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 Teacher
Tips for This Project
Introduction: How do
individuals shape the course of a civilization?
Tasks:
Students will research websites and use online tools to explore
how different factors affect the rise and fall of civilizations. They
will explore the basic influences of culture, geography, economics, ethics
and belief systems, political systems, and social systems [elements of
civilizations].
Students will gather, analyze, and evaluate information on
three gods of the ancient Greek civilization – Athena, Poseidon, and
Apollo. They will compare and contrast different philosophies, goals,
and personality traits as they relate to the six elements of civilization.
They will study the impact that each god/goddess would have on the future
of Greece.
Students will demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how
these elements affect the progress of civilizations by creating a
PowerPoint presentation to the Council of the Gods at the ancient
Acropolis. Their presentation will persuade the Council to choose
their candidate as Zeus’ successor.
First Steps:
- Teach
the Elements of Civilization
- Discuss scenario with
students.
- Assign teams of 3 or 4.
- Be sure students know that
they have to support their decision with information they gathered and
be able to defend their reasons for not selecting the other two.
Planning:
This unit assumes that the elements of civilization have
been introduced to the students previously. A review would be
helpful. The students will be able to hyperlink to an overview of the
elements.
Establish guidelines for teamwork. How will the teams
work together? What skills will they need to be successful? How
will they share jobs?
Preview and introduce web sites that
students will use.
Questioning:
In order to start the research you will need to have students understand
the Elements of Civilization
and how relevant questions might be written from each category. Do
some together as a class if you feel it is helpful.
Introduce the Note Sheet students
will use to collect information. Determine where students will save to and
demonstrate the saving process.
Gathering:
Students will need modeling and support to accomplish the
gathering of information.
Students will need the following technology skills to be
successful:
Make sure students know how to use the task bar at the bottom on the screen
to open multiple documents. Demonstrate minimizing screens instead of
closing commonly used documents. Show students how to navigate within each
website. Scroll down and preview most of the pages with the class, scan for
keywords, model reading captions and following links to find
information. Then demonstrate how to copy and paste info from
websites into their Note Sheet. Make sure you set expectations for how much
to copy and paste---short phrases, or keywords only!
You may wish to use the resources contained in Citing Sources for Writing & Research with your students. You will find models, stylesheets and online modules that will assist students in creating their own citations.
Sorting & Sifting:
Highlighting in
Word-(Your students will need to use these steps)
·
Locate the highlight button by clicking
on the “More Buttons” icon on the far right side of the formatting toolbar.
Select color desired.
·
Use the mouse to select the text to be
highlighted.
·
Click the highlight button. Text will be highlighted
This is a
checkpoint. Students will show
evidence that they have completed the task.
Synthesizing:
Students will need to summarize their most critical
information using the Strengths
and Weaknesses chart. If they have done a complete job, they should be
able to make a decision on the most qualified candidate. If they have incomplete
information, they may need to revisit the questioning, gathering, or
sorting & sifting steps.
This is a normal part of the research process and should not be
ignored.
Evaluating:
This is a checkpoint.
Students will decide if their decision is supported by the
information on their Notes Sheet and the Strength and Weaknesses
chart. They will look at and
use the Process Rubric to evaluate their
teamwork.
Reporting:
If you are not confident with the use of PowerPoint, contact
your building Library Media Specialist. Also check the document “PowerPoint Basics” found by
opening your district email, Click on Public Folders/All Public
Folders/Technology Tips & How-to’s/PowerPoint. You will see a file called
PowerPoint 2000 Basics. You may also find that there are students in your
class that can serve as mentors.
Warning: Students can get carried away with
the animations available to them in PowerPoint. Content and communication of the message should be
stressed. Some limits may need
to be placed on the use of “bells and whistles.”
Schedule a time, equipment and a place for teams to give
their presentation to the Council of Gods. You may wish to develop this
activity to include a final election or selection of the successor to Zeus.
Reflection:
Lead the students in completing the reflection activity. Please give your own feedback on
this experience by completing the Teacher
Feedback Form and sending it by email to Nancy Messmer in Library,
Media & Technology. Your
comments will be used for future updates to this project.
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