LEWIS AND CLARK: FAMOUS RESEARCHERS
THEME
In an era of rapidly expanding information, one of the most important
skills for students to acquire is how to carry out research effectively.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition (Corps of Discovery) is an excellent
topic for students to research because it is well documented and
full of adventure stories that appeal to young people. In addition,
Captains Lewis and Clark are excellent examples of researchers.
GOALS
- To highlight the important role that research and study played
in making the Lewis and Clark Expedition a successful one.
- To familiarize students with the basic tools of research and
how to make effective use of them.
- To contrast information technology today with that at the time
of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
OBJECTIVES
When the lesson is completed, students will be able to:
- Define "research" and list four ways to find information
about a subject.
- Describe two ways in which Captain Lewis and Captain Clark did
research.
- List three kinds of research tools available today that Lewis
and Clark did not have.
- Identify/define Northwest Passage, herbalist, flora, fauna,
field research, ethnic research, Corps of Discovery.
ADVANCE PREPARATION
- Preview the contents and teachings aids for this unit by clicking
on the following capitalized titles: The
INTRODUCTION provides an overview of the unit's contents and
organization. The Lesson Plan, LEWIS AND CLARK: FAMOUS RESEARCHERS
stresses the scientific aspects of the expedition. Original descriptions
of natural resources and native cultures encountered by Corps
members may be accessed by clicking on JOURNAL
EXCERPTS "H". In a related activity (CONDUCTING
RESEARCH: WHO WERE THE MEMBERS OF THE CORPS OF DISCOVERY),
students work in pairs to locate information about Corps members.
They present their findings to the class through role playing.
Be sure to look over the supplemental materials also. To refresh
your recollections of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, CLICK
HERE for a summary of the entire expedition. For suggestions
about choosing Lewis and Clark resources, click on LEWIS
AND CLARK RESOURCE MATERIALS. For additional information,
see TEACHING AIDS "H".
The GLOSSARY
AND PRONUNCIATION GUIDE provides assistance with names and
terms associated with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Finally,
the EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS AND MULTIPLE-INTELLIGENCES
CHARTS E, F, G, H contain specific educational standards and
multiple-intelligences goals fulfilled by this unit.
- Obtain and display a large, map of the United States as it appears
today.
IMPLEMENTATION
Class Discussion
When you hear the phrase, Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery
what pictures immediately come into your mind? (Call on students
for answers which in all likelihood will focus on action scenes---men
in buckskins hiking through the woods, riding horses, paddling canoes,
hunting buffalo, being chased by grizzly bears, Sacagawea hiking
with her baby on her back, the captains holding councils with Indian
leaders.)
Most people imagine Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery just
as you do--in action. All these images are true, of course, but
there was another very important role played by Corps of Discovery
members that we rarely think about. They were researchers. (Write
RESEARCHERS on the board in large letters noting that the word may
be pronounced in two ways---RE searchers or re SEARCHERS. Ask students
to divide the word into its components concluding that it consists
of three parts--RE, SEARCH, and ERS. Call on students to define
each part--"re" a prefix meaning again, "search,"
a verb meaning to look for something, and "ers," a suffix
meaning those who do.)
Putting the parts together literally, researchers are those who
look for information again and again. In other words, researchers
are people who study a subject thoroughly. Perhaps you have never
thought of Lewis and Clark as researchers, so let's take a closer
look at that aspect of their lives.
Background Information
When Meriwether Lewis was twenty-six years old, he was a captain
in the United States Army. He was stationed at a frontier post in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he worked as paymaster. (Ask a
student to point out Pittsburgh on the map.) One day Lewis received
a letter from Thomas Jefferson who had just been elected President
of the United States. In the letter, President Jefferson asked Lewis
to take a job as his private secretary (assistant). Because the
Jefferson family and the Lewis family were neighbors in Virginia,
Jefferson already knew Lewis and believed he would be an excellent
assistant.
Lewis felt very honored by the President's invitation, and quickly
sent him a letter of acceptance---as quickly as possible for that
time, anyway. Mail had to be carried by horse or by boat, and it
was sometimes weeks before a letter could be delivered.
Lewis then took a leave from his army job and went to Washington,
D. C. to begin his new duties. (Ask a student to point out Washington,
D.C. on the map.) He rode a horse and led two pack horses all
the way from Pittsburgh to Washington D.C. It took him three weeks
to make the trip. In Washington, Lewis' new job was to write letters
and do other official tasks for the President. He even lived in
the President's house (now called the White House).
After Lewis had been assisting the president for several months,
Jefferson asked him to lead an expedition across the largely uncharted
west to the Pacific Ocean. Jefferson was an intelligent man with
a deep curiosity about the natural world around him and about the
different native societies in America. However, personal curiosity
wasn't the only reason he wanted Lewis to lead an expedition. Jefferson
believed the West would one day become part of the United States,
so he wanted the native people who lived there to give their full
allegiance to the United States and stop trading with the British,
French, and Spanish colonists.
Jefferson was also interested in knowing about the geography of
the west and about its flora (plants) and fauna (animals). It was
important to know whether the west was a place where American settlers
could farm and build settlements. Most importantly, he wanted to
find out if there was a quick water route to get from the Atlantic
Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in order to speed up commerce. Sea captains
from many countries had been searching for such a water route for
a long time. They called it the Northwest Passage.
Lewis was happy to be chosen for such an important job. He already
knew a lot about the outdoors. As a boy, he loved to hunt and explore
the woods around his home. His mother was an herbalist (a person
who uses plants for health maintenance and healing), and she passed
her knowledge on to him. He learned even more about the outdoors
while traveling on his army duties.
In his youth Lewis had been tutored in basic skills (reading, writing,
math, etc.), but he needed more scientific information before venturing
into the wilderness. To help Lewis get the information he needed,
President Jefferson sent him to Philadelphia to study with the country's
most distinguished scientists and scholars. (Ask a student to
point out Philadelphia on the map.)
Lewis spent a very busy month in Philadelphia. He studied hard and
did research in museums and libraries. He learned all he could about
birds, animals, plants, medicine, geography, mathematics, map making,
and the use of instruments to find the way to the Pacific Ocean.
He also began collecting supplies to take along on the journey.
Back in Washington, Jefferson thought it would be a wise idea to
have another army officer go along on the expedition. If something
happened to Lewis, the other officer could continue to lead the
expedition. Lewis thought that was a good idea, so he asked William
Clark, an army friend, to accompany him. Clark gladly accepted the
invitation.
William Clark was born in Virginia, but he his family moved to a
farm near Louisville, Kentucky when Clark was about twelve years
old. (Ask a student to point out Louisville on the map.)
Clark had even less schooling than Lewis, but, like Lewis, he was
an experienced army officer and outdoorsman. In addition, he had
a talent for making maps. Before the expedition, Clark carefully
studied the few maps of the west that existed. He talked to native
people who had been farther west than anyone else. While on the
expedition, he started drawing maps of places where no other explorers
had ever been. His maps were very good and they still exist today.
(For pictures of Clark's maps. click on: http://www.nps.gov/jeff/LewisClark2/TheJourney/Mapmaking.htm.
This web page tells how Clark made his maps, and also provides
a list of references about map making.)
Before Lewis left on the expedition, President Jefferson wrote him
a long letter listing the things he wanted the Corps of Discovery
to observe on their journey. Jefferson's list was long and detailed.
It included customs and languages of the Western Indians, information
on animals, plants, minerals, rivers, mountains, prairies, climate,
weather, and so on. (To read a copy of Jefferson's letter, click
on: http://www.mt.net/~rojomo/landc.htm.)
To carry out Jefferson's wishes, Lewis and Clark conducted field
research. This means they observed and examined actual specimens
of nature. They collected and dried plant samples. They preserved
the carcasses of birds and small animals to send back to Jefferson.
They even sent four live birds and a prairie dog to the president
from the Mandan Villages.
Other Corps members helped by pointing out new things they observed.
Sacagawea identified and collected edible plants. Sergeant Gass
found the fossilized remains of a fish--one of the few fossils found
on the entire trip. (For more about fossil finds on the expedition
click on the following website: http://www.nps.gov/jeff/LewisClark2/TheJourney/Fossils.htm#)
The captains and their men also conducted ethnic research. This
means they observed and wrote about the customs and traditions of
the native peoples they met. (For descriptions of plants, animals,
and native customs from the original journals, click on JOURNAL
ENTRIES/DESCRIPTIONS Excerpts #1a through 1f.) Cameras had
not been invented yet, so Lewis and Clark sometimes drew pictures
of what they observed in their journals. (To view photos of journal
drawings click on http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/guides/lcills.htm.
Drawings also may be found in the following books: Lewis and Clark:
The Journey of the Corps of Discovery by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns,
pages 38, 52, and 152 and The Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark
by Rhonda Blumberg, pages 33, 100, 108, 122, 124-25.)
Brainstorming
As a researcher, Lewis was luckier than most of the people of his
day. Because of his relationship with President Jefferson, he had
access to books and the best teachers. Two hundred years ago when
Lewis was a young man, books and other reading materials were hard
to come by for the common people. There were no public libraries,
and only children from wealthy families were able to go to school
full time.
If Lewis was luckier than most of the people in his day, almost
everyone today is luckier than Lewis when it comes to finding information.
We now have public libraries, public schools, and many more ways
to find information than Lewis had two hundred years ago.
Let's do some brainstorming about today's information sources. Since
we are studying the Lewis and Clark Expedition, what are some possible
sources of information about that historic event? (Write students'
answers on the chalkboard and ask how they would go about using
that particular source. Go back over the list and ask students to
eliminate the sources that were not available in Lewis' time. For
assistance, see Resource Facts below.)
Resource Facts
- 1788: First American edition of the Royal Standard English Dictionary.
- 1790: First edition of Encyclopedia Britannica (18 volumes)
published in America under the title Dobson's Encyclopedia.
- 1829: Americana Encyclopedia (13 volumes)
- 1800: Library of Congress established at the White House in
Washington D. C. It was moved to its own building in 1897.
- 1833: Oldest public library in America established in New Hampshire
.
The above data is from The Encyclopedia of American Facts and
Dates, 8th ed. By Gorton Carruth.
CONCLUSION
Even though the information sources available to Lewis and Clark
were limited, they were able to achieve their goals because of their
willingness to learn from the sources that were available, to ask
questions, and to observe the world around them.
Since the time of Lewis and Clark, an information "explosion"
has occurred. The amount of information today on almost any subject
is so great, even the smartest person in the world cannot know more
than a tiny fraction of it. Fortunately, the information explosion
has been accompanied by a resource "explosion" including
television and the Internet. Today with all of the information sources
readily available, we don't have to know everything. What we must
know, however, is where and how to find the information we need.
FOLLOW-UP RESEARCH ACTIVITY
Follow up this lesson plan (LEWIS AND CLARK: FAMOUS RESEARCHERS)
with one or more of the related activities listed both in the INTRODUCTION
and in this lesson plan under ADVANCE
PREPARATION, number 1.
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