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Outdoor Exhibits Gallery Guide

Red River Journey and the Meinders Foundation Heritage Gardens

Exhibit AreaStandards Addressed
Red River Journey ELA
  • Students will acquire, refine, and share knowledge through a variety of written, oral, visual, digital, non-verbal, and interactive texts.
Science
  • Fossils provide evidence about the types of organisms that lived long ago and also about the nature of their environments (3-LS4-1)
  • Populations live in a variety of habitats, and change in those habitats affects the organisms living there (3-LS4-4)
  • Plate tectonics is the unifying theory that explains the past and current movements of the rocks at Earth’s surface and provides a framework for understanding its geologic history (HS-ESS1-5)
  • Plate movements are responsible for most continental and ocean-floor features and for the distribution of most rocks and minerals within Earth’s crust (HS-ESS2-1)
  • Resource availability has guided the development of human society (HS-ESS3-1)
Math
  • Develop and verify mathematical relationships of right triangles and trigonometric ratios to solve real-world and mathematical problems (Surveying; RT.1)
Social Studies
  • Identify important symbols of the United States’ including the Bald Eagle and the Liberty Bell, and explain their meanings (1.4)
  • Describe how communities modify the environment to meet their needs. (W.C. Austin Project; Ft. Smith to Ft. Towson Road; Big Pasture; 2.2.5)
  • Describe the climate and various natural vegetation zones found in Oklahoma (Cross Timbers; Hackberry Flat; 3.2.1.E)
  • Examine the interaction of the environment and the peoples of Oklahoma–Summarize how Oklahomans affect and change their environments such as the construction of the Kerr-McClellan Navigation System, creation of recreational lakes by the building of dams, irrigation of croplands, and the establishment of wildlife refuges (W.C. Austin Project; Hackberry Flatlands; The Great Raft; Blue River; Lake Texhoma; 3.2.2D)
  • Describe early expeditions in Oklahoma such as those of Coronado, Washington Irving, and George Catlin (Devil’s Canyon; Bernard De La Harpe; 3.3.5)
  • Describe the migrations, settlements, relocations and forced removals of Native Americans including, but not limited to the Trail of Tears (Devil’s Canyon; Chickasaw Nation; Choctaw Nation; Ft. Towson; 3.3.6)
  • Describe cowboy life and cattle drives as typified by experiences along such routes as the Chisholm Trail (Chisholm Trail; East and West Shawnee Trail; Texas Road; 3.3.7)
  • Examine how the development of Oklahoma’s major economic activities have contributed to the growth of the state, including oil and natural gas, industry, agriculture, aviation, tourism, tribal enterprises, and military installations (Oil and Gas Industry; Altus Air Force Base; Jones Plantation; Colbert’s Ferry; W.C. Austin Project; 3.4.3)
  • Analyze the consequences of westward expansion, including the impact on the culture of Native Americans and their homelands, and the growing sectional tensions regarding the expansion of slavery (Big Pasture; Katy Railroad; Comanche, Kiowa, Apache Reservation; Chickasaw Nation; Choctaw Nation; 8.8.4)
  • Integrate visual information to identify and describe the significant physical and human features including major trails, railway lines, waterways, cities, ecological regions, natural resources, highways, and landforms (OKH1.1)
  • Summarize and analyze the role of river transportation to early trade and mercantile settlements including Chouteau’s Trading Post at Three Forks (Warren’s Trading Post; Bernard de La Harpe; OKH.2.1)
  • Describe the major trading and peacekeeping goals of early military posts including Fort Gibson (OKH.2.2)
  • Compare the governments among the Native American nations and the movement for the state of Sequoyah. (OKH.4.1)
  • Analyze William H. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray’s response to the conditions created by the Great Depression (Red River War; 5.6)
  • Describe the impact of environmental conditions and human mismanagement of resources resulting in the Dust Bowl and the migration of the “Okies,” the national perceptions of Oklahomans and the New Deal policies regarding conservation of natural resources (Shelterbelt; CCC;5.7)
Meinders Foundation Heritage Gardens ELA
  • Students will acquire, refine, and share knowledge through a variety of written, oral, visual, digital, non-verbal, and interactive texts.
Science
  • Plants need water and light to live and grow (K-LS1-1; 2-LS2-1)
  • Plants depend on animals for pollination or to move their seeds around (2-LS2-2)
  • There are many different kinds of living things in any area, and they exist in different places on land and in water (2-LS4-1)
  • The planet’s systems interact over scales that range from microscopic to global in size. These interactions have shaped Earth’s history and will determine its future. (MS-ESS2-2)
  • Maps of ancient land and water patterns, based on investigations of rocks and fossils, make clear how Earth’s plates have moved great distances, collided, and spread apart (MS-ESS2-3)
  • The process of photosynthesis converts light energy to stored chemical energy by converting carbon dioxide plus water into sugars plus released oxygen (HS-LS1-5)
  • The main way that solar energy is captured and stored on Earth is through the complex chemical process known as photosynthesis (HS-LS2-5)
Social Studies
  • Describe the climate and various natural vegetation zones found in Oklahoma (3.2.1.E)
  • Explain how Native American agricultural practices, such as the Three Sisters, contributed to the early survival of the colonists (5.1.8)