UNIT 1 Pre-History, River Civilizations
Bremen School District
228
Social Studies Department Course: World
Civilization
Unit Title: River
Civilizations
Grade Level: Sophomore
Time Frame: 2 Weeks
Date Created: spring 2014 Date Modified: 2013-14
Topic Areas: Egypt & the
Fertile Crescent
Unit Designers:
Link to State Standards:
15.A.2a - Explain how economic systems decide what goods and services are produced, how they are
produced and who consumes them.
15.B - Understand that scarcity necessitates choices by consumers.
15.C - Understand that scarcity necessitates choices by producers.
15.D - Understand trade as an exchange of goods or services.
15.E - Understand the impact of government policies and decisions on production and consumption in the
economy.
17.A.1a - Identify physical characteristics of places, both local and global (e.g., locations, roads, regions,
bodies of water).
17.A.2a - Compare the physical characteristics of places including soils, land forms, vegetation, wildlife,
climate, natural hazards.
17.A.3a - Explain how people use geographic markers and boundaries to analyze and navigate the Earth
(e.g., hemispheres, meridians, continents, bodies of water).
17.B.2a - Describe how physical and human processes shape spatial patterns including erosion, agriculture
and settlement.
17.B.2b - Explain how physical and living components interact in a variety of ecosystems including desert,
prairie, flood plain, forest, tundra.
17.B.3a - Explain how physical processes including climate, plate tectonics, erosion, soil formation, water
cycle, and circulation patterns in the ocean shape patterns in the environment and influence availability and
quality of natural resources.
17.B.4b - Analyze trends in world demographics as they relate to physical systems.
17.C.1a - Identify ways people depend on and interact with the physical environment (e.g., farming,
fishing, hydroelectric power).
17.C.1b - Identify opportunities and constraints of the physical environment.
17.C.2a - Describe how natural events in the physical environment affect human activities.
17.C.2b - Describe the relationships among location of resources, population distribution and economic
activities (e.g., transportation, trade, communications).
17.C.3a - Explain how human activity is affected by geographic factors.
17.C.3c - Analyze how human processes influence settlement patterns including migration and population
growth.
17.C.4c - Explain how places with various population distributions function as centers of economic activity
(e.g., rural, suburban, urban).
17.C.5a - Compare resource management methods and policies in different regions of the world.
17.C.5c - Describe geographic factors that affect cooperation and conflict among societies.
17.D - Understand the historical significance of geography.
18.A - Compare characteristics of culture as reflected in language, literature, the arts, traditions and
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institutions.
18.B.1a - Compare the roles of individuals in group situations (e.g., student, committee member,
employee/employer).
18.B.1b - Identify major social institutions in the community.
18.B.2b - Describe the ways in which institutions meet the needs of society.
18.A.3b - Explain how social institutions contribute to the development and transmission of culture.
18.C.1 - Describe how individuals interacted within groups to make choices regarding food, clothing and
shelter.
18.C.2 - Describe how changes in production (e.g., hunting and gathering, agricultural, industrial) and
population caused changes in social systems.
18.C.4a - Analyze major cultural exchanges of the past (e.g., Colombian exchange, the Silk Road,
the Crusades).
Link to Common Core Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.3 Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine
whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.
Summary of Unit:
This unit will focus on the role geography plays in the development of civilizations.
Resources: SS Web Site
Key Words
location of major early civilizations
how writing developed
monotheism
polytheism
nomad
Sumerians
Egypt
Pharaoh
pyramids
laws
Mesopotamia
Bronze Age
Old, Middle, New Kingdoms of Egypt
Theocracy
cuneiform
mummification
Ur
Barter System
Babylon
irrigation
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domestication
dynasty
divine right theory
empire
Indus-Ganges
Yangtze-Huang He
Tigris-Euphrates
Hammurabi
Trade
STAGE 1: IDENTIFY DESIRED RESULTS
Meaning
Enduring
Understandings
Students will
understand that...
(What specifically
do you want
students to
understand? What
inferences should
they make?)
Students will understand that the development of civilizations is influenced by their
geography.
Students will understand that the River Civilizations provided the foundation for
organization and order.
●
Essential
Questions
Students will keep
considering...
(What thoughtprovoking
questions will
foster inquiry,
meaning-making,
and transfer?)
Application:
Interpretation:
What lasting contributions of ancient religions have affected the modern world of
today?
How did natural boundaries aid or detract from the growth or defense of ancient
civilizations?
Perspective:
Describe the role played by rivers in support of early civilizations?
Empathy:
How did early governments look from the point of view of: Rulers, religious leaders, slaves,
common citizens?
Interpretation:
How does Geography affect my world view related to my experiences in the south
suburbs of Chicago?
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Self-Knowledge:
Provide two reasons as to why early civilizatiosn settled near water.
STAGE 1: IDENTIFY DESIRED RESULTS
Acquisition
Knowledge
Students will know...
(What facts and basic concepts should students know and be able to recall?)
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how writing developed
monotheism
polytheism
nomad
Sumerians
Egypt
Pharaoh
pyramids
Mesopotamia
Bronze Age
Old, Middle, New Kingdoms of Egypt
Theocracy
cuneiform
Ur
Barter System
Babylon
irrigation
domestication
dynasty
divine right theory
empire
Tigris-Euphrates
Hammurabi
Trade
Skills
Students will be able to...
(What discrete skills and processes should students be able to use?)
●
●
●
●
●
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●
●
●
explain why we need laws.
explain why these places flourished.
identify the fertile crescent and origins of this name.
locate the Nile river and explain the importance it holds for Egypt.
explain what makes a civilization.
show the how Hammurabi's code works.
explain the major religions of this area.
explain how food production improvements impacted the development of civilization.
explain the caste system.
Misconceptions
(What are potential rough spots and student misunderstandings?)
● Students may struggle to grasp ideas pertianing to time periods in “pre-history”.
STAGE 3: LEARNING PLAN
What sequence of teaching and learning experiences will equip students
to develop and demonstrate the desired understandings?
W
How will you ensure that all students know where they are headed in the unit, why they are headed there, and
how they will be evaluated?
H
How will you hook students at the beginning of the unit?
E
R
E
T
O
What events will help students experience and explore the big idea and questions in the unit? How will you
equip them with needed skills and knowledge?
How will you cause students to reflect and rethink? How will you guide them in rehearsing, revising, and
refining their work?
How will you help students to exhibit and self-evaluate their growing skills, knowledge, and understanding
throughout the unit?
How will you tailor and otherwise personalize the learning plan to optimize the engagement and effectiveness of
ALL students, without compromising the goals of the unit?
How will you organize and sequence the learning activities to optimize the engagement and achievement of ALL
students?
Pre-Assessment
What pre-assessments will you use to check student's prior knowledge, skill levels, and potential misconceptions?
Progress Monitoring
How are you addressing misconceptions? How will students get feedback?
How are you addressing transition components? (SpEd)
Have students understand where the birthplace of human civilization began and how humans populated the world.
Then focus on how the Egyptians built a lasting civilization.
Unit 1 River Civilizations Stanford Reading Like a Historian “Did slaves build the Great Pyramid at
Giza?”
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Learning Events
Student success at transfer, meaning, and acquisition depends upon ...
-Use context/background information to draw more meaning from document
-Infer historical context from documents
-Recognize that document reflects one moment in changing past
-Understand that words must be understood in a larger context
Unit 1 River Civilizations Stanford Reading Like a Historian “Did slaves build the Great Pyramid at
Giza?”
6
).
7
Student Performance Task
Unit: Rivier Civilization
Task: Egyptian Pyramids
Course: World Civilizations
Time Frame: 1 Week
Enduring Understanding:
▪ Students will understand that although the Pyramids are considered magnificent and one of the
wonders of the ancient world, they were not constructed with the work of slaves.
▪ CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source;
provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
Essential Question:
▪
How were the Pyramids built?
Vignette:
Students will analyze five documents searching for historical and documentary evidence in
order to address the question of, “Did slaves build the Great Pyramid at Giza?”
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Standard: You will be graded on the following scale/rubric:
ELEMENTS
WORLD
HISTORY DBQ
ESSAY
Introduction and
claim 9-10.2(a)
Advanced
4
Proficient
3
Emerging
2
Not Yet
1
Provides
effective
analysis
and
argument
using
documents
.
Develops the
topic
somewhat
thoroughly by
selecting
arguments
from
documents.
Weak or
inappropriat
e analysis
and
argument
using
documents.
Inappropriat
e or wrong
analysis and
argument
made.
Missing
0
No analysis
or argument
Limited
analysis,
mostly
describes.
·
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.3 Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text;
determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.
9
Performance Task Blueprint
Unit:River Civilizations
Type:
Topic Area: Egypt
Time Frame: 1-2
days
Goal
Look at how five different documents from ancient Egypt and try to understand
how the Ancient Pyramids were constructed.
Role
Historian
Historical Journal
Audience
Situation
“What do you know about the Egyptian pyramids?”
Review background information on the Egyptian pyramids. There are 138
known Egyptian pyramids. They were constructed between approximately 2700
BCE and 600 BCE. Most were built as tombs for Pharaohs and their families.
The most famous pyramids are those at Giza, which include three pyramids and
the Great Sphinx. The pyramid of Khufu at Giza is the largest pyramid ever built.
For centuries, historians and archeologists have debated how the pyramids were
built. Remember, these pyramids were some of the largest structures in the
world and were built several thousand years before modern technology.
Although historians and archeologists still study the construction of the
pyramids, they agree that this process involved tens of thousands of workers
working across two to three decades on each. Construction involved cutting,
moving, and setting large stones with chisels, ropes, oxen, and ramps. Another
question debated by historians and archeologists is whether or not slaves built the
pyramids. This is the question that we are going to explore today. Did slaves
build the Great Pyramid at Giza?
Final Claim Written Paragraph:
Product or
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Performance
After reading all five documents, answer the question “Did slaves build the Great
Pyramid at Giza?” Make sure to use historical evidence to support your
argument. What other types of evidence might you consult to further investigate
this
question?
Complete Graphic Organizer questions from four different historians. Have
students include the definition of words and phrases as they are used in the
documents. Include vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects
of history/social science.
Differentiated Version: Students with greater ability should read the full length
version of Doc A and Doc B (see below).
Standards
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or
secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the
course of the text.