High School Math Science Lessons

Math Lessons	Grade	Summary
American Indian Flute and Math	11th & 12th	In this unit, students use sine and cosine equations to model the complex waveform of a traditional cedar flute.
Geometric Properties of American Indian Designs	9th & 10th	In this unit, students will learn how to recognize and construct various geometric transformations. They will also apply the concepts to identify the geometric properties of traditional American Indian designs.
Modeling Population Growth Required Materials	9th & 10th	In this unit, students will access U.S. Census Bureau information from the Internet, and use it to predict growth rates for state, county and tribal populations. In addition, regression lines will be used to predict past and future population sizes.
Journey of the Nez Perce	10th-12th	In this unit, students will learn about the flight of the Nez Perce and theorize about their navigational methods. Then, students will solve orienteering problems using several methods (pro-tractor and ruler, law of cosines, and law of sines). They will apply their knowledge on an orienteering course, and verify the trigonometric laws using a geometry modeling program.
Traditional American Indian Lodges Required Materials	8th-10th	In this set of five lessons, students will use the designs of traditional American Indian Lodges to explore geometric shapes and their properties such as volume and surface area. The lessons can be done separately, or as a unit.
Wildlife Management	7th-10th	Using a game, students investigate the affects of various management strategies on the size of wildlife populations.
Science Lessons		Summary
Antiseptic Nature of Plants Required Materials	9th-12th	Students compare the antiseptic properties of native plants by growing bacteria on agar plates containing plant extracts. Plants used are traditional medicinal plants of the indigenous people of the Flathead Reservation. The concepts of homeostasis and the development of resistance in microbes are also examined.
Effect of pH on Plant Derived Dyes Required Materials	9th-12th	Students derive dyes from indigenous plants and test to see how changes in the pH of the dye bath affect the color of the substrate. Plants used are traditional dye sources of the native peoples living on the Flathead Reservation.
Food Energy	10th-12th	In this lesson, students will predict what native food substances would have offered the best survival strategy to an early indigenous people and then test their hypothesis using a calorimeter.
Great Flathead Lake Ecosystem Mystery	10th-12th	After reading about a local ecological disaster and graphing all available data on the subject, the student will construct a detailed food web of the problem ecosystem while looking for factors that may have contributed to its instability. The student will then use this data to construct a formal problem statement and then offer a hypothesis as to the probable cause of that problem. Finally, the students will offer their own suggestions as to a management plan that would best promote the survival of the culturally significant bull trout.
Hypothermia – Temperature Changes under Varying Conditions	7th-12th	Students will experimentally determine the temperature changes of the skin under various wet clothing materials, including traditional Native American materials. They will then apply their results to predict what type of clothing would be most suitable for outdoor pursuits.
Management of Wildlife Resources Required Materials	10th-12th	Using a mathematical model and a spreadsheet, students will examine how wildlife management policies affect the size of large animal populations.
Stars and Constellations Required Materials	9th	The purpose of this lesson is to have students look at archaeoastronomy and how ancient peoples viewed their world in terms of astronomy. It is also designed for students to gain an understanding of star evolution, magnitude, distances and star patterns (constellations). Students will make their own astrolabes to use on a stargazing night, so they may view those stars and constellations like early people may have done long ago.