This section presents lesson plans based on PIC's films: American Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawai'i, Dances of Life, Holo Mai Pele, The Land Has Eyes, Matters of Race, The Meaning of Food, and Then There Were None. Lesson plans are designed for either middle school or high school students. There is also a link to a Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey website that contains extensive articles about Polynesian history and origins and the studies and theories about Pacific migration, as well as articles on wayfinding and navigation.

Educators who want to bring Pacific Islander culture into the classroom are encouraged to use these teaching aids. Please contact us if you are looking for additional resources on Pacific Islander cultures.

American Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawai'i Lesson Plan
Perpetuating Indigenous Cultural Traditions in Diaspora
Grade Levels: 10-12
Native Hawaiians have struggled to maintain their cultural traditions, particularly over the past two centuries of tremendous social transformation. American Aloha explores another turn in the cultural tradition of hula—that of its practice within communities of Native Hawaiians outside of Hawai'i. The kumu hulas featured in the film articulate not only how being away from Hawai'i impacts how they teach students, but also how they must deal with attitudes coming from Hawai'i that regard their efforts as less authentic because of where they are. Through class discussion, guided activities, and writing tasks, students will be able to learn about conducting dialogue and debate in the highly contested arena of the politics of culture.

Some of the objectives of this lesson plan are to have students understand how Hawai'i's history of colonization has led to the massive decline of Native Hawaiian people and cultural traditions throughout the 19th century; understand issues of cultural identity at stake for Native Hawaiians; and understand issues of authority and authenticity at stake for Native Hawaiians practicing Hawaiian cultural traditions while living away from Hawai'i.

Dances of Life Lesson Plan
From Warrior to Worship: Understanding Polynesian Dance Types
Grade Levels: 6-8
Dances in Pacific cultures reflect life events ranging from the extraordinary to the mundane. In Dances of Life, there are warrior dances, birth dances, ancestral dances, dexterity dances, dances created for fun and enjoyment, ritual dances, etc. In this lesson, students will compare and contrast the various dances that they view in the film, reflect on the cultures that those dances represent, and create oratory and movements that have meaning for them.

Dances of Life Lesson Plan
Dancing to Remember: Saving History Through Dance
Grade Levels: 6-8
Without a written language, Polynesians remembered and passed on their histories and genealogies from generation to generation through chants and dances. In Dances of Life, the native peoples of the Pacific demonstrate the use of dance, chant, and oratory as a means of transmitting their culture. In this lesson, students will use dance as a device for remembering and sharing their own heritage.

Holo Mai Pele Lesson Plan
Genealogy
Grade Levels: 6-10
As with Pele and members of her family, the genealogical linkage of an individual to a group of people and a particular place of setting is unique and maintains a historical passage to one's own future. In this lesson, students will study the genealogy in the film Holo Mai Pele, conduct research on their own family's history, and create heraldries using symbols they have devised.

Holo Mai Pele Lesson Plan
Oral History and Timeline
Grade Levels: 6-10
Holo Mai Pele chronologically displays the events of Pele from her arrival to Hawai'i, through her battles, her relationships, her victories, and her despairs. This lesson helps students to gain a clear understanding of components of specific historical events through personal and family experiences and beliefs and to put them into perspectives that allow for more informed decision making to take place. Students will create a chronological timeline for the events in this film, then gather oral histories to create both a personal and familial timeline.

Holo Mai Pele Educator's Guide
This educator's guide contains a history of Hawaiian culture prior to Western contact, a history of hula, a background of the Pele legend, classroom resources, and additional questions for discussion.

The Land Has Eyes Lesson Plan
How Are Cultures (Particularly Those of Native People Who Are Colonized) Impacted Positively and Negatively by New Dominant Cultures?
Grade Levels: 6-8
The experiences of the Rotuman people, as seen through The Land Has Eyes, offers a native perspective of Western influence. The focus of this lesson plan for middle school students is on identifying how cultures (positively and negatively) influence each other and how society adapts and integrates cultural practices. It also emphasizes the need for people to retain their cultural (and in the case of the people in the film, native) ways of thinking.

The Land Has Eyes Lesson Plan
How Is Media, Such as Film, Used to Influence Audiences Regarding Events in the Pacific Area?
Grade Levels: 9-12
In this lesson plan, The Land Has Eyes will be used to analyze the filmmaker's perspective of events. Students will develop their knowledge of historical events in the Pacific and their ability to examine the use of media to influence audiences regarding events in the Pacific area.
 
Matters of Race Teacher's Guide
Grade Levels: 9-12
Matters of Race is a four-part documentary series that explores race, culture, and identity in the United States today. Each of the 60-minute programs focuses on a single story or set of stories that reveals how “matters of race” continue to shape and misshape American life. Each program challenges conventional thinking about difference and raises important questions, such as: What is race? How does it shape identity and inform relationships between self and other? How do notions of race shape a community? A nation? What is the relationship between race and power? and How are long-held notions of difference based on race changing today?

This study guide is designed to help teachers use Matters of Race in the classroom by providing activities, information, and questions that prompt discussion and reflection. The guide is divided into three parts: the first contains three short readings followed by questions and activities that prepare students for the series by raising questions about such key concepts as race, identity, culture, and history. The second section provides suggestions for using the series in the classroom and contains a summary of each film, curriculum connections, a central question, and activities that explore that question from various vantage points. In the third section, questions and activities encourage students to evaluate what they learned from the series as a whole and consider how they might apply their insights and discoveries to their own communities.

The Meaning of Food Lesson Plan
Grade Levels: 6-8
The Meaning of Food travels across America, visiting home kitchens, restaurants, lunch trucks, burger joints, an Italian wedding, a Bengali fertility feast, and more; it explores the profound role that food plays in our lives. This lesson plan uses the film to guide students to gain an understanding of the many roles that food plays in people's lives, to learn about different cultures and groups through food, and to use a range of research and presentation skills.

The Meaning of Food Worksheet
Grade Levels: 6-8
An assignment for students that is part of The Meaning of Food lesson plan. Students will conduct their own research on a certain food to answer the questions about the history, culture, and customs associated with it.
 
Then There Were None Lesson Plan
How Can Hawaiians Prevent the Extinction of Their Race and Their Culture?
Grade Levels: 6-12
Then There Were None recounts the history of the decline of the Native Hawaiian culture and population. Designed for middle school students, this lesson plan will use the film as a starting point to study: colonization, extinction and how/if it applies to people, foreign arrivals to Hawai'i and their effect on Native Hawaiian culture and people, and Native Hawaiian health pre-  and post-contact.

Then There Were None Lesson Plan
Will Sovereignty Prevent the Extinction of the Hawaiian Race and Their Culture?
Grade Levels: 6-12
Using the film as a starting point, this lesson plan will explore this essential question: Will sovereignty prevent the extinction of the Hawaiian race and their culture? Some of the issues students will seek to understand are: the causes of the overthrow and the Native Hawaiian perspective, the influence of foreigners and foreign governments on the Hawaiian monarchy and the move toward the overthrow, and sovereignty initiatives and the most popular models of sovereignty.

Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey Website
Centuries before European explorers ventured beyond their shorelines, the ancestors of today's Polynesians had sailed to every habitable island in the far corners of the Pacific. This ancient Polynesian sea voyaging tradition comes to life again in Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey. This website features extensive articles about Polynesian history and origins and the studies and theories about Pacific migration. It also features interviews with experts, a Sharing Stories section, and more articles about wayfinding and the expedition featured in the program.