Date: September 22, 2006
Contact: Deb Wade, 207-288-8802
Superintendent Sheridan Steele announced today that the National Association for Interpretation (NAI), based in Fort Collins, Colorado, has selected Passamaquoddy History and Culture: A Traveling Teaching Kit for Grades 5-8 as a finalist in the curriculum category of their annual competition for media awards.
The Passamaquoddy Kit is assured of receiving an award, but the place of the award will not be announced until the evening of Thursday, November 9, at the National Interpreters Workshop in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Passamaquoddy Kit was created in response to a suggestion by Passamaquoddy Elder Joseph Nicholas to provide additional Passamaquoddy content in the interpretation of Saint Croix Island International Historic Site. Staff at Acadia National Park and the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine, collaborated to create the kit. Throughout the kit’s development, staff consulted with Passamaquoddy elders and community members.
The Passamaquoddy Kit, which is designed for fifth through eighth grade students, uses student-centered activities and tactile elements to explore Passamaquoddy culture and history from 12,000 years ago to the present. Educators can build a Passamaquoddy Kit for their classrooms by downloading its contents from the Acadia National Park website. The kit is also available for loan to educators though Saint Croix Island International Historical Site, Acadia National Park, and the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor.
For more information about the kit, contact Acadia National Park at 207-288-3338 or via e-mail, or the Abbe Museum at 207-288-3519 or via e-mail.
