WGU Elementary Social Studies Methods

Audra Mearns, 000373875

Topic: Ancient Civilizations

Grade: 6^th Grade

Student Grouping: Total of 54 students in three sections of 6^th grade Social Studies. Classes meet for 90 minutes on Mondays and Tuesdays on an A/B block schedule and for 45 minutes on Fridays. There is a wide assortment of learning skills in each section.

Seating Arrangement: Classroom is set up with an assortment of tables and chairs, couches and bean bags. When working individually, students will have the ability to move to a space in the room that is comfortable for them to work on their computers. When working collaboratively, students will work in clusters in various spaces in the room.

B. Field Trip: Boise State University “Exploring Ancient Rome” found at http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/woodj/502/virtualtour/start.html

B.1: As much as I would love to visit a museum with my students, our proximity to any relevant museums makes the reality of a physical field trip nonexistent. “Exploring Ancient Rome” developed by Boise State would make a great fit for a virtual field trip. The “trip” is broken down into 4 sections of importance to the rise and fall of Rome: Founding of Rome, Roman Republic, Roman Empire and Decline of Rome. The site is made up of various texts, videos, picture tours, interactive videos and a supplied scavenger hunt type of questionnaire for the students to fill out while they are going through all of the sites. I think the best way to utilize this type of “trip” is to break it up according to its sections and use each section with weeks, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the lesson plan. Students will investigate the videos and multimedia texts by participating in the questionnaire scavenger hunt.

B.2: The virtual field trip connects the all of the given standards but one specifically to Language Arts. Students will be using the prepared worksheet, students will be using it as they research the site to write short essay questions. The field trip site offers diverse media and other formats for the students to use in their research to answer questions related to the rise and fall of Rome. The Social Study standard - Idaho CCRA.WHST.6.-8.7 Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including self-generated question). Drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration – and the Language Arts standard - CCSL.6.2 Interpret information resented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.

B.2a: Students must be able to gather and synthesize information from a variety of sources and share the information, as well as their opinions about it, with others. The need to be able to read at least a 5^th grade reading level.

B.3:  Research projects do not really mirror real-world research experiences. In our adult lives, most of us do “mini-research”—quick investigations focused on precise topics that take a few minutes to a day or two, from start to finish. The Common Core and AASL standards recognize that we need to prepare our students for these brief research opportunities as well as for longer, more developed projects. (Burke, n.d.)This activity provides opportunities for students to ask questions, research a few sources, and share what they learned.

C. Activity Plan: Settlers of Catan Histories: Struggle for Rome

State Core Curriculum/Student Achievement Standard(s):

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally

Lesson Objective(s):

*Analyze how access to resources and specific geographical locations may contribute to advantages in civilizations from a historical perspective by participating in the game and watching the video.

*Express personal opinion on the theory of resource access and global inequality by discussing their theory in small group discussions.

*Students will connect Settlers of Catan's abstract representation of geographical advantages/disadvantages to a real-life historical context by comparing and contrasting their experience with the game and the documentary in a Venn diagram and discussing their diagram with the class in an informal roundtable discussion.

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES

Instructional Materials:

Settler of Catan games – either board games or online, Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" documentary, which explores how geographical location may be the preeminent historical factor of global inequality, paper and pencil

Resources:

http://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/show/index.html; http://www.playcatan.com/en/

INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN

 Have students play Settlers of Catan in small groups, either digitally or with the physical board game. If this is the first time they are playing, students may just want to focus on the understanding the rules and enjoying the game experience.

* During or after playing the game, students should document their notes on issues of geographical locations and answer the following questions:

What is the one thing you would do differently the next time you played Settlers of Catan?

Why are there certain resources that are rarer than others? In the game and in real life?

Are there resources that are being used more than others? What are they?

What comparisons can you make between the robber and any phenomena/event that exists in real life?

What comparisons can you make between the bank and ports with real-life establishments?

* Students then watch segments of Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" documentary to give their experience of playing Settlers of Catan some historical context.

* As a class, ask students to explore how the availability of certain resources, based on geographical advantage, may have contributed to global inequalities. Have them consider how key resources can make one player (or civilization) more dominant than another, drawing on examples from their play of Settlers of Catan, examples from the documentary, or from their own knowledge of contemporary or historical civilizations. (Lam, n.d.)

Student Prerequisite Skills/Connections to Previous Learning:

Students must be able to gather and synthesize information from a variety of sources and share the information, as well as their opinions about it, with others. The need to be able to read at least a 5^th grade reading level. Students will need to read and follow directions.

Differentiated Instruction Accommodations:

This activity accommodates diverse learners allowing players to modify the game environment and make individual choices. Higher end players model behaviors to lower end learners/students with learning disabilities.  Creativity and problem solving skills are encouraged. Players receive immediate feedback. There’s always an answer / always a way to “win.” Trial and error – failure – is an encouraged form of learning.

*Students with learning disabilities: Identify what is in their IEP as modifications: adjust accordingly. Most of my students who have an IEP are on the autism spectrum or have a form of ADD. I will allow these students to move about while working as long as they do not become a distraction to the class mates. I will use refocus strategies to help keep them on track.

*Students with hearing or physical disabilities: provide the appropriate tools as designated by504 plan or IEP.

*English Language Learners: Identify the level of English language proficiency when selecting accommodations. Will provide a bilingual dictionary. Will utilize materials in the ELL student’s home language. Will assign a peer tutor and or assign work in groups with other ELL students of same language.

Student Assessment/Rubrics:

Students will answer questions supplied with the activity and will use these questions and answers to participate in an informal roundtable discussion.  The students, through playing the game, will explore the concepts of trade, negotiation, probability and then compare their experiences to the documentary’s experience of geographical advantages and disadvantages. Students will discover firsthand about resource management and supply and demand. Students will play the board game, taking notes and summarizing what resources are in demand and who has the most access. After watching the documentary, the class will be able to discuss and identify how key resources can make one player, or civilization, more dominant than others by drawing examples from the board game and other civilizations – modern and historical.  

Interdisciplinary Connections:

This activity connects Social Studies, Language Arts and Math together. Students are using banking, probability and risk management from Math; various reading and writing skills and discussion skills from Language Arts and the historical knowledge on how resources, geographical locations effect civilizations. The mechanics of play (what you do in a game) can reinforce argumentative thinking. Through the informal discussion, a teacher can assess students' grasp of claims-based argumentation concepts.

Resources:

Burke, Beth Anne. (n.d.) Strengthen Your Core. Inquiry & Research, Common Core Style. Retrieved from

                http://www.demco.com/webprd_demco/html/landing_pages/common_core/core_InquiryResearch_dec13.pdf

Lam, Mylo. (n.d.) Explore Global Inequality through Settlers of Catan. Educade. Retrieved from