Taking Risks and Making Trade-offs: Hohokam Communities High School - College

Hohokam Risks and Trade-offs is the product of research funded by a NSF Coupled Natural and Human Systems Grant that focused on the role of social and ecological diversity as a strategy for prehistoric resilience.

This curriculum, targeted to 4th - through early middle school, is based off a platform designed by NASA. Itchallenges students to explore the risks and trade-offs made by prehistoric Hohokam communities related to geographic space, irrigation, cooperation, and trade networks. They experience the archaeological analytic and decision-making process, interact with site and culture-specific data, and gain an understanding of the Hohokam culture by ranking prehistoric settlements according to criteria related to site sustainability using archaeological data.
Students are provided multiple sources of information and data to explore Hohokam settlements in Arizona. Students work in groups to discuss and debate information relative to an area of research expertise. Students analyze data from five archaeological sites in order to select which site best fits their research – understanding the causes of site longevity. The end product are presentations to discuss the analysis and consensus process.
At the completion of the lesson students will have:
• connected existing knowledge about prehistoric Hohokam society with the specific data presented.
• actively applied archaeological decision-making and analysis.
• interpreted information presented spatially, orally, and quantitatively
• collaboratively discussed their findings and worked in teams to reach consensus on data-driven decisions.
• presented their findings to the class verbally and in a written summation.