Easter Head Hunting
by christophermuir and tagged like the one next to Bert here., Moai are those pensive stone heads
Why do some civilizations, having lasted hundreds or even thousands of years, just disappear? War may explain many of these vanished cultures. But not Easter Island. The people there once had a culture that produced some of the most amazing monuments ever built. But they also lived in total isolation, fifteen hundred miles from their nearest neighbors. As surely as those statues stare at us today from their grassy perches, the people living there now have neither the tools, nor the skills, nor the materials necessary to reproduce the moai they must once have been able to make. (By the way, Moai, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, are those pensive looking stone heads, like the one next to Bert there.)
Now let’s fast forward a few centuries… .
Here’s the set-up. The year is 2308 and the world has suffered through a dark ages not entirely unlike the one Europeans stepped out of a thousand years earlier. Thankfully, humans have made a miraculous recovery and have restored much of the balance lost by their ancestors. Unwilling to make the same mistakes all over again, humanity has made a solemn commitment to try and make some sense out of the challenges encountered by previous peoples, discover what they did well, and learn from their mistakes.
Unfortunately, many of the historical records from that age (the early 21st Century) have been corrupted and lost. Groups of cadets –that’s you– train together in the hopes of one day joining the ranks of the Memory Sleuths: historical detectives dedicated to learning from our mistakes as well as our triumphs. (Sleuths are the best and brightest archaeologists, anthropologists, climatologists and paleobotanists on the planet. But relax if you don’t know what any of that means. That’s what you’re in this program to learn.) Their wisdom safeguards the planet from the kinds of destruction wrought by our forebears.
A small group of Memory Sleuths has already begun looking into Easter’s murky past for clues to the fate of its people. Your mission is to support their work with additional information from our few remaining internet sites. Sleuths and cadets will attend a conference once all teams have completed their assignments, in the hopes that we may unravel the mysteries swirling around that amazing island.
TASK
Your team has been tasked with the following mission: investigate the remaining historical information available below, and, in teams of three, develop some ideas about Easter’s past cultures, technology, or climate and ecological changes. Each team may focus on whichever topic regarding Easter Island most interests them. But focus on ONE TOPIC ONLY! Once you have gathered your information, including pictures, maps and diagrams, you will put it together and share it with your fellow cadets.
There are three ways you may do this: PowerPoint / Poster Board Presentation / Essay
Requirements for Each:
PowerPoint: groups doing a PowerPoint must have at least twelve slides and no fewer than eight pictures and two maps. Furthermore, the pictures must relate to your topic (see below for information on choosing your topic). Your maps must be discussed in relation to your topic. Your PowerPoint is due no later than Thursday, and must be put on a flash drive that I will provide for you. You should strive to seek a balance between facts and its visual appeal or aesthetics. Remember the golden rule: Your slide show is there to compliment your lecture, not act as glorified note cards. In other words, your lecture notes should not be put onto the PowerPoint. We’ll be viewing PowerPoints next week, so make it exciting!
Poster Board Presentation: groups deciding to do a poster board are encouraged to think outside the box. Creativity will count a lot. Like the PowerPoint, your poster board should be designed to impress. Information is more important than in the PowerPoint, but should be spread out over the board, with no more than 100 words per section. Four to six pictures and at least one map should support your topic. Speaking of topics, this, too, should be cleverly developed, and you’ll have to know what’s on your board and be prepared to discuss it. Again, creativity is important. And it’s due on Thursday like everything else.
Essays are for those of you who like to write. That’s right― you’ll get a chance to demonstrate your prowess with the pen. Of course, you could divide the work up into research and writing, but you’ll have more fun if your group shares responsibilities. The essay is due on Thursday, of course, and should be AT LEAST four pages, double-spaced, using Times 12 point font or equivalent font size. I’m not looking for creativity so much in these papers as critical thought. In other words, I want you to make a challenging claim, and support that claim with solid evidence and logic. Further, you will need to cite your sources, in the paper and at the end in a Works Cited page, written in MLA format. (Don’t worry about what MLA means right now. It’s just one of many ways to tell us where you got your facts from.) You may Google “MLA format” or go to this web site, which will structure your Works Cited page for you after you fill in the necessary information. How cool is that?
In addition, the Sleuths have asked that you uncover some information they were unable to locate. Finding these facts will go a long way towards your advancement through the program. In fact, you should go hunting for these facts first. By searching for answers to these questions, you will hopefully get a much better sense of what you want to do.
Take a few minutes now and read and become familiar with the Process, Evaluation and Conclusion sections.
PROCESS
1. First, go Easter Head Hunting by locating answers the Memory Sleuths couldn’t track down. (a) Who or what is tangata anga? (b) What does tangata anga mean in the language of the Rapa Nui who populate the island? (c) Find out how many elephants it would take to balance a scale with a moai on the other side. Don’t forget to check out the How Big Were They? page. (d) How many families have researchers estimated it would take to move a moai? (e) List three other lessons Dr. Jo Anne Van Tilburg learned while trying to move the Moai. In addition, the Sleuths would like help with the following sites on the island: Identify the importance of the following sites:
Ahu Akivi
Ahu Tahai
Ahu Vinapu
Ahu Tongariki
Anakena Beach
Paro
Rano Raraku
Here’s the best place to start sleuthing
There are two ways to navigate this website: through links within the picture of the statues or below the statues. They both take you to the same set of pages. Visit each separate page to answer all the information! And don’t forget those note cards. You need to take as many as necessary to complete your assignment, probably at least fifteen to twenty. This head hunt should take no more than the rest of today. Take longer, and you may not have enough time to complete the rest of your assignment!
2. After you’ve answered the Easter Head Hunt questions, it’s time for your group to visit a few more sites. Decide what interests you most about Easter. This will help you decide what area to focus on. The areas again are Easter’s culture, technology, or climate and ecological changes.
If culture is what you find fascinating, then learn about its people’s language, religion and beliefs before contact with Europeans. What did they eat? How were they organized? What European explorer discovered Easter and the islanders living there? What were his impressions? Did the statues represent the islanders’ gods? If not, why were they made? These are just a few cultural questions you might answer.
If technology is more your thing, explore the moai and ahu and how they might have carved and moved such immense blocks of stone. What are those creepy eyes made out of? Did the island provide the necessary materials to accomplish such feats? If not, where did the raw material come from? Also look into their canoes. What was the state of the Rapa Nuis’ (as the Easter Islanders call themselves) canoes when European explorers first visited the island? How were the canoes made and out of what materials?
Climate refers to conditions of wind, rain and temperature. Ecological changes are those natural or human-induced changes to the land and its ecosystems. Were there once trees? If so, what happened to them? Did the Rapa Nui use their resources well before contact with Europeans? If so, how? If not, why not? Any project type would work well with this topic but would this would be an especially great topic to investigate for those writing essays.
Here are some sites you’ll need to check out:
3. After you’ve decided what you want to do your project on, you’ll need to figure out how to put it together. Do you want to do a Poster Presentation, a PowerPoint, or an Essay?
How to budget your time: Day two, then, should be spent on: (a) surfing the sites provided and figuring out what interests you; (b) deciding what to do your project on and gathering pictures, information, and maps; and (c) agreeing as a team on how you would like to present your findings at the conference (on Friday). Try to spend no more than fifteen minutes looking around before you make your decision on the topic. Another thirty minutes should be spent gathering information. Split up here and you’ll cover more ground. Each team member should come up with at least seven note cards. Leave five minutes at the end to decide how you’d like to share your findings.
By Day Three, your group should have finished collecting information. Spend the whole period on creating your project. Remember, it’s DUE ON THURSDAY.
Evaluation
This is the Rubric I’ll use if your group decides to do a PowerPoint or Poster Board Presentation:
| Rubric Components |
Point Scale |
Student’s Score |
|||
|
4 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
||
| Research and Note taking | Note cards indicate you accurately researched a variety of information sources, recorded and interpreted significant facts, meaningful graphics, accurate sounds and evaluated alternative points of view. | Note cards show you recorded relevant information from multiple sources of information, evaluated and synthesized relevant information. | Note cards show you misinterpreted statements, graphics and questions and failed to identify relevant arguments. | Note cards show you recorded information from four or less resources, did not find graphics or sounds, and ignored alternative points of view. | |
| Layout | The layout is visually pleasing and contributes to the overall message with appropriate use of headings, subheadings and white space. | The layout uses horizontal and vertical white space appropriately. | The layout shows some structure, but appears cluttered and busy or distracting with large gaps of white space or uses a distracting background. | The layout is cluttered, confusing, and does not use spacing, headings and subheadings to enhance the readability. | |
| Text Elements | The fonts are easy-to-read and point size varies appropriately for headings and text.Use of italics, bold, and indentations enhances readability.Text is appropriate in length for the target audience and to the point.The background and colors enhance the readability of text. | Sometimes the fonts are easy-to-read, but in a few places the use of fonts, italics, bold, long paragraphs, color or busy background detracts and does not enhance readability. | Overall readability is difficult with lengthy paragraphs, too many different fonts, dark or busy background, overuse of bold or lack of appropriate indentations of text. | The text is extremely difficult to read with long blocks of text and small point size of fonts, inappropriate contrasting colors, poor use of headings, subheadings, indentations, or bold formatting. | |
| Content | The content is written clearly and concisely with a logical progression of ideas and supporting information.The project includes motivating questions and advanced organizers. The project gives the audience a clear sense of the main idea.Information is accurate, current and comes mainly from * primary sources. | The content is written with a logical progression of ideas and supporting information.Includes persuasive information from reliable sources. | The content is vague in conveying a point of view and does not create a strong sense of purpose.Includes some persuasive information with few facts.Some of the information may not seem to fit.Sources used appear unreliable. | The content lacks a clear point of view and logical sequence of information.Includes little persuasive information and only one or two facts about the topic.Information is incomplete, out of date and/or incorrect.Sequencing of ideas is unclear. | |
And this is what you’ll be graded on if you choose to do an essay:
| Rubric Components | Point Scale | Student’sScore | |||
| 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Research and Note taking | Note cards indicate you accurately researched a variety of information sources, recorded and interpreted significant facts, meaningful graphics, accurate sounds and evaluated alternative points of view. | Note cards show you recorded relevant information from multiple sources of information, evaluated and synthesized relevant information. | Note cards show you misinterpreted statements, graphics and questions and failed to identify relevant arguments. | Note cards show you recorded information from four or less resources, did not find graphics or sounds, and ignored alternative points of view. | |
| Introduction | The introduction presents the overall topic and draws the audience into the presentation with compelling questions or by relating to the audience’s interests or goals. | The introduction is clear and coherent and relates to the topic. | The introduction shows some structure but does not create a strong sense of what is to follow. May be overly detailed or incomplete and is somewhat appealing to the audience. | The introduction does not orient the audience to what will follow.The sequencing is unclear and does not appear interesting or relevant to the audience. | |
| Content | The content is written clearly and concisely with a logical progression of ideas and supporting information.The project includes motivating questions and advanced organizers. The project gives the audience a clear sense of the main idea.Information is accurate and current. | The content is written with a logical progression of ideas and supporting information.Includes persuasive information from reliable sources. | The content is vague in conveying a point of view and does not create a strong sense of purpose.Includes some persuasive information with few facts.Some of the information may not seem to fit. | The content lacks a clear point of view and logical sequence of information.Includes little persuasive information and only one or two facts about the topic.Information is incomplete, out of date and/or incorrect, with little sequencing of ideas. | |
| Focus on Assigned Topic | The entire essay is related to the assigned topic and allows the reader to understand much more about the topic. | Most of the essay is related to the assigned topic. The essay wanders off at one point, but the reader can still learn something about the topic. | Some of the essay is related to the assigned topic, but a reader does not learn much about the topic. | No attempt has been made to relate the essay to the assigned topic. | |
| Mechanics | The essay has few, if any, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, or usage errors. | The essay has three or four mechanics errors. | The essay has five, six or seven mechanics errors. | The essay has more than eight mechanics errors. | |
Conclusion
Understanding Easter Island is important because knowing why certain cultures collapse can help us make better decisions in our own society. This information is also a primer to our unit on Polynesian cultures, including the Pitcairn islands and Hawaii. The story of Easter is a part of that larger epic.
This project should give you a sense of the complexity each society presents, as well as the necessary skills to investigate one on your own. By the end of it, you will have researched Easter Island, taken sufficient note cards, then developed your ideas into an essay, PowerPoint or poster board. Essays will be read by your instructor. Poster boards and PowerPoints will be presented to the class. And it’s all due on Thursday. Good luck, cadets!
