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American Indian Studies

A resource guide for American Indian Studies research.

Since Time Immemorial Curriculum

What is Since Time Immemorial Curriculum?

Inquiry‐Based: Each tribe has its own oral and written histories; there is no one “right answer” when it comes to teaching tribal history and sovereignty.  Therefore, the curriculum uses essential and guiding questions instead of providing the answers.

Place‐Based: Students learn best when they see how lessons impact their everyday lives.  Because historical and political views vary from tribe to tribe, students explore essential and guiding questions through their own local tribal and non-tribal communities.

Integrated: Since time immemorial curriculum offers a menu of choices that allows teachers to integrate materials into their already existing lessons, rather than try to somehow fit the curriculum into an already packed—and often shrinking—social studies curriculum.

An inquiry based approach with five essential questions:

  1. How does physical geography affect the distribution, culture, and economic life of local tribes?
  2. What is the legal status of tribes who negotiated or who did not negotiate settlement for compensation for the loss of their sovereign homelands?
  3. What were the political, economic, and cultural forces consequential to the treaties that led to the movement of tribes from long established homelands to reservations?
  4. What are ways in which Tribes respond to the threats and outside pressure to extinguish their cultures and independence?
  5. What do local Tribes do to meet the challenges of reservation life; and as sovereign nations, what do local Tribes do to meet the economic and cultural needs of their Tribal communities?

Since Time Immemorial Education in Washington and Other States: