Lesson Plans

Views from the Mountain: A Lesson on Perceptions

By Jody Mangiaratti Cole Junior High School East Greenwich, Rhode Island Participant in "Exploring our Living Mountain Laboratory" The Mountain Institute: Mountain Geography Workshop, July 2003 Prayer flags below Mt. Everest     Purpose: To compare and contrast different cultural views of mountains Age Group: Middle School Time required: 7 or 8 one-hour class periods Objectives: As a result of completing this lesson, students will be able to: Analyze what makes a place special, both physically and culturally speaking Understand the geology of mountains in terms of tectonic plate activity Understand the attractions and the dangers of climbing Mount Everest Understand the perspective of people who view mountains as recreational Understand why certain mountains are considered sacred places Understand the perspective of people who view mountains as sacred Understand that people can both view mountains as spiritual and as peaks to be climbed Examine their own special places and what makes them special National Geography Standards: #4: the physical and human characteristics of place #6: How culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions #7: How to apply geography to interpret the past References needed: Textbook with section on the geology of mountains (I use: Baerwald, Thomas J. and Fraser, Celeste. World Geography: Building a Global Perspective. Prentice Hall. Needham, Massachusetts. 2002. 740 pages. Nova film: Everest: The Death Zone. WGBH Boston Video. January 1, 1998. 60 minutes. Bernbaum, Edwin. Sacred Mountains of the World. University of California Press. London, England. 1997. 291 pages Bernbaum, Edwin (ed.). 2003. Inspirational Mountain Passages. Sacred Mountains Program, The Mountain Institute. Procedure: Day one Using appropriate textbook, teach the students the fundamentals of physical and cultural place. Students should understand that place is a combination of physical and cultural characteristics. Have them write an essay about the place that is most special to them and why. Have them distinguish physical and cultural characteristics of their own place. They can also include descriptions of the first time they were here, and how they felt the last time they left it. Day two Have the students share their favorite places with each other. This can be done as group work or as a whole class discussion. Reiterate that a place is made special by physical and cultural characteristics. Direct the class in a discussion of a particular geography: mountains. What make mountains special? Discuss the physical and cultural characteristics of mountains. Assign pages in appropriate text about the geology of mountains. Either ask the students to take notes of the material or outline questions for them. Day three Let the students study their homework for ten minutes. Give oral quiz to ascertain reading comprehension. Discuss and explain the following: convergence, subduction, rifting and faulting. (I use World Geography: Building a Global Perspective, pages 41-47). Give examples of each, including the Himalayans as an example of convergence. Day four As a pre-activity, ask the students to write a paragraph in class as to whether they would want to summit Mount Everest, inclusive of why or why not. Introduce the film "The Death Zone" (you will need to preview it). Discuss the dangers and the rewards of summiting Mt. Everest. Begin film (it is 60 minutes). Day five Discuss the part of the film seen the previous day. Finish viewing the film. Assign the following essay: Introduce Everest. Describe three dangers inherent in climbing Everest. Would you or would you not climb this mountain? Why or why not? Day six Read the last paragraph of each essay out loud to the class. Keep a running tally of who would or wouldn't climb the mountain. Discuss why students have or haven't changed their original opinions about climbing Mount Everest. Introduce the concept that all mountains are not there for the climbing. Give slide show presentation of sacred peaks, and tell students why they are sacred. I referenced the following pages from Sacred Mountains of the World: pages 8-15 (Mount Kaila), 15-18 (Nanda Devi), 93-99 (Mount Sinai), and 171-173 (Popocatapetl). Devils Tower, Wyoming, sacred mountain popular with mountain climbers   Day seven Have students read spiritual sayings and poems inspired by mountains. Discuss which is their favorite and why. Compare and contrast the view of mountains as spiritual places with the view of mountains as places to be climbed and conquered. Discuss the cultural meeting place between the view of mountains as sacred places and mountains as places to be climbed and conquered. Give essay for homework asking students to write about if their special place became very public. What behavior would you find acceptable? What behavior would be unacceptable? Why? Day eight Collect essays. Lead a class discussion about the students' own favorite places, and how they would change if they became very public places. What behavior would be acceptable? What behavior wouldn't be acceptable? What do they think about the "world's highest dump" (camp four on Mount Everest), and how they'd react to this intrusion. Ask students to compare how they'd feel about their own places becoming well-used public places with how people feel about their sacred mountains becoming well-used public places. Analysis and Reflection of Effectiveness My students really enjoyed this unit. By beginning the unit with the students' own sense of special place, I was able to catch their interest. They were eager to share their stories, so that others could see what was special to them. From this point, it was a successful step to examining mountains as special places. I found that my 7th graders didn't know why the Earth's surface wasn't flat. I questioned them, and found they hadn't thought about why there were mountains. They knew about magma and volcanoes, but not why they were there, nor why magma, so far from the sun, would be hot. They didn't understand about tectonic plates, though they were all familiar with Pangea. So the geological portion of the unit was filled with "aha" moments. My students were fascinated with Mount Everest. It captured their imagination, and most, if not all, were sure they'd want to climb it someday. The "Death Zone" really opened their eyes to the dangers of the mountain, indeed of any mountain at the extreme "death zone" altitude. They learned of the medical dangers, whereas they already knew about avalanches and falling into crevasses. They also learned of the psychological vulnerability of climbers at altitude because of reduced oxygen to the brain. It made them respect the dangers of climbing the mountain, and question the worth of climbing a mountain on which one could easily die. The students immediately understood the contrast between mountains as challenges and mountains as spiritual places. They asked many questions about the Hindu and Buddhist myths for certain peaks in the Himalayan Range. There were more "AHA" moments when we talked about Mount Ararat and Mount Sinai, as many of the students are from the Judeo-Christian culture. They enjoyed the poems, and wanted to analyze them more than I thought they would. They really thought about them, and were willing to discuss their meanings in class. Overall the unit was very worth while.