A New World - Part 1

​A New World - Part 1

By Heba Di Giacomo

​Your People Must Separate

Your family stands together at the edge of a vast, unfamiliar continent. The land stretches out in three directions, each one calling in its own powerful way. To the west rise sharp, snow-covered mountains. To the south, wide open plains ripple like a green ocean. To the east, the coast thunders with crashing waves and salty wind.

For the first time in your lifetime, your people must separate. Some will climb into the mountains. Some will follow rivers into the plains. Others will journey to the endless coast.

This leaves you with a difficult choice.

Three Risky Paths

Every path is risky and wonderful at the same time. Over the next three lessons, your job is to visit your family in all three terrains, imagine their daily victories and struggles, and understand how each landscape shapes their lives.

In the end, you must decide where you will belong forever. It will be a difficult choice, so make sure you know what you are getting yourself into.

The Climb Begins

First, you decide to join the mountain climbers. They made this decision because they have been climbing high mountains and their difficult terrains for many years. Harsh as it is, this setting is familiar to them.

As you climb higher, the air grows colder, trees thin out until only twisted evergreens remain, clinging to the rock like stubborn claws. You taste cold metal in the air. The world below shrinks. The wind whistles through sharp stones, reminding you of the difficult journey that you barely just finished. You start to question your decision.

Open Ended

The cold is becoming unbearable with the winds cutting like sharp knives across your face. You can't even remember the last time you ate. If you continue like this, you will die before sunrise. You must act now to:

• Find food and hope the furry animal you have for dinner is big enough to use its fur for warmth

• Search for a cave to keep you sheltered and warm until sunrise

  What will you do? Explain your thinking

Finding Water

You wake up with the sun shining brightly on your face. You appreciate its warmth even when you are surrounded by ice in all directions. You notice that your mouth is dry. You start thinking about water. Where can you even start looking for water in these mountains? You can't be without water for long.

First, you try to melt some of the ice. Afterall, you are surrounded by ice in every direction. All you need to do is melt it. But this solution quickly fails as this ice first needs to be dug out, which is effort that you can not afford when you are so thirsty. Then, you will need to find a warm spot to melt it and a container to save it. Yes, you are surrounded by water, but it is not ready for you to use whenever you want. It is not accessible.

What will you do?

You must choose how to get water:

A. Follow animal tracks over dangerous cliffs to find a water source

B. Melt snow for water, even if it burns precious fuel

C. Send the fastest hunters down the mountain daily for water

Explain your strategy. What dangers do you risk, and how does nature show you the way?

The Winter Hunt

Snow falls without warning. One day the mountain is gray stone; the next, it is trapped beneath white silence.

Your people follow hoofprints through snow, hunting elk with massive antlers. The animals move slowly in deep snow, but so do you.

This sudden cold steals sound, breath, and strength. How will you survive this sudden change?

Open Ended

How will you find food in this endless white? Do you still remember hunting skills from your cross-continent trip?

Will you dig snow traps and chase animals towards them?

Will you wait in silence behind a rock and hope for a good catch?

Will you follow the herd for days, and risk exhaustion but risk hunting a large animal that will feed the whole family?

Open Ended

Dark clouds crawl over the peaks. The wind turns sharp and violent. A storm is coming and you don't see a place to hide for as far as your eyes can see. You have just enough time to do one thing well: build strong shelters, OR gather enough wood to keep fires burning all night. The mountain will not forgive the wrong choice. What will you do?

Spring in the Mountains

Snow finally melts into cold silver rivers. You haven't seen running water in months.
Wild fruits and vegetables start forming on the trees. It will still be a while before they are ready to eat, and they could be poisonous, but that doesn't fade your excitement.
Animals return with their babies. Everywhere you look, food looks abundant. You find berry bushes on lower slopes, but bears have found them too. Their pawprints are huge, fresh, and close.

Open Ended

Your family members all went out to find some food for a big celebration of spring. What will you bring:

• Berries, even if you have to fight the bears to collect them?

• Hunt smaller animals even if their parents could hurt you?

• Collect some fruits and vegetables even if you don't know which ones are poisonous?

Open Ended

Months have passed. Your people have mastered flint spearheads, snow traps, and fur-lined boots. You know where the water freezes first. You can read storms by the shape of clouds. You can follow elk by hoofprint alone. You have a deep connection with nature and appreciation for the struggles of all living organisms trying to survive.

But you also freeze. You starve. You lose people to cliffs, storms, hunger, and hungry wild animals like bears.
Would YOU stay in the mountains forever?
Explain why or why not, using REAL challenges and REAL benefits from this lesson.