History is the Hook
  • Welcome to History is the Hook!
  • HIH Resources
    • HIH Blog
    • History is the Hook Book
    • History is the Hook Subscription Series
    • History is the Hook School
    • Historical Travel Articles
    • Travel with us!
  • HIH Shop
  • Media/About
    • FAQ
  • Contact Us
  • CHAH Mini-class Info
  • Thank You!
  • Welcome to History is the Hook!
  • HIH Resources
    • HIH Blog
    • History is the Hook Book
    • History is the Hook Subscription Series
    • History is the Hook School
    • Historical Travel Articles
    • Travel with us!
  • HIH Shop
  • Media/About
    • FAQ
  • Contact Us
  • CHAH Mini-class Info
  • Thank You!
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

HIH Blog


​Scroll to the bottom of the page to SUBSCRIBE!
Click here for Historical Travel Articles!

6/11/2019 2 Comments

Use History as the Hook For Topical Study: Easter Island, Part 1

Picture
All Easter Island photos are in public domain.
How exactly does one learn using history as the hook? A friend’s response to an article I posted on Facebook about Easter Island encouraged me to show how I learn everything using chronological history. The article showed bodies excavated in 2017 attached to the famous Easter Island heads. (https://mymodernmet.com/easter-island-heads-have-bodies/) I had no idea there were bodies under the ground. But I knew how to find out more about the story. So . . . challenge accepted, my friend!

If you are either the teacher or the student, the process of studying a topic chronologically is the same. Choose a topic—in this case, the Easter Island heads, or Moais. Then, do some research. I usually choose a topic from my chronological Timeline list that I’ve created over the years. But finding an article that is interesting, or running across a new topic in reading or study, is also valid. Go with your own or your students’ interests.

I start in my home library. Do I have any resources helpful to learn more about the Moais? Guess what I found? Aku-Aku: The Amazing Story of a Scientific Expedition That Uncovered the Secret of Easter Island, by Thor Heyerdahl, one of the explorer-archaeologists who actually worked on Easter Island. Cool!  An original source. But I can’t find anything else that is useful. So . . .
Picture
Next, I check the county library website. What resources are available there? Just putting in the keyword Easter Island, I find several books for adults and children, along with travel guidebooks and a few videos. I check the ones that look promising and find a few more sources—several more books by Heyerdahl; The Mystery of Easter Island, by Katherine Pease Routledge; a biography of Routledge, Among Stone Giants, by Jo Anne Van Tilburg; another book by Van Tilburg, Easter Island: Archaeology, Ecology, and Culture; Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia by Christina Thompson; and Easter Island: A Novel, by Jennifer Vanderbes. Remember, I am just gathering sources now. I will sort them later.

Then, I head to the Amazon site. If you prefer brick and mortar, check your favorite local bookstore. Or do both. You’ll come up with more resources.  I search once again, using Easter Island, Heyerdahl, and Routledge, and find even more resources.

I also check with a friend of mine, whose son lived in Chile for two years, to see if he brought anything back from Easter Island. Maybe he would be a good guest speaker, if I want to gather a group, or we could just chat one-on-one. Always try to think of in-person resources. They’re the best!
Why am I continuing to look for resources if I already have several? First, I want to verify information by using more than one or two sources. Also, I get a variety of subjects and types of resources. I hope to find some for various ages, some with pictures, some with stories, some focusing on history or art or math or science.
Since I have found more original sources on Amazon, I can now check several keywords on my internet search besides Easter Island: I add Maoi, Ahu, Rapa Nui, and James Cook. (I noticed several biographies of him and his original writings on Amazon. And I found a book about his voyages in my home library—score!) I also check images, maps, and news in my search. I find an article from last week’s Guardian, telling of a British delegation headed to Easter Island this week to discuss returning a Maoi from the British Museum to Easter Island, and to talk with local experts about how to preserve the Maois from the elements. Tying the topic to current events is an added bonus!

That gives me several articles and websites, which have bibliographies, from which I can get more resources. Then I can look at them at the library, online, or on Amazon to see if they are worth using. See how this works?

I also read Wikipedia and Britannica Online articles on Easter Island, to give me some background information. I want to cover a broad sweep of history, preferably from ancient times to the present-day. So I need to know where to look for that, and sites like those give me a good place to start—and more original resources.

To connect my topic to each discipline, I make a list of subjects and create an outline of all the tidbits I’ve discovered today. I notice I don’t have anything in Math or Music, so I’ll concentrate on finding out more about those as I continue my search. I also need to decide how long I want my study to last—a day, a week, a month, a year? That will determine how in depth I want to go with my resources and how long I want to continue my research. I’ve now created a pretty good list that I will sort to see which works make the final cut for my historical learning.

To connect my topic to chronological history, I find that the statues are believed to have been created starting in the 12th century AD, that the island was “discovered” and named Easter Island by Jacob Roggeveen in 1722. The indigenous people call themselves Rapa Nui. Other explorers, including Cook, Routledge, and Heyerdahl, came to the island through the 1800s and 1900s to talk to the people and excavate/document a few sites. But I also know from recent articles I find that we are still discovering new information about the history of this mysterious island within the last ten years—even in the last year! 

Now, I’ll head to the library for more resources, and watch some videos I’ve cued up on Amazon Prime to give me more background for my outline and an idea of my focus. And I’ll be back soon with study and activity ideas for my Easter Island learning, using History as the Hook!
​

Subject Discipline Outline 

Art
  • Cave paintings
  • Petroglyphs
  • Statues
    • Ahu design—stone block, marae (paved plaza in front of the ahu)
    • Called Moai
    • 12th century
  • Stonework
  • Wood carving

Geography
  • Polynesian and South American origins
  • Annexed to Chile in 1888 
  • Agriculture
  • Tourism
  • World heritage site, 1995

Government
  • tribal chiefs and high chief
  • Long-ears and Short-ears
  • Civil war followed a period of starvation
  • 1966 Chilean citizenship
  • 2007, special territory of Chile
  • Province of Valparaiso

History
  • Polynesian and South American origin
  • Jacob Roggeveen, 1722, Easter Island
  • Smallpox
  • Introduction of rats
  • Slave raiding
  • Emigration
  • James Cook
  • Other explorers
  • Routledge
  • Heyerdahl

Literature
  • Rapa Nui mythology
  • Rongorongo script
  • Rapa Nui language and Spanish

Math

Music

Philosophy and Religion
  • Birdman cult
  • Catholicism and Christianity

Science
  • Tropical rainforest climate
  • Deforestation and Soil erosion
  • Geology, Botany, Biology 
  • Volcanic
    • Three distinct volcanoes
 
Resources, as of 6/10/19

​Websites and articles
https://mymodernmet.com/easter-island-heads-have-bodies/
​https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2017/07/26/famous-easter-island-heads-have-hidden-bodies/#6092c3a1f804
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/jun/04/easter-islanders-call-for-return-of-statue-from-british-museum?CMP=twt_a-culture_b-gdnculture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island
https://www.britannica.com/place/Easter-Island
https://www.history.com/topics/south-america/easter-island


News article search
https://www.bing.com/news/search?q=easter+island+heads&FORM=HDRSC6

Books
Thor Heyerdahl, Aku-Aku
Thor Heyerdahl, Easter Island: A Mystery Solved
Thor Heyerdahl, The Art of Easter Island
Katherine Pease Routledge, The Mystery of Easter Island: The Story of an Expedition
Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Among Stone Giants
Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Easter Island: Archaeology, Ecology, and Culture
Kaeppler and Van Tilburg, The Iconic Tattooed Man of Easter Island
Christina Thompson, Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia
Jennifer Vanderbes, Easter Island: A Novel
Hunt and Lipo, The Statues That Walked
Caroline Arnold, Easter Island: Giant Stone Statues Tell of a Rich and Tragic Past
Felipe L. Soza, Easter Island: Rapa Nui
Bahn and Flenley, Easter Island, Earth Island
Steven Roger Fischer, Island at the End of the World
Michael Kenna, Easter Island
Carlos Mordo, Easter Island
Shawn McLaughlin, The Complete Guide to Easter Island
Grant McCall, Rapanui: Tradition and Survival on Easter Island
Pavel and Eccles, Rapa Nui: The Man Who Made the Statues Walk


DVDs
Nova: Mystery of Easter Island
Easter Island: The Truth Revealed
The Lost History of Easter Island
Rapa Nui: History’s Most Protected Monuments
Easter Island: Terra Mystica
Cracking the Mysteries of Time: Easter Island
Ile de Pacques

Stay tuned for more Easter Island chronological learning!
2 Comments
Brody C link
5/20/2022 05:51:03 pm

Nice post thankss for sharing

Reply
Bonnie Jones
5/20/2022 06:51:57 pm

Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it. 🙂

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Bonjour!  I'm Bonnie.  I love learning, travel, reading, writing, photography, and all things French.  I am especially passionate about agency education, the humanities, and using history as the hook for all learning! 

    Archives

    July 2021
    June 2021
    March 2020
    February 2020
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    January 2019
    June 2018
    May 2018
    July 2013

    Topics

    All Agency How To How-to Mentoring

    RSS Feed

    Subscribe to our mailing list

    * indicates required
    / ( mm / dd )
©History is the Hook, 2021