Exhibition Related Lesson Plans

National Library of Medicine: Specialized Information Services

The following lesson plans, developed by the Division of Specialized Information Services of the National Library of Medicine, are designed to enhance the experience of visiting the Native Voices Exhibition or interacting with the Native Voices Web site. The lessons highlight various health issues addressed in the Native Voices interviews. They invite students to consider these issues in the light of their personal experiences and to relate them to the experiences of their families and communities. Students also use other educational resources from the National Library of Medicine to conduct in-depth research into the topics of Native Voices interviews.
The four lessons are as follows:

• Native Voices Exhibition Scavenger Hunt

  Lesson plan: (PDF) (MS Word)
  A video scavenger hunt provides participants an opportunity to search the Native Voices Exhibition video interviews in order to locate videos that address six specific health-related issues and concerns. Students then research the issues on other National Library of Medicine Web sites and discuss their impact on themselves as individuals, as well as on their families and communities.

• Science Lesson: Learning through Other Cultures – Understanding the Bond between Human Beings and Our Environment – An Indigenous Perspective

  Lesson plan: (PDF) (MS Word)
  Enables students to view the Native Voices Exhibition video interviews that address Indigenous relationships with the environment, discuss the impact of the environment on health, and compare Indigenous and non-Indigenous approaches to the environment.

• Social Science Lesson: Change in Society - Exploring the Impact of Western Expansion and Industrial Development on Native Peoples’ Environment, Culture, and Health

  Lesson plan: (PDF) (MS Word)
  Allows students to research the impact of European colonization and U.S. westward expansion on the environment, culture, and health of the Indigenous people of their region by exploring the video interviews and reading segments of the Native Voices Exhibition.

• The Indigenous Perspective on Health and Healing

  Lesson plan: (PDF) (MS Word)
  Enables students to watch Native Voices Exhibition video interviews to learn about Indigenous perspectives on health and disease and discuss medicinal plants and healing ceremonies.