Comparing creation stories

In this activity, students compare creation stories from three peoples -- Cherokee, European, and West African -- that met in colonial North Carolina. The first part of the lesson can be done individually or cooperatively in a jigsaw or in small groups. The end of the lesson is a class discussion or a short written assignment (homework or a bellringer the day after the lesson.)

Learning outcomes

• Students will read and analyze three creation stories
• Students will evaluate the impact these different views may have had on the various cultures

Teacher preparation

Materials required

• Copies of the three creation stories:
  • How the World Was Made (Cherokee)
  • The Creation and Fall of Man, from Genesis"(European/Judeo-Christian)
  • The Golden Chain (Yoruba/West African)

  Students can access the creation stories in any of three ways, depending on how you set up your class:

  • A computer with internet access for each group, or
  • copies of each creation story for one-third of the class (if doing the jigsaw method), or
  • copies of each creation story for half the class, if doing the small group method
• A copy of the creation chart for each student.

Classroom time required

30 minutes if doing the jigsaw method, 50 minutes if doing the small group method.

Procedure

Group work

First, have the students work in groups to read and analyze the creation stories.

Jigsaw method

1. Determine how many small groups would work in your classroom (4 to 5 students per group). Use that number in step 3. (For example, imagine there will be 6 groups).
2. Give each student a copy of the Creation Chart.
3. Have the students count off by the number of groups you will use (?Count off one through six?).
4. Tell each student to write their number on the back of their chart.
5. Split the class into three large groups and have them move into large discussion circles.
6. Give each group copies of one of the three creation stories or several computers with internet access and assign one of the stories.
7. Allow the students 5 to 10 minutes (this will depend on the reading ability of your students) to read the story. Then have them fill in the appropriate column of their creation chart; discussion in the large group is to be encouraged. The teacher should move between the groups. A sample teacher copy of the chart is included, below.
8. After the students have completed this, have them look at the number on the back of their charts and to move to the new smaller groups. (It is mathematically possible, though not probable, that a group would be missing one of the stories, so you may need to make some adjustments.)
9. The students will share their creation stories with the rest of their small group. They will each fill in the chart as the other students describe their story and share their chart.

Small group method

1. Divide the class into groups of four or five.
2. Give each student a creation chart and each group several copies of the creation stories that you have copied or two computers with internet access.
3. Ask each group to read the three creation stories and to fill in the chart. The groups are expected to work together and share their ideas. This will take approximately 25 to 30 minutes.

Full-class discussion

Reconvene and discuss the stories as a class.

1. Have a short discussion about the similarities and differences between the stories [all stories begin with water as the pre-earth scenario; the West African and European stories have divine intervention; European story has humans designed to dominate nature]
2. Pose the following questions as a discussion starter or as a short written assignment. The written assignment can be a short homework essay or a bellringer activity for the beginning of the next class period.
   • "How might the differences that you see in these views of the role for humans affect these cultures when they meet in the Americas?"
   • "How might it affect their differing view and treatment of the land?"

Assessment

The first part of the lesson will be assessed by the participation of the students in their groups and by the completed creation chart (see the teacher version, below, for a sample of a completed chart). The discussion or written questions should include at least the following information:

• The Indians would seem to have a more cooperative relationship with the land, plants, and animals. The Europeans, and to a lesser extent the West Africans, would see the land, plants, and animals as theirs to exploit. In the European view, nature is theirs to use. The West Africans saw the world as being created so that Supreme Being and other heavenly creatures to assist those upon it. This would seem to say that plants and animals were for the use of the ?clay creatures? that had been brought to life. Such differences would have made understanding the fundamental relationship to earth and other living creatures extremely difficult for the other cultures to grasp as it was so basic to each civilization.
• As will be discussed later in the digital textbook, the European view of land ownership and the Indian view of everyone owning the land would play an important part in the difficulties between the cultures. The students may not grasp that exact idea, but they should realize that there were fundamental cultural differences that would play a major role in the relationship between the two worlds.

Creation comparison chart

In the PDF version of this lesson plan (see sidebar), this chart appears on a separate page for ease of printing.