Explorers of the Northwest
Requirements
1. What important roles did early explorers of the American west play in preparing the west for future pioneers?
2. How did the Louisiana purchase encourage western exploration?
3. What challenges did explorers face when they traveled through the west? How could they solve these challenges?
4. Create a map of a route pioneered by a western explorer. Be sure to add important towns, waterways, and other landmarks.
5. Discuss ten skills or techniques that western explorers needed to successfully live off the land.
6. With a group, make a packing list for a western explorer of your choosing. Consider the skills and job that your chosen explorer had and be sure to pack the tools and supplies they would need!
7. Build a model or draw a picture of a western settlement or fort. Be sure to include the different buildings that would have been a part of it and explain or label why each part of the fort or settlement was important.
8. Select three explorers of the west and tell the following about each one:
- a. When they were born
- b. Where they were from
- c. Their nationality
- d. What inspired them to explore the west
- e. The territory they explored
- f. Special skills they knew
- g. An interesting story or fact about them
9. Do four of the following:
- a. Using rope and natural materials, build a simple shelter and camp in it overnight.
- b. Build a fire only using only materials that an explorer of the west might use.
- c. With a group, cook a simple meal using foods that a western explorer might eat.
- d. Visit a place that explorers of the west explored and share with your instructor the similarities and differences between what they would have seen and what you see now.
- e. Watch a video about an explorer of the west and discuss what you learned with your group.
- f. Tell a story about a western explorer to a group and something that you found interesting when learning about them.
- g. Discuss how explorers of the west healed illnesses and demonstrate how they cured injuries.
- h. Visit an open-air or living history museum and give a report on what you saw and learned.
- i. Draw a map of a natural area, adding all major landmarks, and describe how explorers measured distances and heights of landforms when they drew maps.
- j. Create a simple project out of leather that would have been useful during a trip to explore the west.
- k. Earn the Archery honor.
10. Share a short devotional about how being an explorer of the west is like being a Pathfinder for Christ and what we can learn from them.
Answer key & resources
Adapted from AY Honors/Explorers of the Northwest on the Pathfinder Wiki, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. See the original page's history for its authors.
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