Grade 8 — Social Studies: How do Greece and Rome influence our contemporary world?

Overview

Students explore the physical environment, the social, cultural, political, economic, and technological issues in ancient societies of both Greece and Rome. Students consider the enduring qualities of the art, architecture, science, and ideas of ancient Greece and Rome, and explore their influence on contemporary Canada.

Activate

Initiate a class discussion by asking why or why not questions such as: Do you like living in Canada? What do you like about Canada? What do you like or not like about the Canadian Government in Ottawa, Manitoba, your city, village, or municipality?
Are governments important for your life? Students submit an Exit Slip answering ‘why’ and ‘why not’ to each question giving their person opinions. They include a ‘how’ or ‘why’ questions of their own. [Plan and Question]

As a class, review how federal, provincial and municipal governments are organized and how they function by referring to the link listed below [Gather and Make Sense]. Introduce the concept of citizenship in Canada. Students browse the Canadian Government web site Government in Canada to begin to think about governance.  Student pairs begin to keep an electronic journal, which includes their understandings, perceptions, and questions about citizenship and democracy [Plan and Question, Gather and Make Sense]. This will help students acquire an awareness of how their understanding and perceptions of government and citizenship may change during the course of this study.

Teacher Tip:
Using a computer and searching the Internet, create three charts, which show the structure and function of the three levels of government in Canada. Make these charts available for each student pair so that they can refer to them during this study.

Acquire

Student pairs set up a chart or spreadsheet with three columns to list information about the governance in Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Canada today [Gather and Make Sense]. The content will be added as the study progresses. Student pairs also create a presentation folder in which to organize text, pictures, graphics, maps, video clips, audio clips for a multimedia presentation document they will produce later. [Gather and Make Sense]

Teacher Tip:
Have student prepare one master wall chart for the class, similar to their electronic charts or spreadsheets. Students contribute information to the chart throughout the study.

Begin the study of Rome by locating it on a map and on the globe. Students search given web sites then refine their information searches to find more specific information [Gather and Make Sense]. Students locate Rome and answer the question: “Has Rome always covered the same territory?” In pairs, students find

• a map of Rome before it became an empire,
• a map at the peak of the empire and
• a map after the empire collapsed.

They enter, label, and date these maps into their presentation folder. Two pairs of student meet to compare their maps, verify correctness, and make any necessary additions or changes [Gather and Make Sense].

Suggestions for Assessment:
Verify that students recorded bibliographical information accurately [Gather and Make Sense]

Introduce the study of Greece by locating it on a map and on the globe. Students use the knowledge they acquired when searching given websites about Rome to find and refine their information searches as they answer the question: “Has Greece always covered the same territory?” [Gather and Make Sense] In pairs, student, find

• a map of Greece before it became an empire,
• a map at the peak of the empire and
• a map after the empire collapsed.

Students enter, label, and date these maps into their presentation file. Two pairs of students meet to compare their maps, verify correctness, and make any necessary additions or changes [Gather and Make Sense].

Suggestions for Assessment:
Verify that students recorded bibliographical information accurately [Gather and Make Sense]

Students find websites that contain timelines of Greece and Rome [Gather and Make Sense]. They identify major or special events and people for Greece in ancient times, and then do the same for Rome. In pairs, based on their observations of timelines, students create their own timeline and enter major events and people for Greece and Rome in ancient times. [Collaborate] Colour code the entries in two different colours – one for Greece and one for Rome [Gather and Make Sense].

Teacher Tip:
Students select an application best suited for this task. A spreadsheet has built-in cells that allow for quick input, and which can stretch wide as students scroll their screen back and forth. A web page would also work well but would require a fair input of time for set up.

Students continue their web searches to find and analyze information [Gather and Make Sense].  They prepare and revise brief write-ups, articulating their beliefs and perspectives, on 3 items in each of the following categories and create video clips for the topics they have chosen [Produce to Show Understanding]. Categories should include: people in art, architecture, science, technology, transportation, weaponry, and leadership. With the class, develop criteria  for the write-ups and video clips. [Produce to Show Understanding] Students save their write-ups into their presentation folder so they can be linked to their timelines. Two pairs of students meet to peer edit  the write-ups, video clips, and images for their timelines. [Produce to Show Understanding]

Teacher Tip:
Students can do their write-ups in a word processor and copy/paste them into their timeline.
Students need to take copyright issues in consideration when using images and video clips.
Each group of students could select a few areas to research and contribute their product to a class timeline.

Support File:
Constructing Student-Generated Criteria for Quality Work

Using the three-column charts or spreadsheets they developed earlier in this study, students research and add notes  about the governance and citizenship in Greece, Rome and Canada. [Gather and Make Sense] Students also prepare diagrams of governance patterns for Greece, Rome and Canada, which will be added to their final products. Students analyze the information  gathered in order to identify the contributions of ancient Greece/Rome to modern concepts of citizenship and democracy. [Produce to Show Understanding] Students write up their analysis as a report [Produce to Show Understanding]. In Think-Pair-Share groups, students meet to peer edit their reports. [Collaborate] Edited reports are submitted for teacher assessment.

Teacher Tip:
Students could select just one of either Greece or Rome to research governance and citizenship.

Apply

Student pairs  revise, edit, and compile their timeline, write-ups, report, digital pictures, and video and audio clips to create a non-sequential ICT representation [Collaborate, Produce to Show Understanding]. After presenting and discussing  their final products with peers and the teacher, they make revisions as required. [Communicate] Students post  their work on the school web site for sharing with a wider audience. [Communicate]

Suggestions for Assessment:
Peer Assessment: Two student pairs meet to compare their maps, verify correctness and make any necessary changes.
Two student pairs meet to peer edit the write-ups, video clips, and images for their timelines.
Two student pairs meet to peer edit their reports.

Students review their learning goals and reflect  on the value of using ICT to complete learning tasks. [Reflect]

Suggestions for Assessment:
Peer Assessment: Peers and teacher discuss and assess final products based on the criteria developed in class.
Teacher Assessment: Students submit their reports for teacher assessment, according to criteria elaborated earlier.