World History I
POST SOL PROJECTS
Objective: While much of what we learn in ancient history may seem as if it is boring, and holds
no connections to the current world, we have designed projects to prove that thought notion
wrong. Your objective for this project will be to select a topic that interests you, and using your
knowledge from this year, connect the ancient world to our world today in a number of different
ways. There is an option to fit any type of idea and you have a wide array of options within
each choice. The question becomes how well you can apply the things you have learned
throughout this school year.
Required Materials: The materials needed for these projects are minimal. There is no online
research required. The information from your book and from our notes will be sufficient.
Technology can be used in class and the school Wi-Fi will be available for collaboration in
different ways. You will need to be able to form opinions, express those opinions and provide
references to back up your ideas.
Grading: Your project grade will be determined on a number of different rubric categories, all
of which are provided at the end of this packet. Requirements will include proof of analysis and
reference, proof of collaboration, and proof of specific skills in areas that we have practiced this
year, such as writing, technology use and presentation. You will be required to present your
project upon completion of the assignment as a portion of the grade.
READ THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS AND START THINKING OF THE POSSIBILITES
TOPIC OPTIONS & EXPLANATIONS
Option 1: THE PERFECT SOCIETY
After studying numerous different empires, societies and civilizations, how do you think the perfect ancient
society would/should work? How should the political structure work and what type of leadership style should be
used? How should laws be created and enforced, or should there be any laws at all? What will fuel your
economy and how will the geography of your area enable or inhibit this idea? And finally, how will your society
run and be organized? Will there be one organized religion or religious tolerance? Will your social ladder be
determined by wealth or by religious ideal? So many things go into a society, but you must choose the "BEST"
and formulate your society, as well as explain why these options chosen would be the best practices to follow.
Your civilization must include a name, flag, motto, visual and P.E.R.S.I.A.N. parts (P-politics, E-economy, R-religion,
S-social structure, I-intellect [education], A-art, N-near [location]).
Option 2: EMPIRES OF THE WORLD
In the long history we have covered, many different groups have controlled the same pieces of land. The
goal of this project is to make a VISUAL representation of every group that has controlled every piece of land
AND in the chronological order that they did this. This should start with the Early River Valley Civilizations and
go through the Middle Ages (at a minimum). After creating your visual representation in a clear and
understandable way, you will then analyze the areas that were MOST affected and why these areas were
fought over so consistently. As you analyze these areas, think about if there is any connection to where (and why)
we continue to fight for lands today?
Option 3: RE-WRITE HISTORY
Choose a time or an event in history and give a quick summary of what ACTUALLY happened. Then, take
that event and CHANGE a piece of the event, and THEORIZE what would have happened following your change.
You will need to analyze each change (at least 7) that you’ve theorized about being a possibility and why you
think your change would have caused those new events to happen. You must be able to rationalize why the
differences would have happened, which should be based on PAST history, not things we have seen recently.
After theorizing the differences of the past, change your focus to our current lives and how an event from so long
ago could have changed our lives today. You must include a visual representation for each of the 7 changes
made.
Option 4: HISTORY THROUGH ANOTHER'S EYES
We have been given a vision of history that is looked at from the "outside looking in," meaning we look
merely at what historians thought were the main points, effects, and importance of an event. For this project, you
will look at an event in history through a SPECIFIC set of eyes of your choice. You could choose the "eyes" of the
leader who is in power, a soldier fighting during a war, a peasant being worked to the bone, or anything in
between. You will be required to take in and explain what they may have experienced visually, what they may
have heard, said, or even what they felt as well as analyze why they could or would have felt this way (based
on your knowledge of history). Again, you will be required to use examples from past history to help prove your
opinions. If you want to represent more than one group, you may. You must reproduce what they would have
seen. In addition to the 4 visual pieces, you must also include an auditory, feelings, and speech piece for a total
of 7 pieces.
Option 5: WEBSITE CREATION
Some of you have incredible technical skills when it comes to computers and technology, and we want to
put that to use. For this project, you will be required to choose an event, person or other topic and create a full
and interactive website to teach people about your chosen topic. Your website should have an opinionated topic
or thesis statement and from there you should refer to what we have learned to prove your point(s). An example
would be something like… Julius Caesar – greatest leader of Rome and History.
Option 6: HISTORICAL TRADING CARDS
Back in the day, people used to collect all sorts of trading cards from baseball to football, and even
Comic Book character cards. The point of the cards was to give a short history of the person or event, and gave
statistical information about each as well. When constructing these cards, you should create a full historical set of
100 Trading Cards, as well as Special Edition or other "Special" cards to add to your set. There should be a
minimum of 125 cards total when you are finished with the project. Each card should be accurate, informative,
and requires an original graphic (graphic created by you) on the front, along with the name of the event, person
or achievement. Examples can be provided if needed for ideas.
Option 7: RECREATING HISTORY VISUALLY
Throughout history, artists, painters and writers have used their skills to create a visual representation or
message of a person, event or achievement that has occurred. For this assignment, you will be required to do the
same in some way. You must not only create an original visual portrayal of the topic chosen FROM THE
VIEWPOINT OF SOMEONE IN THAT TIME PERIOD, as well as an explanation of what the portrayal depicts and
why you created your depiction this way to describe your event (what is its meaning). Be sure you also provide
a summary of the topic chosen to give the viewer context for your portrayal and whose "eyes" the depiction is
coming from, and why. You must have at least 5 works of art in your collection.
Option 8: RECREATING HISTORY THROUGH AUDIO
Much as the option above redoes history from a visual aspect, this project will require an audio creation.
You again will take a person, event or achievement and create an audio story, podcast, or any other type of
audio file that tells the story of your topic through someone’s eyes other than a historian. This option allows you
to make an original song (you may steal the music, but words must be original) or even create a radio broadcast
discussing the topic like sports talk radio does. Through your presentation, you should express the opinions based
on the people in that time period and not today, as if you were that group of people. The audio created must
be at least 7 minutes but no more than 10 minutes.
Option 9: HISTORICAL REDO
Everyone believes that teaching is easy and if they could teach it they would do it a better way. This
option gives you that chance! For any of you that think you want to be an educator, this option is your chance to
design your perfect lesson. You create the notes presentations, the activities, the note sheets and the worksheets
as well as the assessment at the end of the unit. Choose any unit that we have covered, or choose a topic we did
not spend much time on and teach it. Be sure to include what the students should get out of your lesson and what
they should be able to do. These objectives should be clear. Consider in your plan the need to help those that
learn at different levels or speeds and how you will achieve the desired end-goal. *See me if you need help!*
Option 10: IF YOU BUILD IT… IT’S HISTORY!!
Some of you are incredibly talented at building things from many different media. This project allows
you to do just that by taking a topic from history and creating it with your own 2 hands. Your creation should be
intricate and detailed and be relatively self-explanatory (people should know what it is or what it is referring to
without explanation). When completed with your construction, you will need to write a short history (minimum 1
page typed) of your topic and what its historical importance was, as well as why you chose to build this and the
effect it has had on you. Please also add a description of HOW you built it; a general step by step process.
Option 11: SOCIAL MEDIA IN ANCIENT HISTORY
Today we live in a world where social media connects the entire world in a global manner, but also
isolates people, encouraging people to think or care only about themselves. For this project you will take a
person, event, time period or empire and explain all the ways that having social media could have changed
history if it was available then. Be sure to give specific examples of what would be used, who it would be aimed
at, and the effect for the person using it as well as the effect of those receiving the message. These examples
and descriptions of their effects should be detailed and specific to each group, not general statements. Try to put
yourself in the shoes of the people you are theorizing about. Think about whether the impact of having social
media, or being exposed to social media messages would impact them -- write from their point of view.
Option 12: PROPAGANDA
Throughout modern history propaganda campaigns have fueled people's decisions and actions by
manipulating peoples’ emotions. Those who create propaganda campaigns feed off of half-truths and outlandish
statements made from small amounts of data and theory. Choose a time in history and create a propaganda
campaign for that person, event, or empire to incite strong feelings from the people to support, or oppose your
chosen topic. Be sure to visually create your propaganda pieces (visual or audio) as well as explain in detail the
expected result from the different groups of the population and the world. Describe how, if your campaign
were to be successful, how this could have reshaped history. You must have at least 5 visual pieces and 2
auditory pieces for your propaganda campaign.
Option 13: SOCIAL TABOOS
In today's society there are things some people find to be unacceptable (same sex marriage, genetic
mutation, sex on tv, etc.) and respond very passionately for or against those ideas. Take a trip back into a time
in ancient history to find a topic that was considered taboo (unaccepted) and explain why it was viewed in this
way. After explaining how it was viewed then, and why, compare it to the reactions people have to an idea of
today and then explain how people today can learn from the ideas of the past. Your opinion can be for or
against the taboo of the past and today (will not affect grade) but should address not a personal opinion but
rather the effect on the general public. This cannot be from your assumptions, you will be required to use past
historical information to prove your points. You must discuss at least 5 social taboos.
Option 14: ANCIENT WORLD VS. CURRENT WORLD
Compare any two leaders, events, eras, empires, inventions, philosophies, or anything else from ancient
times to something today and then compare them to something similar of today. Be sure to look at all the
possible similarities between your two topics and be sure to explain why they are similar, especially if things
have changed numerous times over the years. Finally, after comparing your two topics, analyze what we can
learn from these similarities that are so spread apart chronologically. If history truly repeats itself, how do we
get it to happen again (if it's a good thing) or stop it from reoccurring (if it's a bad thing).
Option 15: HISTORICAL TOP 10
Create a list of the Top 10 Anything - people, inventions, events, mistakes, etc. and explain why they
rank in this way. The descriptions of why something is #1 or #10, you must explain why it is better than the one
that’s below it or why it is not as important as the one above it. Each explanation should explain how this fits into
your top 10 list and why it is so historically important. Lists should start from 10 and work up to the most
important and the number 1 item should have a significantly better description of what makes it #1 over all the
others. While these lists will be opinion in nature, their reasoning should be mostly factual or accurate when being
used. Saying something is great “because it's awesome” is unacceptable and has no factual or accurate basis.
Give reasons and analysis as to why.
GENERAL PROJECT GRADING RUBRIC – 200 points total
USE THE FOLLOWING RUBRIC TO PROPERLY CREATE AND PRESENT YOUR
PROJECT AND PRESENTATION. QUESTIONS WILL VARY SLIGHTLY FROM
PROJECT TO PROJECT SO ADJUST ACCORDINGLY.
Rubric
Unsatisfactory
Category
Collaboration
0-3 POINTS
20 Points
Presentation fails to
Possible
meet the requirements
of the proficient levels.
Use of
Technology
20 Points
Possible
0-3 POINTS
Use of technology fails
to meet the requirements
of the proficient levels.
Proficient
Advanced
Mastery
4-8 POINTS
Students work
together in creation
of the separate
parts of the project
with little
interaction and
sharing of ideas
and opinions.
Students also fail to
inquire amongst the
group over proper
historical
information and are
disconnected on
purpose or mission
of the project.
4-8 POINTS
1. Students are
able to use
technology in the
creation of their
9-14 POINTS
Students work well
together in a group
and coordinate
information,
technology,
opinions, and make
connections, but do
not consistently
come to opinions
and ideas together
as a team.
Specific members
may dominate the
workload.
15-20 POINTS
Students, equally and
consistently, work
together and
collaborate to
coordinate information,
incorporate technology,
create and analyze
opinions on accurate
historical evidence, and
to make consistent and
accurate connections
between ancient and
current history.
9-14 POINTS
1. Students are
able to use
technology in the
production and
15-20 POINTS
1. Students are able to
maximize their use of
technology in the
production and
Points
Earned
assignment, but fail
to use collaborative
mediums or ask for
clarification or help
on how to use the
technology to
better collaborate.
2. Technology is
used in the most
basic forms and no
attempts at using
any new or
innovative forms of
technology to the
group.
Analysis of
Opinion
30 Points
Possible
Accuracy of
Historical
Information
presentation of the
final project, not be
research of the
internet, but rather the
sharing of information
across different
mediums (Google
Drive, email, Prezi, etc.)
that allow all members
to collaborate on a
singular project. 2.
Technology is used in
unique and innovative
ways to create the
project, such as
video/audio
production, website
creation, visual
graphics, and other
mediums are all
acceptable.
19-24 POINTS
Historical
information
referenced by the
group is partially
correct, but
includes minor
errors in
information,
understanding or
time period.
25-30 POINTS
Historical information
referenced by the
group is accurate and
topical to the ideas
being presented by the
group.
0-9 POINTS
Presentation fails to
meet the requirements
of the proficient levels.
10-18 POINTS
1. Thoughts and
opinions created in
the presentation
are mildly thought
provoking and
have little to no
depth or detail to
them. Thoughts are
mostly
unsubstantiated
and little
collaboration or
group thought is
evident in the ideas
created.
0-9 POINTS
Presentation fails to
meet the requirements
of the proficient levels.
10-18 POINTS
Numerous historical
inaccuracies are
evident as well as
multiple
misunderstanding
and chronological
errors.
0-3 POINTS
Presentation fails to
4-8 POINTS
9-14 POINTS
Few connections are Connections
30 Points
Possible
Connection
Between
presentation of the
project, but focus
more on internet
sources and
generic forms of
presentation such
as PowerPoint,
Microsoft Word or
other basic
technology.
2. Students use
technology
separately and
only collaborate
partially in the
creation of the
final project and
only minor attempts
are made to
integrate different
forms/styles of
technology.
19-24 POINTS
1. Thoughts and
opinions created in
the presentation
are thought
provoking but lack
depth or detail.
Thoughts and
opinions are based
by some historical
information, but
only loosely and
limited
collaboration is
evident in the ideas
presented.
25-30 POINTS
1. Thoughts and
opinions created in the
presentation are well
thought out and
provocative to the
reader/viewer.
Thoughts and opinions
are also well
explained and
referenced through the
use of accurate
historical evidence and
show a collaborative
effort into creation of
the ideas presented.
15-20 POINTS
Accurate and
History and
Today
meet the requirements
of the proficient levels.
made between the
two historical time
periods and the
connections made
lack analysis and
thoroughness.
between time
periods are made
throughout but lack
consistent analysis
and thorough
explanation.
informative connections
between historical time
periods are made
numerous times and
are analyzed and
explained correctly
and thoroughly
throughout the
presentation.
0-9 POINTS
Ms. Moronta had to
remind you and/or
partner to stay on task
consistently throughout
the project. Rarely used
class time
appropriately.
10-17 POINTS
Group members
inconsistently use
class time
appropriately and
efficiently in
completion of the
present
18-23 POINTS
Group members
usually use the
given class time
efficiently to
complete the
presentation.
24-30 POINTS
All group members use
all given class time
wisely and efficiently
to complete their
projects and
presentations.
0-3 POINTS
Presentation fails to
meet the requirements
of the proficient levels.
4-8 POINTS
1. Presentation
shows little to no
group participation
and looks like
separate parts
pieced together.
9-14 POINTS
1. Presentation
shows all members
were invested but
at varying levels of
participation.
2. Collaboration
and teamwork are
apparent, but some
presenters know
the project better
than others in the
group.
15-20 POINTS
1. Presentation shows
that both, or all,
members of the group
were fully invested in
the creation of the
presentation.
2. Collaboration and
teamwork are shown
through each member
having an equal and
important role in each
piece of the
presentation.
18-23 POINTS
1. Presentation is
organized and
edited and
displayed well, but
minor issues are
apparent.
2. Information
presented and
opinions are
referenced with
some historical
evidence but lack
detail.
3. Project has some
minor errors
(grammatical or
otherwise).
24-30 POINTS
1. Presentation by the
group is well
developed, edited,
and displayed
professionally. 2.
Information presented
is accurate and
opinions are
referenced with proper
historical evidence. 3.
Project displaying
mastery will be free of
mistakes (grammatical
or otherwise) and will
flow without issue.
20 Points
Possible
Work Ethic in
Classroom
30 Points
Possible
Presentation
(Team effort)
20 Points
Possible
2. Collaboration
and teamwork is
not apparent, or at
a minimal level and
at least one
member has only a
minute role in
presenting.
Presentation
(Quality &
Delivery)
30 Points
Possible
0-9 POINTS
Presentation fails to
meet the requirements
of the proficient levels.
10-17 POINTS
1. Presentation is
not organized and
put together but is
free of major
issues.
2. Information
presented and
opinions show little
reference to
historical fact.
3. Project has major
errors (grammatical
or otherwise).
Project Proposal
1. Member’s Names:____________________________________
2. Project Option Chosen:_____________________
3. Topic Chosen:________________________
4. List the specific types of technology* that will be incorporated into your projects:
________________________________
5. Role Assignments- Below, list what each person will be responsible for. The duties must be
equal in terms of effort and time required.
Person 1- Name - ___________________
Person 2- Name-________________________
List of responsibilities
List of responsibilities
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. Below, briefly describe what your presentation will be like.
7. Below list the required elements to the project choice you have chosen. *Be aware, if
you need technology to complete the project, none will be provided to you*
8. Below list what you will be working on and hope to accomplish during the 5 in class
work days
POST SOL SCHEDULE – A day is listed first
May 24/25* – Intro Project – proposals due at the end of the block (25 class
points)
May 26/27 – Project
May 31/June 1 – Project
June 2/3 – Project
June 6/7 – last day to finalize Project
June 9/10 – Presentations (B day is listed first!)
June 13/14 – Presentations (B day is listed first!)
*3 hour block