Introduction

Every day in your life you make choices according to defaults you've learned from your parents, your friends, people you admire in TV, film, or online, etc. You speak a language (likely American English or a variety of Spanish) from day to day. You eat food prepared at home, purchased at a grocery store or a restaurant, made in the styles familiar to those who prepared them using ingredients available here. You wear clothes available to you through local or online stores that probably don't make you stand out too much as you move among those around you. You listen to music you encountered through friends, family, school, or online. Perhaps you have paintings or photographs or posters on your wall. All of these and more constitute your culture. In this module, you will learn to organize your thoughts around what constitutes culture and how those concepts help you understand people are and were connected by shared culture.

Module Objectives

1. You will be able to explain how the geography and climate affect the development of culture.
2. You will be able to characterize a language by its relationships to other languages and its sound system.
3. You will be able to integrate new facts about history through examining sources and using timelines.
4. You will be able to characterize the stories of a culture, especially those surrounding the sky.

Module Structure

• Readings
  • Online Resources
    • The Meaning of Culture
    • Introduction to Culture
    • Pre-Columbian Era
    • Indigenous Languages of the Americas
• Reading Check
  • Check Your Culture Reading
• Activities
  • Build Culture Pages in Your Star Group
  • Discuss Your Own Contemporary Culture with the Class
  • Discuss Your Culture of Study with Your Archaeoastronomy Group
  • Make Observations of the Sky for the Culture Module
• Learning Check
  • Check Your Culture Module Learning
• Reflection
  • Reflect on Culture Module Time