UNIT 1 River Civilizations
Bremen School District
228
Social Studies Department Course:World History
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
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., Columbian 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: Reading Like a Historian (Stanford University, K Drive), Mini Qs (K Drive)
Key Words
location of major early civilizations
how writing developed
define monotheism
define polytheism
define nomad
Sumerians
Egypt
define Pharaoh
define pyramids
laws
Mesopotamia
Bronze Age
Old, Middle, New Kingdoms of Egypt
Theocracy
define cuneiform
mummification
identify Ur
Barter System
Babylon
define irrigation
define domestication
define dynasty
divine right theory
define empire
Indus-Ganges
Yangtze-Huang He
Tigris-Euphrates
identify Hammurabi
Trade
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
Application:
Explain:
Students will keep considering...
(What thought-provoking questions will foster inquiry, meaning-making, and transfer?)
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 worldview related to my experiences in the
south suburbs of Chicago?
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
define monotheism
define polytheism
define nomad
Identify the Sumerians
Egypt
Define Pharaoh
define pyramids
Identify Mesopotamia as the cradle of civilization
Bronze Age
Old, Middle, New Kingdoms of Egypt
define Theocracy
define cuneiform
understand the Barter System
Babylon
define irrigation
define domestication
define dynasty
divine right theory
define empire
Tigris-Euphrates
identify Hammurabi
Trade
Skills
Students will be able to...
(What discrete skills and processes should students be able to use?)
Common Core Reading Standard: 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.
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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 pertaining to time periods in “pre-history”.
STAGE 2: DETERMINE ACCEPTABLE EVIDENCE
Required Assessments (brief description)
Students will show that they really understand by evidence of...
(How will students demonstrate their understanding (meaning-making and transfer) through complex performance?)
● comparing scores on specific questions and topics in regards to Unit 1 on the Fall Pre-Test
and Semester 1 Post-Test
● comparing scores on individually created teacher assesments for Unit 1.
Other Assessments (brief description)
Students will show they have achieved Stage 1 goals by...
(What other evidence will you collect to determine whether Stage 1 goals were achieved?)
Projects: River Civilizations and Pyramid Project
Essays: DBQ #1 “How Did the Nile Shape Ancient Egypt”
Labs:
Portfolios:
Research:
Presentations:
Other:
Type I: DBQ (Essay #1) “How Did the Nile Shape Ancient Egypt”
(Nationally normed)
Type II: Assessment #1 (Fall Pre-Test)
(District-created)
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?”
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?”
Essential Questions at Topic Level
Use the six facets of understanding to generate possible essential questions for the topic of your threecircle audit (curricular priorities).
Student Performance Task
Unit: River 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?”
Standard: You will be graded on the following scale/rubric:
ELEMENTS
WORLD
HISTORY DBQ
ESSAY
Advanced
4
Proficient
3
Emerging
2
Not Yet
1
Introduction and
claim 9-10.2(a)
Provides
effective
analysis
and
argument
using
documents.
Develops the
topic somewhat
thoroughly by
selecting
arguments
from
documents.
Weak or
inappropriate
analysis and
argument
using
documents.
Inappropriate
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.
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
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). Students with a lower ability and skill
can answer the same questions with fewer than the full five documents.
Standards
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.
Egyptian Pyramids Lesson Plan
Central Historical Question:
Did slaves build the Great Pyramid at Giza?
Materials:
• Introductory PowerPoint
• Copies of Documents A-E
• Guiding Questions
• Graphic Organizer
Plan of Instruction:
Note: This lesson will likely take multiple class periods. Consider different ways for
students to work through these documents. For example, you might jigsaw the reading
of the documents here by assigning pairs of students one of the documents and sharing
Graphic Organizer information with one another. If you have time you might work
through these documents one at a time across consecutive days.
1) Introduction.
a. Display PowerPoint Slide 1. Have students free-write in response to the
prompt, “What do you know about the Egyptian pyramids?”
b. Share out responses.
2) Use PowerPoint slides to establish or review background information on the
Egyptian pyramids.
a. Slide 3: The Pyramids
i. There are 138 known Egyptian pyramids.
ii. They were constructed between approximately 2700 BCE and 600
BCE.
iii. Most were built as tombs for Pharaohs and their families.
iv. 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.
b. Slide 4: How were the pyramids built?
i. For centuries, historians and archeologists have debated how the
pyramids were built.
ii. Remember, these pyramids were some of the largest structures in
the world and were built several thousand years before modern
technology.
iii. 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
STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP sheg.stanford.edu
each. Construction involved cutting, moving, and setting large
stones with chisels, ropes, oxen, and ramps.
c. Slide 5: Who built the pyramids?
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.
d. Slide 6: Did slaves build the Great Pyramid at Giza?
3) Pass out Documents A and B along with the Organizing and Evaluating the
Evidence Graphic Organizer.
a. Before reading Document A, clarify for students that Cheops was an
Egyptian pharaoh who reigned between 2589–2566 BCE and oversaw
much of the building of the Giza pyramids.
Note: If students ask about the date of the textbook, hold off on answering
until the end of the lesson. We selected a textbook passage from 1959
because contemporary textbooks do not attribute the construction of the
pyramids to slaves. Instead, they may explain that today controversy
surrounds the question of who built the pyramids in light of the arguments
presented in Documents C-E.
b. In pairs, have students read the documents and answer the Guiding
Questions.
c. Share out. Make sure to establish the similarities between these accounts
and the wide expanse of time separating them.
d. As a class, guide students through filling out the Graphic Organizer.
Note: The primary evidence here is that Herodotus based his account on
stories told to him by the people he met on his travels.
4) Pass out Document C.
a. In pairs, have students read the documents and fill out the Graphic
Organizer.
b. Share out.
5) Pass out Document D.
a. In pairs, have students read the documents and fill out the Graphic
Organizer.
b. Share out.
6) Pass out Document E.
a. In pairs, have students read the documents and fill out the Graphic
Organizer.
b. Share out.
7) Final Claim: Do you think slaves built the Great Pyramid at Giza? Why or why
not? Make sure to use evidence from at least two of the documents in this lesson
to support your claim.
STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP sheg.stanford.edu
Citations
Document A
Herodotus, The Histories, translated by A.D. Godley (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
1920).
Document B
Platt, N. & Drummond, M. Our World Through the Ages (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall, 1959. Retrieved from:
http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng1
Document C
Katarina Kratovac, “New Discovery Shows Slaves Didn’t Build Pyramids, Egypt Says,”
Associated Press, January 11, 2010. Retrieved from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/11/new-discovery-shows-slave_n_419326.html
Document D
“Who Built the Pyramids,” February 4, 1997 Nova. Retrieved from:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/who-built-the-pyramids.html
Document E
Comments of Professor Mark Shiffman, First Things, March 3, 2011. Retrieved from:
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2011/03/03/maybe-the-egyptian-pyramids-werentbuiltby-union-workers-after-all/
STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP sheg.stanford.edu
Document A: Herodotus (Modified)
The following is an excerpt from The Histories written by the Greek
historian Herodotus in 440 BCE. Herodotus spent much of his life traveling
to collect information for his book. He based his history book on the stories
that the people in the places he visited reported to him.
The Egyptians told me that Cheops became king over the Egyptians and
brought about every kind of evil. He closed all the temples and forced all
the Egyptians to work for him. Some were forced to mine stones, and he
ordered others to move the stones after they had been carried over the
river in boats. They worked in groups of a hundred thousand men at a time,
and each group worked for three months continually. This was the making
of the [Great] pyramid, which itself took twenty years.
Document B: Textbook
This is an excerpt from a high school history textbook Our World Through
the Ages published in 1959.
At Giza stands the Great Pyramid. It has stood there for five thousand
years. It covers thirteen acres and stands nearly five hundred feet high. It
contains over two million blocks, most of which weigh about two tons. One
hundred thousand lash-driven men poured out their sweat and blood for
twenty years to complete this resting place which King Khufu considered fit
for his royal remains.
Corroboration Questions
1) According to both the textbook and Herodotus, who built the Great pyramid?
2) How long did it take?
3) How many people worked on the Great Pyramid?
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Document C: News Article on Zahi Hawass
Dr. Zahi Hawass is an Egyptian archaeologist. He has spent decades
excavating and analyzing areas around the pyramids. Below is an excerpt
from an article that appeared in many newspapers and magazines around
the world reporting some of Hawass’s recent findings.
Egypt displayed on Monday newly discovered tombs more than 4,000
years old and said they belonged to people who worked on the Great
Pyramids of Giza, putting the discovery forth as more evidence that slaves
did not build the ancient monuments.
The series of modest nine-foot-deep shafts held a dozen skeletons of
pyramid builders, perfectly preserved by dry desert sand along with jars
that once contained beer and bread meant for the workers’ afterlife.
Egypt’s archaeology chief Zahi Hawass said that discovery and the latest
finds last week show that the workers were paid laborers, rather than the
slaves of popular imagination.
Hawass said the builders came from poor Egyptian families from the north
and the south, and were respected for their work – so much so that those
who died during construction were bestowed the honor of being buried in
the tombs near the sacred pyramids of their pharaohs.
Their proximity to the pyramids and the manner of burial in preparation for
the afterlife backs this theory, Hawass said. “No way would they have been
buried so honorably if they were slaves,” he said.
Source: Katarina Kratovac, “New Discovery Shows Slaves Didn’t Build
Pyramids, Egypt Says,” Associated Press, January 11, 2010.
Vocabulary
modest: limited or small
bestow: to give as a gift or an honor
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Document D: Interview with Mark Lehrner (Modified)
Dr. Mark Lehrner is another leading archaeologist and has worked along
with Zahi Hawass for several years. Below is an excerpt from an interview
Lehrner gave in 1997 to the PBS show NOVA.
Question: You've made reference to inscriptions at Giza that indicate who
built the Pyramids. What do the inscriptions say?
Lehrner’s answer: One of the most compelling pieces of evidence we
have [of who built the pyramids] is graffiti on ancient stone monuments in
places that they didn't mean to be shown. For example, above the King's
chamber in the Great Pyramid, and in many monuments of the Old
Kingdom—temples, other pyramids. Well, the graffiti gives us a picture of
organization where a gang of workmen was organized into two crews, and
the crews were subdivided into five phyles. Phyles is the Greek word for
tribe.
The phyles are subdivided into divisions, and the divisions are identified by
single hieroglyphs with names that mean things like endurance,
perfection, strong. Okay, so how do we know this? You come to a block of
stone above the King's chamber. First of all, you see this cartouche of a
King and then some scrawls all in red paint after it. That's the gang name.
And in the Old Kingdom in the time of the Pyramids of Giza, the gangs
were named after kings. So, for example, we have a name . . . above the
King's chamber in the Great Pyramid, "the Friends of Khufu Gang." This
doesn't sound like slavery, does it?
Source: Mark Lehrner, “Who Built the Pyramids?” 1997.
Vocabulary
compelling: convincing
hieroglyphs: a writing system used by ancient Egyptians
cartouche: an oval hieroglyph used for names of Kings and Queens
STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP sheg.stanford.edu
Document E: Mark Shiffman
Dr. Mark Shiffman is a professor of Classical Studies at Villanova
University and teaches courses on the ancient world. The following excerpt
is from a comment he wrote online in response to claims that slaves built
the pyramids.
In other words, the workers (or at least some of them) were well fed and
not worked to death and got respectable tombs. . . .
So a certain proportion (maybe 25%?) of the workers were Egyptians of
high status, a large number of Egyptian peasants were ordered to come do
the hard labor, and we don’t know how many slaves may have been
employed in the work. Given the prevalence of slavery in the powerful
nations of the ancient world, it would be surprising if there were not a
significant number, and none of the evidence rules this out. On the other
hand, there seems so far to be no direct archaeological evidence for the
presence of slaves; but since they are not often honored with tombs, they
can be hard to trace.
Two things are worth noting in assessing the “no slaves” claim and the
evidence. One is that no one bothers to tell us in the broadcast sources
how many tombs specifically belonging to workers have been found and
what proportion of the workforce they might represent. One would have to
ask that direct question of a knowledgeable scholar or consult the
Egyptology technical literature.
Source: Comments of Professor Mark Shiffman, posted online on March 3,
2011.
Vocabulary
prevalence: common presence
proportion: part or portion
consult: ask
STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP
sheg.stanford.edu
Organizing and Evaluating the Evidence Documents Did slaves build the pyramids?
What evidence does this source use to
support its claim?
Do you find this evidence convincing?
Why or why not?
Doc A:
Herodotus
and
Doc B:
Textbook
Doc C:
Awass
Doc D:
Lerhner
Doc E:
Shiffman