New resources for studying American Indian history

As part of its national education initiative, Native Knowledge 360 Degrees (NK360°), the National Museum of the American Indian has launched new online educational resources about the Pawnee Treaties and the Inka Empire that will expand teachers and students’ knowledge and understanding of the contributions and experiences of Native Peoples of the Western Hemisphere.

The NK360 website includes posters, videos, digital lessons, and other resources that teachers and students can search for by subject, nation, grade level, region, format, and language. (Some materials are available in Spanish.) The new module, “The Pawnee Treaties of 1833 and 1857: Why Do Some Treaties Fail?”  is designed for high schoolers and provides Native perspectives, images, documents and other sources to help students and teachers understand the difficult choices and consequences the Pawnee Nation faced when entering into treaty negotiations with the United States. The two new modules dedicated to the Inka Empire, available in English and Spanish, highlight Inka innovations in water management and agriculture and the engineering of the Great Inka Road system and the Q’eswachaka suspension grass bridge. The Inka lessons are designed for grades 5-8.

The materials are created in collaboration with Native communities and with teachers, curriculum developers, and national education organizations and are aligned with state and national standards.