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Articles about a year-long, cross-disciplinary project in which my students developed their own civilization alongside our social studies content.
Each year, my students created their own civilization to mirror what we were learning about Rome, China, India, and beyond.
Let’s design a flag for your students’ civilizations. But let’s do it right! We’ll dig into the language of vexillology, analyze real flags, form some opinions, and only then create our own flag.
As we begin the project, students first consider where on earth their civilization will begin.
Now, let’s see how your students’ civilization transitions from hunters to gatherers.
Most humans want to live near fresh water, which means that most civilizations settled near a river! Let’s add a river to your students’ civilizations.
Will your students’ capital city develop organically like Paris over hundreds of years? Will it have a nicely designed grid like Washington DC? Will it be in the middle of a darn lake like
Tenochtitlan?
It’s tax season here in the US! The obvious classroom application is a math lesson about percents, but taxes can lead to an even more interesting discussion within language arts and social studies.
My students, as part of their Create A Civilization project, had to select a type of government and explain its consequences. So I loved finding this list of all the different types of government.
Take students beyond the decorations and ask them to identify what a holiday reveals about a culture’s values. Then, push them further as they develop their own holidays.
Looking at calendars throughout history is an interesting way to explore multiple perspectives. Nothing is as ingrained in our lives as seven day weeks, twelve months, and 365 days per year. Challenge your students’ perceptions by investigating various solar, lunar, and lunisolar calendars.