D2.Geo.6.6-8: How Land and Sea Shape Identity and Culture in Hawaiʻi
In plain English: D2.Geo.6.6-8 is the C3 Framework geography indicator for grades 6-8 that asks students to explain how the physical characteristics of a place (its land, water and climate) and its human characteristics (what people build and how they live) are connected to people's identities and cultures. It is usually taught in middle school geography or world studies.
Explain how the physical and human characteristics of places and regions are connected to human identities and cultures.
C3 Framework for Social Studies (NCSS) · Dimension 2: Applying Disciplinary Concepts and Tools · Discipline: Geography · Human-Environment Interaction: Place, Regions, and Culture · Official standard
D2.Geo.6.6-8 asks students to explain how the physical and human characteristics of places and regions are connected to human identities and cultures. A physical characteristic is a natural feature such as landforms, rock, water, climate, plants and animals. A human characteristic is something people make or organize, such as buildings, walls, trails and ways of dividing land. Culture is a group's shared way of life: its knowledge, skills, foods, stories and practices. Identity is how people understand who they are, including the places and groups they feel they belong to.
The place in this lesson is Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park, on the dry west coast of Hawaiʻi Island. Native Hawaiians built a settlement there on fresh lava, raised fish in large stone-walled ponds, drew fresh water from pools in the lava and relied on the reef offshore. Students read three short National Park Service sources, use NOAA rainfall data and a USGS elevation profile, and build connection chains from a physical characteristic to a human characteristic to a culture or identity. Hawaiian words are spelled as the National Park Service spells them, with the ʻokina (ʻ) and kahakō (the line over a vowel), which are part of the language.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Tell physical characteristics of a place from human characteristics, with examples from Kaloko-Honokōhau.
Use rainfall data and an elevation profile to describe the physical setting of a place.
Explain, with evidence, how a physical characteristic and a human characteristic are connected to a group's culture.
Explain how a place can be part of a people's identity, using a primary source from that place.
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Telling cultural characteristics from environmental characteristics of a place D2.Geo.5.6-8
Citing specific evidence from a source to support an answer RH.6-8.1
"Think of a food, a sport, a song or a celebration that people in your area are proud of. Does it have anything to do with the land, the water or the weather where you live? Write one sentence that connects the two."
Share three or four answers. Ask students to underline the part of their sentence that is about nature (a physical characteristic), circle the part about something people made or do (a human characteristic), and box the part that is about who people are or how they live together (identity and culture). Most answers will contain all three; this lesson studies those links in one place.
Direct Instruction15 minutes
Part 1: Four key words. Review the four terms from the overview with one quick example each from students' own town. Then add one more: a region is an area whose places share characteristics, such as the dry west coast of Hawaiʻi Island.
Part 2: Meet the place. On a map of the Hawaiian Islands, find Hawaiʻi Island (the largest island) and the town of Kailua-Kona on its west coast. Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park is just north of it. Read Table 1: the park's coast is dry, while the island's east coast is very wet. Then read Table 2 and Diagram 1, which shows how steeply the land rises from the park's shore to the slopes of Hualālai volcano.
Table 1. Average yearly precipitation at three weather stations on Hawaiʻi Island (real data: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020)
Station
Where it is
Average yearly precipitation
Honokōhau Harbor
West coast, next to Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park
16.93 inches
Kailua Kona Ke-ahole Airport
West coast, about 4 miles north of the harbor
9.87 inches
Hilo International Airport
East coast of the island
120.39 inches
Table 2. Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park facts (National Park Service: History and Culture, Kaloko Fishpond, Anchialine Pools, Coral Reefs and Nature pages)
Feature
Fact from the National Park Service
The ground
The park lies on lava from Hualālai volcano.
Size
About 1,200 acres; about 600 acres of it is marine (under the sea).
Land divisions
It includes the coastal parts of five ahupuaʻa (traditional Hawaiian land divisions running from the mountains into the sea).
Kaloko Fishpond wall
Built of water-worn lava stones stacked without mortar; 30-40 feet wide, 6½ feet high and 250 yards long, the largest fishpond wall in the state of Hawaiʻi.
Who valued it
Kaloko Fishpond was a favorite of King Kamehameha I.
When it became a park
Designated in 1978. A 1974 study by the Honokōhau Study Advisory Commission, a group of Hawaiians that included many well-known kūpuna (elders), still guides the park; it is called the Spirit Report.
Physical or human?
Sort five features of the park: lava from Hualālai, the Kaloko Fishpond wall, a pool of water in a crack in the lava, a stone house platform, and the coral reef offshore.
Result: Physical: the lava, the pool and the reef (nature made them). Human: the fishpond wall and the house platform (people built them).
Reading the rainfall data
Use Table 1. How much more rain falls in an average year at Hilo than at Honokōhau Harbor, and about how many times as much?
Result: 120.39 - 16.93 = 103.46 inches more. 120.39 ÷ 16.93 ≈ 7.1, so Hilo gets about 7 times as much. The park's coast is a dry place to live.
Reading the elevation profile
Use Diagram 1. The profile starts at 7,950 feet on Hualālai and ends at 3 feet at Kaloko Fishpond on the shore, 10.6 miles away. About how many feet does the land drop per mile, on average?
Result: (7,950 - 3) ÷ 10.6 = 7,947 ÷ 10.6 ≈ 749.7 feet per mile. A land division that runs from the mountains into the sea crosses very different land in a short distance.
Building a connection chain
Table 2 says the Kaloko Fishpond wall is built of water-worn lava stones. Build a chain from a physical characteristic to a human one to culture.
Result: Physical: lava rock, rounded by the sea. Human: a 250-yard seawall of stacked stones that holds a fishpond. Culture: raising fish for food, at a pond valued by Kamehameha I.
Guided Practice15 minutes
Read Sources 1 and 2 together. Both come from the National Park Service pages for Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park. Source 1 describes the settlement and why the park was created; Source 2 describes a kind of pool found in the park's lava. Words to know: ingenuity means cleverness in solving problems; brackish water is a mix of fresh water and salt water; porous means full of tiny holes; perpetuation means keeping something going. Paragraph numbers below count only the paragraphs shown.
1Within its approximately 1,200-acre boundary, the park protects the site of an ancient Hawaiian settlement, the coastal portions of five different ahupua‘a (traditional Hawaiian land divisions extending from the mountains into the sea), and a great concentration and variety of tangible and intangible resources that attest to the Hawaiians’ presence on the land. Kānaka maoli (Native Hawaiians) who once lived in this settlement possessed in-depth knowledge of their natural environment and demonstrated great ingenuity in adapting this seemingly inhospitable environment to their use. The people employed ingenious fishing and agricultural practices, and built large ponds to raise fish as a source of food. Some of the coastal pools provided an underground water source to support a settlement of people. The spirit of the po'e (people) and the knowledge of the kūpuna (elders) created a tradition of respect and reverence for the area. Among the park’s diverse resources are loko i‘a (two fishponds and a fishtrap that were used for food production), kahua (house site platforms), ki‘i pōhaku (petroglyphs), heiau (temples), graves, and a network of historic trails.
[...]
2This distinctively Hawaiian way of life persisted for centuries, but almost disappeared after European contact and settlement. Today Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park provides opportunities to learn about Hawaiian culture and offers a much-needed venue for the practice and perpetuation of traditional skills and knowledge.
[...]
3Although Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park is a place that all people may visit and appreciate, it has particular significance to Hawaiians. As expressed in the Spirit Report, the park provides an opportunity to “restore the cultural identity” of Hawai‘i.
National Park Service, Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park, Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park: History and Culture, the settlement paragraph (Source 1) (2025). US government work (17 U.S.C. 105). Source text.
1Anchialine pools are unique aquatic ecosystems where water pools in the crevices and cracks of lava near shore. They are made up of brackish water - a mixture of fresh groundwater that comes from the rain on the mountain, filtered through porous lava rock and salt water that is linked to the ocean by subterranean tunnels. Water levels in the pools often fluctuate in response to ocean tides due to the coastal location and connection with the ocean.
2There are an estimated 1000+ pools worldwide and a vast majority of these pools are found on the West coast of Hawai‘i Island. The state of Hawai‘i is the only state in the entire US that has these brackish water anchialine pools. Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park alone harbors over 200 of them and early settlement was possible in West Hawai‘i because of the accessibility of fresh water in the pools. Not only are they a unique natural resource but also a very important cultural resource.
National Park Service, Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park, Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park: Anchialine Pools, first two paragraphs (Source 2) (2025). US government work (17 U.S.C. 105). Source text.
Mark the three kinds of words. Students underline physical characteristics, circle human characteristics and box words about culture or identity in both sources.
Connect the pools to Table 1. Prompt: why would fresh water in coastal pools matter so much on this coast? Students answer with a number from Table 1 and a sentence from Source 2.
Find a connection to identity. Prompt: which sentence in Source 1, paragraph 3, uses the word identity? Who is the place especially important to, according to the source?
Fill in Diagram 2 as a class. The first chain is complete. Work out the second chain (the pools) together, using Sources 1 and 2, and leave the third (the reef) for Independent Practice.
Independent Practice15-20 minutes
Read Source 3 and complete the third chain. Source 3 comes from the park's page about its coral reefs. The Kumulipo is a Hawaiian creation chant; the source reports what the chant says, as part of Hawaiian culture. Students complete the reef chain in Diagram 2, then write a paragraph of 5-7 sentences explaining how one physical characteristic and one human characteristic of Kaloko-Honokōhau are connected to Native Hawaiian culture or identity, citing at least two sources by paragraph.
1Coral reefs hold immense significance in Hawaiian culture. According to the Kumulipo, the Hawaiian creation chant, the coral polyp, or Koʻa, is the first living organism, giving rise to all other life forms. The early Hawaiians maintained a relationship with the ocean that was vital to their way of life. From ancient times to present day, Hawaiians used these waters as a major source of food and careful management was practiced to sustain the resource. This profound historical and cultural connection to the ocean is a key reason why about half of Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park is under the sea!
2Recognizing this cultural heritage and ecological wealth, Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park protects about 600 acres of marine territory. Coral reefs dominate the park’s marine ecosystem, and are one of the most biodiverse marine habitats. The reefs at Kaloko-Honokōhau provide home to hundreds of marine species, including fish, sea turtles (honu), Hawaiian monk seals (‘īlio holo i ka uaua), manta rays (hāhālua), spinner dolphins (naia), invertebrates and algae (limu).
National Park Service, Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park, Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park: Coral Reefs, first two paragraphs (Source 3) (2025). US government work (17 U.S.C. 105). Source text.
Closure10 minutes
Exit ticket. "Write one connection chain for your own town: a physical characteristic, a human characteristic, and a part of your community's culture or identity that connects to them."
Teacher note on respectful language. Native Hawaiians are a living people, and Source 1 describes the park today as a place for practicing traditional skills and knowledge. Use present tense for living cultures, use the Hawaiian terms as the sources spell them, and avoid calling Hawaiian practices "primitive" or "simple": Source 1 itself speaks of "great ingenuity." When students discuss the Kumulipo, describe it as a creation chant that is part of Hawaiian culture, as the source does, without judging any belief. The park's Coral Reefs page opens with two lines of the chant, in Hawaiian and in English, about the birth of the coral polyp and the coral. When students explain what the chant says, have them attribute it to Source 3, which is the park's summary, not the full chant. If students ask about the changes Hawaiian communities went through after European contact, treat it as a history question to research with good sources.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give students a word bank sorted into physical, human, and culture or identity, drawn from the three sources.
Provide the chain frame: "Because the land has ___ (physical), people built ___ (human), which is part of ___ (culture or identity)."
Read Source 1 paragraph 1 and Source 2 paragraph 2 aloud, and let students work on those two paragraphs only.
For Advanced Students
Find out from a NOAA or USGS source why the east side of Hawaiʻi Island is so much wetter than the west side, and explain how that physical difference could shape life on each coast.
Compare Kaloko-Honokōhau with another coastal place where people built with local stone or used the sea for food, and write two similarities and two differences in how place connects to culture.
Explain why the National Park Service protects about 600 acres of ocean at a park about Hawaiian culture, using Source 3.
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Strong answers keep the three parts of a chain distinct (physical, human, culture or identity), use a real fact or quotation for each link, and explain how the parts connect, not just that they appear together. Watch for chains that skip the human characteristic, for answers that describe Native Hawaiian culture only in the past tense, and for claims not found in the sources.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Physical, Human, or Culture and Identity? Card Sort
15 minPairs
Pairs sort 10 cards about Kaloko-Honokōhau into three columns: Physical, Human and Culture or Identity. Then they lay yarn or draw arrows to connect at least two cards from each column into chains. Every card comes from Tables 1-2 or the National Park Service pages for the park.
The 10 Connection Cards
Lava from Hualālai volcano
A seawall of stacked stones that holds Kaloko Fishpond
Pools of brackish water in cracks in the lava near the shore
Stone house platforms (kahua)
A coral reef offshore
A network of historic trails
A renewed interest in the Hawaiian language, hula and traditional wayfinding in the 1970s
The Kumulipo, a Hawaiian creation chant
The knowledge of kūpuna (elders)
About 17 inches of rain in an average year at the park's coast
Answer Key
Physical: 1, 3, 5, 10. Human: 2, 4, 6. Culture or Identity: 7, 8, 9. Sample chain: card 1 (lava) to card 2 (the seawall is built of water-worn lava) to raising fish for food. Card 7 comes from the park's History & Culture page, which calls the 1970s "the second Hawaiian Renaissance." Accept other chains that students can support with a source.
Discussion
Ask: which physical card connects to the most other cards? Can a human characteristic, such as a trail, also become part of identity? Why might the same reef be a physical characteristic for a scientist and part of identity for a family that has fished there for generations?
2
Mountain to Sea: Drawing the Profile
20 minGroups of 3
Groups draw the elevation profile from Diagram 1 on graph paper from the table below, then mark where the park's resources sit. An ahupuaʻa runs from the mountains into the sea, so the profile shows the kind of slice of land such a division crosses. The elevations come from the USGS 3D Elevation Program, sampled every 0.76 mile along a straight line.
Plot the 15 points and connect them. Label the mountain end and the sea end.
Find the steepest 0.76-mile step: between which two distances does the land drop the most?
Mark where the fishponds, the brackish pools and the reef would be on your profile, using Sources 2-3 and Table 2.
Write two sentences: one about how the land changes from mountain to sea, and one about why so many of the park's food and water resources are at the bottom of the profile.
Answer Key
2. Between 1.5 and 2.3 miles the drop is 6,437 - 5,418 = 1,019 feet, the largest step. 3. All three are at the shore or offshore: the fishponds are on the coast, Source 2 says the pools are "near shore," and the reef is offshore. 4. Sample: "The land climbs almost 8,000 feet in under 11 miles. The pools, the fishponds and the reef are all at the coast, at the foot of a long, steep slope."
3
My Place, My Chain
15 minIndividuals, then pairs
Students apply the lesson to a place they know: their town, a family hometown or a place they have visited. They build a three-link chain and share it with a partner, who checks that each link is the right kind.
Steps
Name one physical characteristic of the place (a river, a hill, a kind of weather, a type of soil).
Name one human characteristic connected to it (a bridge, a farm, a harbor, a park, a building style).
Name one part of culture or identity connected to both (a festival, a food, a team name, a job many families share, a nickname for the town).
Write one sentence for each link explaining how the two parts connect.
Partner Check
Partners ask: is the first link really part of nature? Is the second really made or organized by people? Does the third describe how people live or who they feel they are? Then each pair chooses the strongest chain to share with the class and compares it with one Kaloko-Honokōhau chain.
Variation: Family Interview
For homework or an extra day, students ask a family member or neighbor which feature of the place matters most to them and why, and add the answer as a fourth link. Students share only what the person agrees to share.
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
2 diagrams
Diagram 1: Elevation Profile from Hualālai to the Sea at Kaloko
Real data: USGS 3D Elevation Program (Elevation Point Query Service), 15 points along a straight line from the upper slope of Hualālai at 7,950 feet to Kaloko Fishpond on the shore at 3 feet (the National Park Service location of the fishpond), 10.6 miles away. The vertical scale is stretched so the shape is easy to see.
Diagram 2: Connection Chains, Physical to Human to Culture or Identity
An organizer for Guided and Independent Practice. Row 1 is filled in from Table 2; students complete rows 2 and 3 from Sources 1-3.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
D2.Geo.6.6-8 Homework: Life on Tamsin Point
Directions: Tamsin Point is an invented island village, made up for this homework, and its facts and numbers are invented. Read the profile, then answer the problems in complete sentences.
Tamsin Point (invented): a rocky northern island with strong winds most of the year; average July temperature 55 °F; 45 inches of precipitation a year; few trees, but wide bogs of peat (soft, partly rotted plants that can be dried and burned); thick kelp (large seaweed) growing offshore. People live in low stone houses with thick turf roofs; stone walls divide small fields; a stone pier shelters fishing boats; a long shed is used to dry kelp, which families spread on the fields as fertilizer. Each summer the village holds a kelp-harvest festival. An old island song calls the islanders "the people of the wind," and many families knit sweaters in patterns that belong to their family.
Part 1: Sort and Connect (Problems 1-3)
Sort at least eight facts about Tamsin Point into three groups: physical characteristics, human characteristics, and culture or identity.
Build two connection chains for Tamsin Point (physical, then human, then culture or identity). Write one sentence for each link explaining how the two parts connect.
Tamsin Point gets 45 inches of precipitation a year. Using Table 1, about how many times as much is that as at Honokōhau Harbor? Explain one way the amount of fresh water could connect differently to daily life in the two places.
Part 2: Explain (Problems 4-6)
Explain how Tamsin Point is part of its people's identity. Use two details from the profile.
Compare one of your chains with a chain from Kaloko-Honokōhau (Diagram 2 or Sources 1-3). Name one way the two chains are similar and one way they are different.
Write a paragraph of 5-7 sentences answering: "How are the physical and human characteristics of Tamsin Point connected to the culture and identity of its people?" Use at least three details.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Sorts Characteristics
Eight or more facts sorted correctly into all three groups
Most facts sorted correctly, or one group missing
Facts not sorted or mostly wrong
Builds Connection Chains
Two complete chains, each link explained
One complete chain, or links listed without explanation
No complete chain
Uses Data and Comparison
Correct calculation and a clear, supported comparison with Kaloko-Honokōhau
Calculation or comparison has an error or is vague
Missing
Explains Identity and Culture
Explains how place shapes who people are and how they live, with details
Names identity or culture without explaining the connection
No connection to identity or culture
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Questions 4, 5, 11, 15, 17 and 20 use Source 1, and questions 6, 7 and 15 use Source 2 (both in Guided Practice). Questions 9, 10, 14 and 16 use Source 3 in Independent Practice. Questions 8, 13 and 18 use Tables 1-2 in Direct Instruction, and questions 12, 18 and 19 use Diagram 1. Choose the best answer, then check it.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which of these is a physical characteristic of a coastal place?
Answer: A
Tides are part of nature, so they are a physical characteristic. A harbor (B) is built by people, so it is a human characteristic; a language (C) and a festival (D) are parts of culture.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which of these is a human characteristic of a place?
Answer: B
A railroad is built by people, so it is a human characteristic. Rock (A), wind (C) and ocean temperature (D) are physical; choice A is a common trap because people use rock, but the rock itself is natural.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which statement is mainly about identity?
Answer: B
Identity is about how people see who they are, and calling themselves island people with pride shows that. Choices A and D describe physical characteristics, and choice C describes a human characteristic.
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to paragraph 1 of Source 1, what did the Kānaka maoli who lived in this settlement possess?
Answer: A
Paragraph 1 says they "possessed in-depth knowledge of their natural environment." Nothing in Source 1 mentions cattle (B), metal tools (C) or European maps (D).
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which phrase in paragraph 1 of Source 1 shows that the physical environment was hard to live in?
Answer: D
Inhospitable means hard to live in, so "this seemingly inhospitable environment" describes the land as difficult. The word "seemingly" matters: the people adapted it to their use. Choice A describes the park's resources, B describes culture and C names a human characteristic.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to paragraph 1 of Source 2, where does the fresh water in the anchialine pools come from?
Answer: D
Source 2 says the fresh groundwater "comes from the rain on the mountain, filtered through porous lava rock." Choice A assumes rivers, which the source does not mention; choice C is impossible, since drying seawater leaves salt, not fresh water.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to paragraph 2 of Source 2, what made early settlement possible in West Hawaiʻi?
Answer: C
Paragraph 2 says "early settlement was possible in West Hawai‘i because of the accessibility of fresh water in the pools." Table 1 shows why that mattered: the coast gets only about 17 inches of rain a year. Choices A, B and D are not in the source.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Use Table 1. About how many times as much precipitation falls at Hilo International Airport as at the Kailua Kona airport?
Answer: C
120.39 ÷ 9.87 ≈ 12.2. Choice B, 7.1, compares Hilo with Honokōhau Harbor instead of the airport. Choice D comes from subtracting (120.39 - 9.87 = 110.52) and calling the difference a number of times.
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to paragraph 1 of Source 3, why is about half of the park under the sea?
Answer: B
Source 3 says Hawaiians' "profound historical and cultural connection to the ocean is a key reason why about half" of the park is under the sea. Choice A is a common guess, but the source does not say it; choice D confuses the reason with a later benefit for visitors.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 3, what does the Kumulipo say about the coral polyp?
Answer: A
Source 3 reports that according to the Kumulipo, the coral polyp "is the first living organism, giving rise to all other life forms." The source presents this as part of Hawaiian culture. Choices B, C and D are not in the source.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to paragraph 2 of Source 1, what happened to the distinctively Hawaiian way of life after European contact and settlement?
Answer: C
Paragraph 2 says the way of life "persisted for centuries, but almost disappeared after European contact and settlement." The same paragraph says the park now offers a place to practice and perpetuate traditional skills, so "almost" matters: the culture continues. Choice D ignores the word "but."
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Use Diagram 1. How does the drop in elevation over the first 5.3 miles compare with the drop over the last 5.3 miles?
Answer: B
First half: 7,950 - 2,416 = 5,534 feet. Last half: 2,416 - 3 = 2,413 feet. 5,534 ÷ 2,413 ≈ 2.3, so the first half, nearer the mountain, drops about twice as much. Choice C reverses the halves.
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Use Table 2. How long is the Kaloko Fishpond wall in feet? (1 yard = 3 feet.)
Answer: D
250 yards × 3 = 750 feet. Choice B forgets to convert yards to feet, choice A divides by 3 instead of multiplying, and choice C multiplies by 30.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which sentence explains a connection instead of just listing features?
Answer: B
Choice B links a physical characteristic (a reef full of fish) to culture (careful management of a food source), using the word "so" to show the link; Source 3 says Hawaiians used these waters as a major source of food and practiced careful management. Choice A is a list, and C and D are single facts.
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
Complete the second chain in Diagram 2 (brackish pools). Name a human characteristic and a part of culture or identity connected to the pools, and cite Sources 1 and 2.
Model answer: Physical: brackish pools in the lava, filled by rain from the mountain (Source 2, paragraph 1). Human: a settlement of people built near the pools and supported by them; Source 1, paragraph 1 says "Some of the coastal pools provided an underground water source to support a settlement of people." Culture: the pools are "a very important cultural resource" (Source 2, paragraph 2), part of the way of life of the people who lived there. Rubric: 2 points for a correct human link and culture link, each cited; 1 point for one link.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
Complete the third chain in Diagram 2 (the coral reef). Name a human characteristic and a part of culture or identity connected to the reef, and cite Source 3.
Model answer: Physical: the coral reef offshore. Human: the park's boundary, which puts about half of the park under the sea and protects about 600 acres of marine territory (Source 3, paragraphs 1-2), or Hawaiians' careful management of the waters. Culture: the reef waters were "a major source of food," and coral has a place of honor in the Kumulipo, the Hawaiian creation chant (Source 3, paragraph 1). Rubric: 2 points for a correct human link and culture link, each cited; 1 point for one link.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
Explain how Kaloko-Honokōhau is connected to Native Hawaiian identity. Cite Source 1, paragraph 3, and one other detail from the lesson.
Model answer: Source 1, paragraph 3, says the park "has particular significance to Hawaiians" and gives an opportunity to "restore the cultural identity" of Hawaiʻi. The place helps Hawaiians understand who they are because it holds the remains of a whole community and is used today for traditional skills (Source 1, paragraph 2). Table 2 adds that the 1974 Spirit Report, which still guides the park, came from a group of Hawaiians that included many well-known kūpuna (elders). Rubric: 2 points for a clear explanation with the paragraph 3 quotation and one more detail; 1 point for a quotation without explanation.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
Use Table 1 and Diagram 1 to describe two physical characteristics of the park's region. For each, explain one way it connects to how people lived there.
Model answer: The coast is dry, with only 16.93 inches of rain a year at Honokōhau Harbor (Table 1), so fresh water was scarce and the brackish pools mattered for settlement. The land rises steeply to almost 8,000 feet on Hualālai within 11 miles (Diagram 1), so most food and water resources (fishponds, pools and the reef) are at the narrow coast where the settlement was built. Rubric: 2 points for two physical characteristics with data, each with a connection; 1 point for one.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
An ahupuaʻa is a traditional Hawaiian land division that runs from the mountains into the sea. Using Diagram 1, explain why an ahupuaʻa connects physical and human characteristics.
Model answer: An ahupuaʻa follows the shape of the land, from mountain slopes down to the shore and into the sea, which is a physical pattern shown in Diagram 1. But it is a human characteristic too, because people drew the division and used it to organize how land and resources were shared. Running from about 7,950 feet to the sea, one division could include very different resources, such as upland slopes and coastal fishponds, pools and reef. Rubric: 2 points for both the physical and the human side with a detail from Diagram 1; 1 point for one side.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
Source 1 says the park today offers "a much-needed venue for the practice and perpetuation of traditional skills and knowledge." Explain how protecting a place can help a culture continue.
Model answer: Traditional skills such as fishpond care depend on the places where they were practiced. By protecting the fishponds, pools, reef, trails and house sites, the park keeps the physical and human characteristics that the skills need, and gives people a place to practice and teach them. That helps the culture continue and supports Native Hawaiians' identity, which Source 1 connects to the park. Rubric: 2 points for a clear explanation of how place supports practice, with a source detail; 1 point for a general answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does D2.Geo.6.6-8 mean?
D2.Geo.6.6-8 asks middle school students to explain how a place's natural features and the things people build there are tied to who people are and how they live. The full text is "Explain how the physical and human characteristics of places and regions are connected to human identities and cultures." Students build and explain those connections with evidence.
What is the difference between physical and human characteristics?
Physical characteristics come from nature, and human characteristics are made or organized by people. Landforms, rock, water, climate, plants and animals are physical. Buildings, walls, trails, farms and ways of dividing land are human. Many human characteristics are made from physical ones, which is one way the two connect.
What is the difference between identity and culture?
Culture is a group's shared way of life, and identity is how people understand who they are. Foods, skills, stories and celebrations are parts of culture. Identity includes feeling that you belong to a group or a place. The two overlap, and students can explain links to either or both.
How is D2.Geo.6.6-8 different from D2.Geo.5.6-8?
D2.Geo.5.6-8 compares places to show how they are similar and different. D2.Geo.6.6-8 looks closely at one place or region and explains how its characteristics connect to people's identities and cultures. The first is about comparison; the second is about connection.
Why use Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park?
The park shows clear, documented links between land, sea and culture: fishpond walls of lava stone, fresh-water pools in the lava and a reef that Hawaiian tradition holds in high regard. The National Park Service pages give short, readable sources, and NOAA and USGS give real data for the same place.
How should Hawaiian words be written?
Write them as the sources do, with the ʻokina (ʻ) and the kahakō (the line over a vowel), because they are letters and marks of the Hawaiian language that can change a word's meaning. If a keyboard cannot type them, students should still say the words with care and can add the marks by hand.
How do I teach this lesson respectfully?
Use present tense for living cultures, quote the sources rather than guessing, and describe beliefs such as those in the Kumulipo as parts of a culture without judging them. Avoid words like "primitive." Invite students to connect the lesson to their own places, but never ask students to share family or cultural details they do not want to share.
What common mistakes do students make with D2.Geo.6.6-8?
Students often list features without explaining how they connect, or skip the human characteristic in a chain. Some describe a culture only in the past. Ask for a chain with three distinct links and a reason word, such as "because" or "so," between each pair.
How does this lesson connect to science?
The lesson uses real data from NOAA (rainfall) and USGS (elevation), and the anchialine pools connect to Earth science ideas about groundwater and porous rock. The geography focus stays on how those physical facts connect to people's lives.
How can I assess D2.Geo.6.6-8?
Ask students to write a short explanation that connects one physical and one human characteristic of a place to a culture or identity, with evidence for each link. The chain diagram, quiz and homework on this page give a ready way to check each part.
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Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to D2.Geo.6.6-8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
D2.Geo.5.6-8Prerequisite
Analyze cultural and environmental traits that make places similar and different
Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.
