Download webquestlesson

Teacher’s name: Miss. Meyer_
Subject: World History to 1500: 8th grade
Topic: Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations
Essential Questions:
~Which ancient civilization from the Mediterranean area most influenced the modern
world?
~How do the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean compare, are they similar,
different?
General Objective[s]:
NCSS
I. Culture
a. compare similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures
meet human needs and concerns.
c. explain and give examples of how language, literature, the arts, architecture,
other artifacts, traditions, beliefs, values and behaviors contribute to the development and
transmission of culture.
VA-SOL
WHI.3 The student will demonstrate knowledge of ancient river valley civilizations,
including Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus River Valley, and China and the
civilizations of the Hebrews, Phoenicians, and Kush, by
a) locating these civilizations in time and place;
b) describing the development of social, political, and economic patterns,
including slavery;
e) explaining the development of language and writing.
WHI.5 The student will demonstrate knowledge of ancient Greece in terms of its
impact on Western civilization by
a) assessing the influence of geography on Greek economic, social, and
political development, including the impact of Greek commerce and
colonies;
WHI.6 The student will demonstrate knowledge of ancient Rome from about 700 B.C.
to 500 A.D. in terms of its impact on Western civilization by
a) assessing the influence of geography on Roman economic, social, and
political development;
j) listing contributions in art and architecture, technology and science,
medicine, literature and history, language, religious institutions, and law;
Learning Outcomes:
SWBAT:
Recall the different contributions of each civilization: politically, economically, culturally
and socially.
Compare and contrast the significance contributions of each ancient civilization (Rome,
Greece, Mesopotamia, and Egypt).
Construct and present a persuasive PowerPoint presentation.
Evaluate how the contributions of ancient civilizations influence the modern world.
Content Outline:(Basic overeview content to go along with webquest)
Greece: Why should one study the Ancient Greeks? There exist almost countless
contributions that Greek culture has made to western society in the areas of art, literature,
philosophy, drama, architecture and politics. Lasting visions of thought and inspiring
intellect helped shaped today's western culture with notions of democracy and personal
freedoms. Greek scientists made revolutionary discoveries in medicine, mathematics,
physics, and astronomy. It was the Greeks who, through philosophy, instilled thoughtful
exploration of the mind and consciousness. The beauty of their artwork and the precision
of their statues reflected human development and expression of individuality. The most
important reason to study the Greeks is for the opportunity to take small glimpses of
history related to them, and try to better understand our humanity.
The early history of Greece is not very detailed. Because of this it is often called the Dark
Age of Ancient Greece. The first people to inhabit Greece built settlements along the
shores of Greece. They relied on the Aegean Sea for trade and supplies. Travel by sea
introduced the Greeks to other cultures, and they were exposed to western benefits of
agriculture and various techniques of metalwork.
Around 1200 BC, a conflict arose at the city of Troy, where a ten year battle took
place. Armed invaders hid themselves inside a large wooden horse. As the horse was
brought into the city, the soldiers attacked and seized control. This was the subject of
an epic poem by Homer. Homer is also well known for his epic poem of the hero
Odysseus..
Greek settlements transformed themselves into city-states, or poleis. Regions ruled by a
council and a king. Their political structure was unstable because the kings often acted
like tyrants to the citizens. The Aristocratic people, mostly landowners, served on the
council. Many citizens were not fairly represented in this system. This caused tension,
and in many cases political uprisings.
It is ironic that the Greek culture is given so much credit for ideas of democracy,
because times of democracy seldom existed in Ancient Greece; only for short whiles
in-between unstable governments.
The Olympic Games, a great athletic contest, began in 776 BC. The Olympics marked a
rise of the Greek culture, and the beginning of the Archaic Period of Greece. During this
time period, foreign culture held a great influence over Greek ideas. Artwork began to
focus on human figures and of mythology.
Rome: The Roman government was considered "bicameral" because it had two houses.
The upper house consisted of the patricians in the senate, while the lower house was
composed of plebeian tribunes.
The Roman model of government is used in many nations. Canada's legislative
bodies are the Senate and the House of Commons. The Prime Minister, the head of
Canada's government, appoints members of the Canadian Senate. Great Britain has a
similar bicameral legislature, but the upper house in Britain is called the House of Lords.
The Romans used great public projects to make the city the most advanced of the
ancient world, and to create the largest empire of the era. Many of the roads,
bridges, and aqueducts of ancient Rome are still used today.
The Romans built many roads throughout their empire. The roads made it easier to travel,
move troops, and trade with faraway provinces. It also made it easier to collect taxes.
Roman roads followed an exact design. The expression, “All Roads Lead To Rome”
refers to the fact that Rome was the center of ancient civilization.
Roman engineers brought water into the city by building pipelines called aqueducts.
Nine aqueducts provided the Roman people with 38 million gallons of water every day.
Parts of the Roman aqueduct system still supply water to fountains in Rome.
The Romans built many huge stadiums called amphitheaters. The greatest Roman
amphitheater, the Colosseum, still dominates the Roman skyline. Only a portion of
the Colosseum remains standing. Earthquakes have destroyed some of the structure. Also,
engineers used some of the stone from the Colosseum to build later Roman buildings.
Perhaps the greatest Roman engineering achievement was the sewer. Because Rome is in
a valley among seven hills, there is nowhere for dirty water to go. The sewer system made
it possible for Rome to become the largest city in the world. The population of Rome
swelled to more than one million people at the height of the empire. Today more than six
million people live in Rome.
http://www.mrdowling.com/702-technology.html
Mesopotamia: The contributions affecting the modern world from our ancient ancestors
in Mesopotamia are numerous. The ancient Sumerians created the world's first
civilization where people settled together in one area known as the city-state. For
this accomplishment, ancient Mesopotamia is often referred to as the "cradle of
civilization."
Another contribution vastly affecting the modern era was the Sumerians' creation of a
writing system called Cuniform. Although we do not use the same writing system today,
it spawned the many different writing models that led to today's writing.
Other inventions include the water clock, the twelve-month calendar based on lunar
cycles, the wheel, the plow, and the sailboat. All these inventions improved the daily life
of the Sumerians. Originally the temples at the center of each city-state were built on a
platform. As time passed, these platform temples evolved into temple-towers called
ziggurats. As the Sumerian city-states' wealth increased, government officials realized
that an efficient method of keeping records had to be developed. Evolved from simple
pictographic writing, Sumerian cuneiform emerged as the world's first writing system.
Egypt:
Religion was a main part in Egyptian life. It helped people to understand their world
and how to deal with their problems. There were house gods to watch over the family,
local gods for the village, and state gods worshiped on special occasions. Many
people had an altar or a chapel at their house. On special days people went to the
state temples. Only the priest could go in the inner temple.
The “Hidden One” Was a creator god that watched over all the people as well as the
country of Egypt. Their were special god families made up of a husband, A wife, and a
child. The families were associated with animals. Hathor, goddess of love, has cows
ears and horns. Cows were beautiful animals. The Pharaohs gave offerings to the gods
because they watched over him as he watched over his people. The sun god was the most
important of all. In the earlier times the people thought that the pharaoh became a god
once he became ruler. When he died he would be with Osiris, the god of death and
rebirth. Sobeck has the head of a crocodile. Many people believed in magic also.
Children wore charms around their neck to protect them from evil. There were spells for
everything like not going into the after life on your head! Hieroglyphics is a type of
writing written in symbols or pictures. Hieroglyphics means “sacred carvings” in the
Greek language. Ancient Egyptian writings are called hieroglyphics. They lasted for
more than 3,000 years . Ancient Egyptians also used hieroglyphics for religious
inscriptions, kind of like the Bible, and wrote on temples, stone, and monuments. They
copied words of kings and queens. Egyptians called their words the words of their gods.
Also, some hieroglyphics are read from left to right instead of right to left. They knew
which way to read them by the way the animals were facing.
Student and Teacher Activity Blocks
Teacher Activity
Set Induction 3 minutes: The teacher will
take the students directly to the computer
lab to begin the lesson. She will give them
the webquest website. As a class they will
go over how to navigate through the
webquest. The teacher will then divide the
class into groups to complete the project.
They will then read through the
introduction and the task to see what they
will be doing.
Student Activity
Set Induction: the students with the teacher
will navigate their way through the
webquest. After they feel comfortable they
will begin by reading the introduction and
the task to begin their project.
Activity 1 hour 27 minutes: The teacher
will monitor students and walk around the
lab to make sure that they are on the right
track. She will also be checking at the pace
they are moving, telling them to move
along etc. (The students have this period
and half (40 minutes) to work on research
and completion of PowerPoint
presentation. Then the rest of the second
period will be used to present their
presentations.
Activity: Students will complete each step
of the webquest following its directions.
They will complete the graphic organizer
and create and present the PowerPoint
presentation to be completed in 2 block
periods.
Closure: Students will vote on the
civilization they think should win and then
turn in all their work to the teacher.
Closure: At the end of the second period
block after all the presentations have been
done the class will vote on the civilization
that they believe should be part of a
Smithsonian exhibit. They will turn in all
of their work.
Materials Needed for the Lesson: access to computer lab, graphic organizer and rubric
from webquest, webquest website: http://members.tripod.com/jill_crawford/ , access to
powerpoint.
Methods of Evaluating Student Progress/Performance:
Formative: Students will be assessed on their ability to work together to successfully
complete the webquest, that they stay on-task, divide work evenly.
Summative: Students will be evaluated using the rubric provided for their presentation
and their quality of work based on the rubric provided by the webquest which is attached.
I am choosing, however, not to use the daily journal.
Differention for Special Needs: Students with special needs will be able to modify the
assignment so they will be able to complete it to their best ability. In order for students
with special needs to grasp the importance of the civilizations, the teacher may choose for
them to complete the graphic organizer, but not the PowerPoint presentation. This way
the students still have the opportunity to work with the webquest, but it also ensures that
they learn the material.
Subject Matter Integration/Extension: This lesson would be done somewhere towards
the middle of the year. It is a great lesson to assess several units that they have just
learned. The SOL’s divide each of these civilizations differently. This project gives them
the opportunity to connect all of this content together and see the bigger picture of
advancing civilizations in the Mediterranean.
Reflections/PPT’s in Lesson: I like this lesson because it is a great way for students to
review a lot of content in a way that does not seem overbearing. It is important to take all
of this different and often disconnected content and bring it together for the students. Its
another great way to use technology and to give students control over their education.
This webquest also gives students the opportunity to analyze events of the past and bring
them into the modern world to show their relevance.
Sources:
All content information, the rubric, graphic organizer can all be found at:
Crawford, Jill. “Discover the Mediterranean Webquest.”
http://members.tripod.com/jill_crawford/