Social Studies Unit 1 Activity 11

Unit 1: Louisiana's Physical and Cultural Geography

Activity 11: Cultural Diffusion, Diversity, and Louisiana Heritage (GLEs: 12, 75, 81)

CC: Divide students into the following groups: Germans, Acadians, Irish/Scots, French, Spanish, Anglo/Americans, and Native Americans. Have students research their group and identify why they came, where they settled, and their contribution to Louisiana. As a part of their presentation, students are to construct a handout that lists the contributions of these ethnic groups, their significance in Louisiana history, and cultural elements that have shaped Louisiana's heritage (e.g., festivals, music, dance, food, languages). They should then role-play with their classmates questions and answers related to this information.

Louisiana population and heritage links:

http://ccet.louisiana.edu/03_Cultural_Tourism_Intro.html

http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/cabildo/cab8.htm

http://www.louisiana.gov/wps/portal/.cmd/cs/.ce/155/.s/3313/_s.155/1118/_me/1133/

http://ccet.louisiana.edu/03a_Cultural_Tourism_Files/01.23_Genealogy_Heritage.html

Web Resources:

http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Home

This article and its subsections will be used in multiple Units and Activities.

CC: Then have the class use this information to create a wall mural entitled "Louisiana Heritage." Or alternatively each group or individual could design and present a logo and flyer for an imagined Louisiana Heritage Festival. The logo and flyer should seek to represent Louisiana's diversity and rich heritage and culture. (If resources are available, students may want to pursue hosting a festival of this sort with food, etc.)

An Imagined Louisiana Heritage Festival flyer and Logo could be made using MS Publisher.

Louisiana population and heritage links:

http://ccet.louisiana.edu/03_Cultural_Tourism_Intro.html

http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/cabildo/cab8.htm

http://www.louisiana.gov/wps/portal/.cmd/cs/.ce/155/.s/3313/_s.155/1118/_me/1133/

http://ccet.louisiana.edu/03a_Cultural_Tourism_Files/01.23_Genealogy_Heritage.html

Web Resources:

http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Home

This article and its subsections will be used in multiple Units and Activities.

CC: Have students create a model, either individually, in groups, or as a class, that gives a student-generated explanation of what cultural diffusion is (e.g., different colored pieces of glass to create a mosaic, etc.). Then have students create a chart that shows the five to seven causes and effects of cultural diffusion in Louisiana, as well as the effects of cultural diversity in Louisiana.

A chart showing causes and effects of cultural diffusion could be created using the table function in either MS Word or Publisher. In addition, the Cause and Effect template in Inspiration could be used here.