Teach Lewis and Clark: Updating the Journals Nearly 200 Years Later

If Lewis and Clark were making the trip today, their journals would be on a laptop and their Internet map coordinates would be checked using a GPS hand-held unit. Two hundred years ago Jefferson and the nation thought the explorers were lost; today their cell phones would keep them in constant communication with White House operators.

Lewis and Clark, with minimal advance education and training, classified and drew detailed pictures of 300 flora and fauna never before seen by white American citizens living east of the Mississippi River. They practiced anthropology skills by recording details of Indian tribes they met, including basic language structure. They monitored weather patterns, described geological formations and recorded all these data and drew their maps using quill pens that had to be dipped in ink for every other word using notebooks that had to be safely protected from canoe spills. Instead of "select all" and "copy," they often hand-duplicated each other's journal entries as backups in case tragedy befell the original set. And, yes, they really needed Spell Checker, relying instead on phonetics since there was no standardized dictionary readily available at the time.

Students and teachers were invited to join a modern-day community of learners to update the journals of Lewis and Clark's 28-month trip.

The Lewis and Clark Student Projects

Teachers and students from 16 communities were the first to make contributions to the "Journal Update" project during school year 1999-2000 and they continued to make refinements during school year 2000-2001. The topics they chose and the communities where they live include:

• Across the Continent: The Transportation of Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery
  Kimberly Middle School
  Kimberly, ID

• Animals & Plants of the Bitterroot/Clearwater-area (The Kamiah Corps of Rediscovery)
  Kamiah Middle School
  Kamiah, ID

• The Chinook Tribe, Then and Now
  Edwards Elementary School
  Newberg, OR

• End of the Trail: Fort Clatsop area
  John Jacob Astor Elementary School
  Astoria, OR

• The Lolo Trail
  Elmendorf Air Force Base
  Anchorage, Alaska

• Mapping Perspective
  Will James Middle School
  Billings, MT

• Meeting the Lemhi Shoshone
  Big Valley Elementary School
  Rupert

• Murals
  Lewis and Clark Elementary School
  Missoula, MT

• Nez Perce Appaloosa Horses
  Merlo Station High School
  Beaverton, OR

• Plants of the Lower Columbia
  Harriet Tubman Middle School
  Portland, OR

• The Rivers & Streams of Montana named by the Expedition
  Smith School Intermediate Montessori Class
  Helena, MT

• Sacajawea
  St. John-Endicott High School
  St. John, WA

• The Teton Incident: Teton Sioux Tribe
  Roncalli High School
  Aberdeen, SD

• Travellers Rest Campsite
  Florence Carlton School
  Florence, MT

• Western Red Cedar
  Astoria Middle School
  Astoria, OR

• Wishram, Washington
  Wishram Elementary School
  Wishram, Washington