Fundamental Needs of Humans

The Fundamental Needs chart gives the elementary child's reasoning mind a key that fits every historical and cultural lock. Whatever people they study — ancient Egyptians, the Inuit, medieval Europeans — they can ask how each need was met and find the human beneath the unfamiliar surface. Research discrepancies invite rereading of sources; peer presentation surfaces gaps.

• Framework: Montessori
• Unit: Cultural Studies
• Learning area: History & Time
• Level: Ages 6-8

Objectives

• Identify the fundamental needs common to all humans: food, shelter, clothing, transportation, defense, health — and spiritual needs: art, religion, music, culture
• Recognize that every culture answers these needs in its own way
• Compare responses across time and place
• Prepare for detailed cultural and historical studies

Materials

• Fundamental Needs chart (a circle or tree with the needs radiating out)
• Pictures and artifacts from varied cultures and times
• Research folders for each need

Instructions

1. Place the chart on a large table. 2. Name each need: food, shelter, clothing, transportation, defense, health, and the spiritual needs. 3. For each, ask: 'How do we meet this need today?' 4. Discuss responses. 5. Bring out examples: a warm parka, a desert robe, a jungle shelter. 6. Show how the same need is met in radically different ways. 7. Invite each child to choose a culture and research how that culture met each need. 8. Present findings to the class over weeks. 9. Connect to the Time Line of Humans and Coming of Humans.

Educator tip

Let children pick cultures they are drawn to. Ownership of a research project fuels depth — imposed choices produce surface work.

Assessment

Note whether the child applies the chart spontaneously when meeting a new culture.

More from Cultural Studies

• Third Great Lesson: The Coming of Humans
• Impressionistic Chart of Ancient Civilizations
• Second Great Lesson: The Coming of Life
• Parts of the Bird
• Time Line of Humans
• Work of Water — Erosion Experiments
• Biomes of the World
• Fourth Great Lesson: The Story of Writing