Lesson 1

Lesson 1 Summary

Umiaks were large open boats used by the Inuit in the Canadian Arctic. The frames were fashioned from driftwood and were covered with seal or walrus skins. It is likely the Inuit a thousand years ago used boats similar to the one in the photograph in their migration across the Arctic Ocean from Eastern Siberia. 

The quantity of skins required to cover the umiak’s frame depended on the surface area of the frame. In this lesson you explored surface area and its relationship to the nets of three-dimensional objects.