As a representative of your home country, you recently attended a United Nations (UN) conference on the state of our modern global society.
The UN country representatives collectively decided that lessons could be learned on ideal societies from ancient civilizations such as:
Your job as a researcher for the UN is to find out about each of the ancient civilizations and make recommendations on 'the best' to the UN country representatives based on criteria of your choice. You must justify all your recommendations and make your sources of information clear.
Process
Activity 1
With your team, brainstorm which aspects of the ancient civilizations are important to research. For example, you might look at:
- Buildings
- Art
- Law and order
- Education
Think of at least 10 more to add to this list.
Present your ideas as a mind map or other graphic organiser.
Activity 2
Decide with your team how you will organise the information you find about the ancient civilizations.
Will you make a project book, a collection of notes, a leaflet or a PowerPointpresentation? Perhaps you would like to use a mind map or series of fact sheets. How about a podcast or some video clips? How about a mixture of these?
It's up to you!
Activity 3
Let's get started on finding out about the different civilizations.
On this page you will find links to some websites with information about the different civilizations. As you are using them, think about how reliable each source is - you will be assessed on this later. You need to be selective. Can you choose and use the most relevant information? Is it fit for purpose? Does it suit the format you have decided to present your information in?
A project by other students about the beliefs and customs of a range of Ancient Civilizations.
Egyptians
Scroll down to find lots of games and activities that will introduce you to various aspects of Egyptian life.
Lots of video clips on various aspects of the Egyptian civilization. Some have been produced by students.
Activities based on interactive games.
Website of the British Museum in London.
Detailed website with several video clips.
Egyptian terminology and meanings.
Description of Egyptian plagues.
Greeks
Lots of activities and information to help you get to know the Greeks.
Lots more information covering many aspects of life in Ancient Greece.
More detailed information than the two sites above.
List of Greek Gods and descriptions of each one.
Romans
Easy activities and information to introduce you to the Romans.
Activities on the Romans based on interactive games.
Links to lots of aspects of Roman life and society.
So much information you will need to be careful not to include too much!
Vikings
Easy to understand information with images and activities.
Information and a timeline of Viking history.
Detailed information and lots of reading for you to do!
Some interesting 'walk through' video clips.
Image of Viking Laws. If the link doesn't work try using a search engine.
A museum website with useful diagrams and video clips.
Mayans
A pdf document with lots of facts and large images.
Lots of links to different aspects of life in Mayan times.
A website made by school children.
Detailed information about the end of the Myan civilization - more difficult to read.
Activity 4
You've done the research so what next?
Which of the ancient civilizations would you judge to be the most successful based on what you found out?
What criteria are you using to judge success? You need to discuss them with your group and decide upon a list of criteria.
Using these criteria, you need to make recommendations to the United Nations representatives on:
- what our current society could learn from the past
- how we might benefit from their traditions in the future
Will you go for one civilization as the ultimate model of success, or 'cherry pick' by taking the best bits from several civilizations?
Activity 5
Present your recommendations to an audience.
Be prepared to give and receive feedback.
Conclusion
Activity 6
Assess your performance in this WebQuest.
Evaluation
This is how your work will be evaluated.
| Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5 | Level 6 |
|---|
| Understanding chronology | Understand that the past is divided into different periods of time. | Identify where each of the civilizations studied fits into a broad chronological framework. | Describe how each of the civilizations studied fits into a more detailed chronological framework. | Explain the chronology of each civilization within an overall chronological framework. |
|---|
| Events and people | Recognise some similarities and differences between the civilizations. | Describe some key features of these civilizations. | Describe people and key events of these civilizations. | Begin to analyse the nature and extent of people and events from these civilizations. |
|---|
| Diversity and change | Show knowledge of change within the time periods studied. | Identify change within and across periods of time. | Describe the nature and extent of diversity and change. | Begin to analyse the nature and extent of diversity and change. |
|---|
| Causes and consequences | Give 1 or 2 reasons for, and results of, some events and changes. | Give several reasons for, and results of, events and changes. | Begin to suggest links between causes and consequences. | Describe relationships between causes and consequences. |
|---|
| Ways of presenting the past | Identify some of the different ways in which the past is represented. | Describe different ways in which the past is represented. | Suggest some reasons for different interpretations of the past.
Begin to recognise that some things in history may be judged as more significant than others. | Begin to explain how and why different interpretations have arisen.
Explore criteria for making judgements about the past. |
|---|
| Information sources | Use information in ways that go beyond simple observation. | Begin to use information as evidence to test ideas and hypotheses. | Begin to evaluate sources and choose the most suitable information. | Evaluate sources for relevancy of information for particular topics. |
|---|
