do stories of cataclysmic events help inform students about geosciences and cultures?
Explain~
The Hawaiian Island are connected to the Aleutians in a string of underwater volcanoes that stretches over 3,700 miles. In the TD video Hawaiian Archipelago the scientist shares that, "Although hot spot plumes don't seem to move laterally, the plates above them do move. Thus, a volcano on the surface is eventually carried away from the hot spot and ceases to be active. Eventually, this results in a trail of progressively older volcanoes." This information is clear and fantastic! It makes sense to me and it will make sense to my students when it is viewed on Google Earth. This will be the starting off point for the cultural and artistic study of these two geographic locations.

Extend~
My family and I are on a vacation to Hawaii. As I sit near the beach in Maui I find myself reflecting upon the geological events that have shaped Alaska and Hawaii. I am excited to think about how those events have created similar folklore in our cultures. When I teach about the Tlingit culture I read a story about how the volcano erupts when too many frogs are taken from the pond. I've attached a picture of the cover above. My students have an aha moment when the grandmother of the frogs gets angrier about the greed of the people and the ground begins to shake and burn. Yesterday as we drove to the Southern part of Maui we came to an area that looked like big chunks of top soil. It started from on top of the mountain and ran down to the sea in streams. When we read about this area we found out that it is lava. The legend of this area explains it as the result of the fury of a god who was mad at the people living there for not sharing a chicken. When I shared the story with my own children my seven year old said," that didn't really happen did it?" It's the same response that I get from my students when I read them the story of the Frog Girl. It is an explanation that sounds kind of okay to a child, but they are not sure if someone could really change the shape of the earth because they were mad at someone.

Evaluate~
The scientific reality of volcanoes other natural geographic events can be shared through resources like TD and Google Earth. The value to me as an artist and as an art teacher is that I can compare the real event with the story or legend. I can share with the students the similarities in a cultures folklore as well as the art that supports the story. I have been excited to see the illustrations of whales here in Hawaii and look at the differences and sameness between them and the indigenous cultures of Southeast Alaska.

The struggles of the modern day Hawaiian culture are talked about often here. On the radio, TV, and road signs you can see and hear slogans like "keep our jobs here", "keep local money local". As a cultural study and discussion with students it would be interesting to talk about the relationship between the Alaska Native reality for land and jobs in Alaska and the indigenous people of Hawaii.

In conclusion: It has been a wonderful and fascinating study to learn about the natural disasters that shape a culture. It is a valuable tool to have learned about the TD resources and also to get more confident in the use of Google Earth. I am very excited to begin to understand the scientific reasons for the beautiful geographical formations that I have seen. I am experiencing some beautiful days here on Maui, it's an illustrated adventure for me now that I am learning about it's formation at the same time that I am sitting in the sand!
Mahalo!