WHAP 9: Common Core Unit – Technological and Environmental
Transformations (Prehistory  600BCE)
Grade: 9th Grade
Topic: Technological and Environmental Transformations (Prehistory600BCE)
NYS Learning Standards:
CCSS:
Standard 2: World History
Standard 3: Geography
Standard 4: Economics
Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, Government
RH-Reading History: 1-10
WHST-Writing in History/Social Studies: 1-6,8-10
Essential Questions:
1. What is the relationship between early humans and their geographic environments?
2. What are the major characteristics of nomadic society?
3. What changes in human society were brought about by the Neolithic revolution?
4. What are the key components of sedentary societies?
5. Why did sedentary life lead to the formation of complex institutions an d what role did they play?
6. What do the early civilizations have in common?
7. What are the key points of distinctions between the civilizations of this period?
8. Why this periodization?
Vocabulary
A. Content/Domain/Text-Specific Vocabulary
B. Academic Vocabulary
Demography
Neolithic
Migration
Pastoralism
Paleolithic
Patriarchal
Agrarian
Arable
Bureaucracy
Commerce
Deity
Hierarchy
Diffusion
Facilitate
Famine
Innovation
Institution
Pantheon
Polytheism
Reincarnation
Sedentary
Specialization
Topics/Key Concepts
1. Big Geography and the Peopling of the Earth
2. Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies
3. Development and Interactions of Early Agricultural, Pastoral, and Urban Societies
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Required Anchor Documents/Texts/Resources
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Primary Textbook: Bentley, Jerry H., Herbert F. Ziegler, Traditions and Encounters. 3rd. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2006. (SS)
Epic of Gilgamesh (PS)
Judgments of Hammurabi (PS)
Popul Vuh (PS)
Lawbook of Manu (PS)
Vedas/Upanishads (PS)
Great Hymn to Aten (PS)
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel, Chapter 5 – 6 (SS)
Common Core Aligned Writing Task
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Students will independently read the Primary Source Document – The Epic of Gilgamesh
The teacher will then lead students through concise, text-dependent questions that compel students to reread
specific portions of the primary source document.
Students will discover how we will gain new perspectives on historical events by close and repeated readings
of primary source documents.
Supplemental Documents/Texts/Resources:
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Book of the Dead/Pyramid Text
Old Testament Readings
Jared Diamond, Collapse, “The Collapse of the Maya”
Dao Dejing
The Classic of History, China
Documents in World History – Volumes I and II, Stearns, Peter M., Stephen S. Gosch, and Erwin P.
Greishaber.
 “Egypt Engineering an Empire” – Video Resource
Suggested Activities:
Selected Activities/Assessments (such as but not limited to):
 Students will read chapters 1-6 of Traditions and Encounters
 Students will develop a chart for each river valley civilization using SPRITE (Social, Political,
Religious, Intellectual, Technological, Economic).
 Document Based Question: Analysis of the development of early political systems based on historical
documents and images.
 Historical Source Document Analysis: Students will create an APPARTS chart and analyze the
document “The Great Hymn to Aten.”
 Students will read chapter from Diamond “To Farm or Not to Farm” and discuss the historian’s
interpretation of the origins of agriculture.
 Engineering an Empire: Evaluate the construction of Egyptian pyramids and monumental architectural
feats.
 Comparative Essay: Students will write a comparative essay in which they compare the political, social
and economic components of any two early river valley civilizations.
 Historical Source Document Analysis: Hammurabi’s Code – Students will analyze excerpts from the
Code and make inferences about Mesopotamian society and the nature of law.
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Formative Assessments:
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Questioning Strategies
Class Discussion
Guided Questions for Source Readings
Chapter Quizzes
Summative Assessments:
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Comparative Essay (Chapters 1-4)
Multiple Choice Unit Test (Chapters 1-6)
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