Investigating the 'Human Side' of Rivers

River Webquest

Today's task is to investigate the story of rivers.

Part 1: We will begin by examining the way that technology is used to study rivers (What is where?)

Part 2: We will examine some websites that remind us of the way that humans have interacted with rivers.

Part 3:  You will choose a river story, myth, legend, poem, art piece, musical or other artifact that demonstrates human connection to rivers.   You will bring this to class, along with a draft analysis for next day.

IF YOU ARE USING A MAC PRODUCT - USE CHROME 

Record your notes on a Word Doc

PART 1: FRESHWATER AROUND THE WORLD

A. Go through the following websites.  Look at the images, skim the descriptions.  Record 2-3 names of rivers in your notes that you believe to be beautiful, and a few notes about each one. 

The Most Beautiful Rivers in the World

The Most Beautiful Rivers in the USA

The American Nile 


B. Rivers and Borders.  Interested in the controversy surrounding the Border Wall.  Much of it surrounds the Rio Grande watershed.  Let's see the Rio Grande up close. 

TASK - Head to the following website.  Scroll through the website to follow the border between Mexico and the USA.  Click on different links of interest.  

• Be sure to follow the border from West to East, paying attention to the area along the Rio Grande river - this is the area in dispute.   

Borderline - Washington Post

Why is the US border wall so problematic? 

• After reviewing both websites, discuss with the person next to you.  Why is the border wall so problematic?  Why is an understanding of the geography so important to this debate?  Record your ideas

C. Google Earth - Let's see these waterways up close.  Use Chrome for this - if it takes too long to load, you may have to try a different device, or examine at home.   (If you can't use link, load the web version of Google Earth and click on the little asterisk on the left hand side that links to expeditions to explore.  The titles are below)

Examine the waterways from space, play around with the program.  Click on 3D to go up close.  Play around with Google Earth if you haven't before.  Be prepared to discuss what you see next day. 

Waterways from Space

Protecting the Okavango River Basin

Play around with Google Earth for a bit.. When you are finished.  Check out the last website below.


D. Understanding our Local History

Our last website is an interactive website that focuses on the Sto:lo nation whose traditional territory is part of the Fraser Valley.  Head to the following website, and play around with the different parts of the website.  Go through the longhouse, and in particular, head out to the river.  You must have FLASH enabled.

Journey Into Time Immemorial

• Record 5 ways in which the Sto:lo people interacted and used the rivers around them. 

PART TWO:  FIND A RIVER STORY or ART PIECE

Understanding different cultures around the world, begins with an investigation of their stories.  So many stories are connected to the natural environment, and this is no exception for rivers and waterways.

1.  FIND YOUR RESOURCE

Google some famous rivers around the world, and find a STORY, MYTH, LEGEND, POEM, SONG, ART PIECE that is connected to this particular river.

OR

Find a famous story, myth, legend, poem, song, or art piece that you like, that is connected and describes a specific river in the world.


2.  BEGIN OUR ANALYSIS

Print it out, and bring it to class next day so that it can be discussed.  Answer the following questions in draft form.

• What is the 'message' or 'lesson' of the story, poem, source piece? 
• What does the story/source piece tell us about the relationship between the people and the river? 
• What does the story/source piece tell us about the culture that lives (has lived) in this space? 

Prepare to discuss your ideas next day.