Last updated: April 1, 2021
Lesson Plan
Telling the Stories of Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau
- Grade Level:
- Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade
- Subject:
- Science,Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 5.L.4, 5.RF.4, 5.RF.4.a, 5.RF.4.b, 5.RF.4.c, 5.RI.1, 5.RI.2, 5.RI.3, 5.RI.4, 5.RI.7, 5.RL.1, 5.RL.4, 5.SL.1, 5.W.9
- Thinking Skills:
- Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Applying: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to a prior experience. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts. Creating: Bring together parts (elements, compounds) of knowledge to form a whole and build relationships for NEW situations. Evaluating: Make informed judgements about the value of ideas or materials. Use standards and criteria to support opinions and views.
Essential Question
What can archeology reveal about the importance of Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau to past Hawaiian people? How can archeology, oral histories, and historical information be used to understand their experiences? Este plan de clase con actividades incluido también está disponible en español.
Objective
Students will learn about Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau using 3D virtual experiences, archeological data, oral histories, and historical information. At the end of the lesson, students will have a greater understanding of the Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau sites themselves, archeological methods, and the many sources archeologists use to uncover the experiences of people within the past.
Background
Archeology is the study of humans within the past. Archeology is an interdisciplinary field, using techniques from a variety of subject areas. These can include historical research, ethnographic studies, geological surveys, and other forms of scientific analysis.
Over the past decades, 3D technology has become increasingly used within archeological analysis. Digital and printed 3D models of artifacts, features, and entire sites provide three benefits. First, archeologists can use models to analyze these resources in ways that they could not before and therefore discover more details about their use within the past. Second, models help preserve resources for future generations. This is especially helpful for resources that are threatened by erosion and development. Third, models allow members of the public to interact with resources in a more engaging, experiential way. Through such interactions, people form deeper and more lasting connections to these resources.
This third quality is essential to this lesson plan. The lesson uses experiential learning in the form of 3D site tours to teach students about Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park. The park contains over 400 years of Hawaiian history and multiple archeological sites: the Great Wall, Pu’uhonua the “City of Refuge”, several heiau (temples) including Hale o Keawe where ali’i (chiefs) of the past were buried, fishponds, a Royal Compound where royal families lived, and the 19th-century Ki’ilae fishing village. The site contains evidence of daily life, including the remains of houses and fishhooks, as well as ritual areas and artifacts charged with sacred power.
This lesson also teaches the connection between archeological analysis, historical documents, oral histories (traditions and beliefs passed down orally through generations. When used together, these resources help reveal and explore Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau’s importance to past and present Hawaiian peoples. Archeologists use the latter two sources to explain and provide context for excavated artifacts and features. Excavations in turn corroborate traditional and historical accounts of where certain types of buildings were located at Pu’uhonua. Oral histories and documents also provide additional levels of meaning to a site. For example, the Ka’ahumanu Stone (one of four sites featured in the lesson plan) at first glance appears natural rather than archeological. However, oral traditions directly connect it to Ka’ahumanu, one of the Hawaiian queens of the past.
This lesson therefore accomplishes two goals. It provides a wider understanding of archeological methods, focusing on the various methods archeologists use to analyze a site. Through 3D technology, the lesson also connects students in a more meaningful way to a specific site where those methods were applied.
Preparation
Before the lesson, teachers should either access the virtual tour of Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau on a projected computer screen or have students open it on their own devices. Students will need pens/pencils and copies of the Student Handout.
Materials
Download Pu'uhonua Student Handout
Student handout translated into Spanish.
Answer Key translated into Spanish.
Lesson Hook/Preview
This lesson uses a virtual, 3D fly-over and tour of Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park. Students connect the historical information and oral histories they read with a real, interactive experience of the site itself.
Procedure
Step 1) Distribute Student Handouts. Review the vocabulary terms with students.
Tell students that even though people haven’t lived at Pu’uhonua for centuries, they left behind archeological artifacts and features that help tell how they lived and what they did every day. Discuss why this is.
Step 2) Watch the 2-minute fly-through of Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park. (To open the fly-through click the ‘View Video’ button third from the right on the bottom toolbar.) Teachers can display the tour for the entire class or have students open it on personal digital devices.
Have students list the archeological features that they see in the space provided on the Student Handout (Question 1). After watching the video, have students answer Questions 2 and 3. Discuss their answers.
Step 3) Use the thumbnail menu to take a virtual tour of several sites at Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau. Select a student to read each background information section out loud. After exploring each site, allow students time to answer the discussion questions. Review their answers before moving on to the next site. If time allows, teachers may explore the remaining virtual views with students.
Additional information about each site can be shown with the ‘Information’ button, fourth from the left on the toolbar. Teachers please note this is written for an adult audience with complex content and should be turned off for younger students.
Vocabulary
Archeology: the study of humans within the past
Artifact: an item made and used by people in the past
Context: where an artifact or feature was found on a site, including how deeply buried
Excavation: scientific digging at a site during which archeologists record artifacts, features, and their contexts
Feature: non-moveable parts of a site such as building ruins, firepits, or wells
Oral traditions: cultural stories and beliefs passed down verbally between generations
Site: area that contains archeological traces of people of the past, either artifacts or features
Heiau: temple
Kapu: meaning “sacred” or “forbidden” kapu were laws that governed Hawaiian life
Ki’i: carved wooden or stone images, sometimes representing gods or ancestors with mana
Mana: sacred power
Papamu: flat stone or board used to play the traditional Hawaiian game konane
Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau: (“pu-oo-ho-new-ah oh ho-now-now”) a national historical park on Hawai’i with archeological artifacts and features from people who lived there over 400 years ago
Supports for Struggling Learners
Teachers can ask students to read the text out loud. After each section, teachers can review the main points with the students.
Enrichment Activities
Play a game of konane using these instructions and printable board, and game pieces such as black and white pieces of paper, checkers, or other markers.
Additional Resources
Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park. National Park Service.
Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historic Park. Heritage Documentation Program. HABS/HAER/HALS.
Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary. National Park Service.
Chapter 9: Pu'uhonua National Historic Park. Pu'ukohola Heiau NHS, Kaloko-Honokohau NHP, Pu'uhonua o Honaunau NHP: A Cultural History of Three Traditional Hawaiian Sites on the West Coast of Hawai'i Island.