Come along with me as we travel back in time to about 5,000 BCE to a land that has a "beach" as far as the eye can see and structures larger than any you could imagine! Prepare to be awed and amazed at the places we will explore and study. How could humans possibly construct anything that can still be standing 7,000 years later? How did they survive? How did they thrive? What resources controlled their existence? What made them such a great civilization that still is being discovered seven millenniums later?
The great state of Ohio's standard states: "Early civilizations (India, Egypt, China and Mesopotamia) with unique governments, economic systems, social structures, religions, technologies and agricultural practices and products flourished as a result of favorable geographic characteristics. The cultural practices and products of these early civilizations can be used to help understand the Eastern Hemisphere today."
By the time we have completed this unit you will know the following:
Characteristics of a civilization
How ideas, products and practices diffused throughout the Eastern Hemisphere including those mentioned in the standard
Geographical influences that permitted these civilizations to flourish
HERE WE GO!!!
Task #1: What is a civilization?
To start off, I would like you to take five minutes to answer the question, "What is a civilization?" Start a list and write down anything that you think answers that question. Think of the civilization that you live in, what are its' characteristics? Or what do you think makes it a civilization?
When I instruct you to, log in to your bubbl.us account and chart your ideas on a new "Mind Map". After you have your bubbles completed, share it with a partner and combine both of your thoughts on your Mind Maps. You will have 10 minutes to discuss and display your thoughts.
When all groups are complete, we will then convene to form a class Mind Map displaying what we think a civilization is.
Now that we have been learning about the Ancient Egyptian civilization we are going to go on a quick virtual field trip. I want you to use Google Maps and take a tour of the Valley of the Kings. For this task I want you to keep in mind the characteristics we have discussed that a civilization must have in order to be a true civilization. On your field trip, I would like you to take notes on a Google Doc to be shared with me, explaining what you have found on your trip and how it relates to the different characteristics of a civilization.
For your third task of this unit you are going to be creating an interactive poster. Choose one of the four civilizations that we have been studying and prove that they are qualified to be a civilization. We have learned seven characteristics that make a civilization. You are going to use Glogster and include at least five of them to showing that your civilization is true. Please include at least one video on your poster please.
Your final task for this unit is to have fun and be creative by making your own temple. We are going to be using Google SketchUp to construct your own temple. Pretend that you are the pharaoh or the emperor of a great civilization and construct your own temple. This is going to be yours so be unique. Think of the reasons ancient civilizations built these grand temples and the purposes that they served to the citizens. I even made my own temple. Click on the link below to view it!
To complete this unit, I would like for you to share one of your creations on our Edublog along with a brief summary answering the question: "What is a civilization?"