Summary
In this lesson, students will analyze ancient civilizations to understand how the environment impacts both human settlement and the characteristics of a civilization. Students will construct PERSIA graphic organizers of the civilization they live in and compare their civilizations with the ancient civilizations they have analyzed. This is a multimodality lesson, which means it includes face-to-face, online, and hybrid versions of the lesson. The attachments also include a downloadable Common Cartridge file, which can be imported into a Learning Management System (LMS) such as Canvas or eKadence. The cartridge includes interactive student activities and teacher's notes.
Essential Question(s)
What are the characteristics of a civilization? Why do civilizations develop in certain locations? How do modern civilizations compare to ancient civilizations?
Snapshot
Engage
Students examine a map to determine the best place to settle down.
Explore
Students explore how rivers supported the development of early civilizations.
Explain
Students examine elements of civilization by analyzing ancient river valley civilizations.
Extend
Students examine elements of their own civilization.
Evaluate
Students complete an Exit Ticket comparing elements of ancient civilizations to their own.
Instructional Formats
The term "Multimodality" refers to the ability of a lesson to be offered in more than one modality (i.e. face-to-face, online, blended). This lesson has been designed to be offered in multiple formats, while still meeting the same standards and learning objectives. Though fundamentally the same lesson, you will notice that the different modalities may require the lesson to be approached differently. Select the modality that you are interested in to be taken to the section of the course designed for that form of instruction.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Large paper or use of a whiteboard
PERSIA Graphic Organizer (attached, one per group and one per student)
Double PERSIA Graphic Organizer (attached, one per group and one per student)
Ancient River Valley Civilizations Packet (attached, one civilization per group)
Exit Ticket (attached, one per student)
Engage
10 Minute(s)
Use the attached Lesson Slides to follow along with the lesson.
Show slide 3. Give students time to read the essential questions before reading them aloud. Ask students to think about these questions as they progress through the lesson.
Why do civilizations develop in certain locations?
What are the characteristics of civilization?
How do modern civilizations compare to ancient civilizations?
Show slide 4: Review the lesson objectives with students:
Explain how the environment influences human settlement.
Identify the elements of civilization
Show slide 5. Have students examine the topographical map from Google Earth. Ask students to imagine they are a group of nomadic people looking for a place to settle down. Using the image, ask students to pick a location to settle. Have them use coordinates on the image to pick a location (for example, A5).
Give students time to discuss in groups the locations they have chosen. Ask for volunteers to share the locations they have chosen and explain why they picked those locations.
Explore
15 Minute(s)
Show slide 6. Explain that the map shows the locations of four ancient civilizations.
Show slide 7. Ask students to think about the location of each civilization. After giving them a couple of minutes to examine the map, ask students to answer the following questions in their groups. Ask volunteers to share group responses. Have the whole class discuss their answers.
What do the locations of each civilization have in common?
What natural resources supported these civilizations?
In addition to fresh water, what other resources would people need to settle in a location.
Show slide 8 and review the preview questions for the video, which is three minutes long. The video explains how the discovery of farming changed human settlement. Ask students to think about the following questions as they view the video:
How do the locations of the river valley civilizations support farming?
How does the video suggest that farming leads to creating a civilization?
After students have watched the video, have them discuss the questions in their groups. Ask volunteers to share their thoughts with the whole class.
Show slide 9. Ask students to think about the word "civilization." Have them develop a definition for "civilization" in their groups; then ask for volunteers to share the definition they developed.
After listening to student’s definitions, show slide 10. Read or ask a volunteer to read the formal definition of "civilization." Remind students they will learn more about civilization by examining in detail four ancient civilizations. As they study the ancient civilizations, have students to look for the characteristics of civilization.
Explain
30 Minute(s)
Assign groups to examine one of the four civilizations identified in the Ancient River Valley Civilizations Packet.
Use the attached Ancient River Valley Civilizations Packet and pass out a reading about one of the four civilizations to each group.
Show slide 11. Pass out the attached PERSIA Graphic Organizer, one for each group. Explain the strategy to students.
Have students read about the civilization they were assigned. Instruct them to fill in the information on the PERSIA handout as they read.
After students have finished their assigned reading and assigned PERSIA graphic organizer parts, have them go to the large paper or whiteboard and list the information for their civilization under the corresponding PERSIA category. Ask students to include the name of the civilization they are detailing under the PERSIA category paper.
After all six PERSIA parts for all four civilizations have been recorded at the front of the class, have a class discussion about the similarities that can be found among the four civilizations. Discuss how the physical geography of the region influenced the settlement of people in each of the four locations.
Extend
30 Minute(s)
Show slide 12. Have students individually create a PERSIA Graphic Organizer examining the civilization that they live in today. Allow students sufficient time to complete each PERSIA category with information from their own civilization.
After allowing time for students to create a PERSIA Graphic Organizer over their own civilization, have them discuss their completed charts in their groups. Ask students to look for similarities and differences between their PERSIA Graphic Organizers. Ask for volunteers from each group to share the commonalities they listed in their own PERSIA charts and have a class discussion about characteristics of today’s civilization.
Evaluate
10 Minute(s)
For their capstone activity, students will complete an exit ticket by answering the following question:
How have civilizations changed over time?
Students can use the completed PERSIA Graphic Organizers analyzing ancient civilizations and their completed PERSIA Graphic Organizer on today’s civilization to respond to the question.
Collect the student’s individual PERSIA Graphic Organizer and the exit ticket to assess student understanding.
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). Padlet. Tech Tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/1077