Design An Indigenous Shelter Project Based Learning | Paper and Digital

Keep your students engaged in learning about Indigenous People in Canada through this exciting project about shelters and dwellings. Students are hired by a museum to design a new teaching display in this project-based learning activity.

Have your students use their creative, critical, and historical thinking skills to demonstrate what they have learned about shelters used throughout history by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit People in Canada.

This resource includes:

• a complete lesson plan for teachers explaining how to plan for, manage and assess the project.
• modifications for differentiation.
• student planning pages.
• tips for project-based learning.
• student checklists.
• assessment rubric.
• student examples of the maps, visual representations of the shelters, and written portions.
• teacher background knowledge about different types of shelters and dwellings as well as geographical information about Canada.
• student reflection pages.
• a map of Alberta and of Canada.
• a digital version for some of the student pages. The slides contain loose text that can be read by your assistive technology.

What students will do:

• Research a traditional Indigenous shelter or dwelling from a specific region of Canada or a specific First Nations, Métis, or Inuit community.
• Create a map showing where the shelter is traditionally found.
• Design a visual representation (drawing, model, poster, or digital screenshot) of the shelter or how its made.
• Provide a detailed explanation or description in a written, video, or audio format.

Ninja Note: Students need to have a basic understanding of the basic geographic knowledge of Canada or Alberta (or your specific region) in order to be successful and having an understanding of Indigenous People in Canada or Alberta will help.

This is a very open-ended task, with a clear rubric outlining the content which is expected to be addressed. For about 30 minutes of teaching time upfront (not including imparting the basic knowledge to students), students are kept engaged in their learning for 2 weeks of social studies classes.

This activity has been tested with dozens of different groups of grade four students and is a HUGE hit. Students have made shelters that included diagrams, posters, Lego®, cardboard and even one made of sticks and mud.

If you teach in Alberta, this resource was written for the old Social Studies Program of Studies. It has not yet been reviewed or adjusted for the new Alberta social studies curriculum which is being piloted in the 2025-26 school year. To learn about how we plan to address the changes, visit our site https://brainninjas.ca/social-studies-in-alberta/

This resource aligns with:

• the Alberta Program of Studies for Grade 4 or Grade 5 Social Studies

This resource supports:

• any lesson about Indigenous People in Canada.
• the Alberta Social Studies Curriculum Grade 3 ©2025

Ninja Note: To access the digital version of this file, download the PDF and click on the access link in that file.

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