Welcome to Panama as a Crossroads, the educational suite of Before activities that accompanies the exhibition Panamanian Passages! a school trip to We developed these educational resources and opportunities at the exhibition: Visit the exhibition on your own the exhibition site for you and your students to gain a greater before your planned school fi eld trip, or visit the exhibition’s website and read understanding of Panama. Panama is a passage to the world the exhibition brochure to view and re- and a reservoir of biodiversity. Rich in history and culture, it view themes, objects, and important connections to your curriculum: has important links to the history of the United States. Explore www.latino.si.edu. and discover Panama and make connections to your curriculum! Panama as a Crossroads Teacher’s Guide of both sessions, the student worksheet should be completed. The fi nal portion Checklist to consider: of the visit will be a knowledge game that will test the understanding of the Bring one chaperone for every ten students. exhibition using the content presented during the sessions. All visitors must screen their bags at the security desk at the entrance to the building: Pre-visit activities: • Have students write down fi ve to ten S. Dillon Ripley Center. 1100 Jefferson Drive things they know about Panama. SW, Washington D.C. 20560. • Review the exhibition’s website with the students, to further their under- Please note that there are no vending standing of the exhibition. • Make connections with exhibition facilities in this building. themes and your curriculum. • Review the exhibition guide, the map Select the subject areas in the exhibition that of Panama, and the glossary. relate to your curriculum needs. While in the exhibition: Have students bring a pen or pencil to the • Test your knowledge by listening for the Did you know? facts during the exhibition. introduction to the exhibition. • Read the information in the exhibi- The length of the educational visit is tion guide’s overview; Explore Science approximately 90 minutes from start to and History section, Global Connec- fi nish, and is divided into three 25–minute tions, and other sections in the guide. segments, with a 10-15 minute introduction. After visiting the exhibition: • Have the students visit the Smithsonian Latino Center’s website, www.latino.si.edu, and other websites What to expect during your visit: group must inform the facilitator of in the teacher’s resources list for more At the start of your visit, your facilitator the language preference). information on Panama that connects will introduce the exhibition, discuss The group will be divided into two to the curriculum or to the students’ the program fl ow and goals, and give a smaller sessions. Group 1 will partici- interests. brief overview. Afterward, students will pate in the scavenger hunt for the fi rst • Ask students to locate the Panama- receive a worksheet to complete during part of the visit, while Group 2 partici- nian isthmus in the world map using the visit (the worksheets and all ac- pates in the hands-on education station. longitude and latitude. tivities during the visit are bilingual; At the end of the fi rst session, the • Ask students to write a list of relevant however, the teacher or leader of the groups will swap stations. At the end and interesting issues they learned 1 Teacher’s Guide about through the exhibition visit. ing topics from the exhibit: the Panama between the information presented • Making connections: Ask students to Canal, biodiversity, indigenous groups, during the exhibition visit and their visit one of the following Panamanian international commerce and trade, the own experiences as a global citizen. news outlet websites: http://www. U.S.-Panama relationship. Ask them Then instruct them to create a Pow- epasa.com, http://www.prensa.com, to write a brief summary and give a erPoint presentation, composition, re- http://www.rpctv.com, http://www.sertv. 3-minute presentation to the class on search paper, or art installation/project gob.pa, http://www.albatrosmedia.net/ their current event and how it relates to explaining this connection. web/. Instruct them to fi nd a current the exhibit. article that relates to one of the follow- • Discuss with students the connections Critical thinking and discussion questions: Explore the following questions through the exhibition’s content, themes, objects, images, natural specimens, maps, photographs, and primary sources. If you are not able to come in person, visit the online exhibition at www.latino.si.edu. Global Connections and Natural Sciences: you’ve seen and heard? Contemporary Issues • What do you think are the most pre- • How do you think the return of the • Why is Panama so important to the cious resources of Panama? Panama Canal to Panamanian hands world? • What factors might affect the way affected Panamanian society? • Discuss some of the ways in which people use land in Panama over the Panama connects to your daily next 100 years? life. (Think of foods you consume, • Which natural resources do you Hands- products you purchase, and com- think will play a major role in shaping On Activity: munication systems you use that are Panama over the next 100 years? Make connections among transported through Panama.) the images below and the People and Culture: critical-thinking topics and ques- United States–Panama Link • Find an example of an idea that was tions above. Which images illustrate • What are the connections between passed from one group of people to an- some of the issues discussed and how? Panama’s history and that of the other in Panama, and how this affected Using two squares, draw the images United States. (Think of some of the the country’s future. you would use to explain one of the events presented in the exhibition.) • People debate whether indigenous contemporary issues of Panama. • What had to be accomplished in or- people are better caretakers of natural Then discuss with the rest der to transfer control of the Panama resources than non-indigenous people. of the class. Canal into Panamanian hands? What’s your opinion, based on what Photographs: Panamanian Passages Image courtesy of the Library of Congress. Images courtesy of the Museo del Canal Interoceánico de Panamá. Educational activities were made possible through the 2 Teacher’s Guide generous support of the Panama Canal Authority Glossary • Lock: A short section of a canal or river in which the water level can be altered to Here are some words that you will fi nd in enable boats to pass to a higher or lower the exhibition Panamanian Passages. part of the waterway. The lock has gates • Biota: The fl ora and fauna of a region. at each end with a mechanism for letting water in or out. • Canal: An artifi cial waterway constructed for shipping, for irrigation, or for • Malaria: An infectious disease caused by recreational use. A canal may take in parts a parasite that is transmitted by the bite of of natural rivers along its course. infected mosquitoes. Common in tropical countries, the disease is characterized by • Continental divide: A massive area of recurring chills and fever. high ground in the interior of a continent, from either side of which a continent’s • Transcontinental railroad: A railroad river systems fl ow in different directions. extending across a continent. • Gold rush: A sudden wave of migration • Watershed: The land area that drains to new territory because gold has been into a particular lake, river, or ocean. discovered. One of the most famous gold • Yellow fever: An infectious, often fatal rushes was to California in 1848. viral disease of warm climates transmitted • Isthmus: A narrow strip of land that by mosquitoes and marked by high joins two larger areas of land. The Panama fever, hemorrhaging, isthmus connects North and South vomiting of blood, Facts about America. liver damage, and Panama: • The World Fact Book [Source Encarta Dictionary] jaundice. Panama: https://www.cia. gov/library/publications/ the-world-factbook/geos/ Panamanian Passages – The Amphibians of Barro Colorado Nature pm.html Teacher’s Resources List Monument, Soberania National Park and Adjacent Areas by R. Ibañez D. et al. Books about Panama •Editora Mola: Cuna Life Stories and Art by Maricel A Guide to the Common Birds of Panama Panamá América: http://www.epasa.com/ E. Presilla City by Jorge Ventocilla reversion/ Plants and Animals in the Life of the Kuna Tropical Rainforests: Past, Present, • La Prensa: http://www.prensa.com and Future by Eldredge Bermingham, by Jorge Ventocilla, Heraclio Herrera, and •Maritime Magazine: http://www. Christopher Dick, and Craig Moritz Valerio Núñez revistamaritima.com.ar/Panama-reversion- The Art of Being Kuna: Layers of Meaning WEBSITES OF INTEREST del-Canal-Parte Among the Kuna of Panama by Mari Lyn History and Biodiversity of Panama: The Panama Canal: Salvador • Museo del Canal Interoceánico de Panamá: • Discovery Channel: Widening the Panama Panama Fever: The Epic Story of One of http://www.museodelcanal.com/ Canal: http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/ the Greatest Human Achievements of All • Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute: engineering/panamacanal/interactive/ Time-- the Building of the Panama Canal by http://www.stri.org/ interactive.html Matthew Parker • Curator’s Notes, Panamanian Passages, Aims • Panama Canal Authority: http://www. Portrait of the Panama Canal: From McGuinness, Smithsonian Latino Center: pancanal.com/eng/index.html Construction to the Twenty-First Century by http://www.latino.si.edu Facts about Panama: William Friar News on the Panama Canal transfer to • The World Factbook Panama: https:// From the STRI Bookstore Panamanian control: www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world- Naturalists of the Isthmus on Panama by • BBC on the Panama Canal Handover: http:// factbook/geos/pm.html Stanley Heckadon-Moreno news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/556959.stm • U.S.