Ancient China project

Nancy Emerson
Social Studies/ 7^th grade

Links to Files Associated with This Lesson

1. Ancient China grade sheet

2. Ancient China project

3. Ancient China topics

Content Area Objectives Addressed:

Standards addressed:

1.         Understand the political, social and cultural causes and consequences of movements of populations

2.         Understand how empire building and trade contributed to increasingly complex relations among peoples

Technology Objectives Addressed:

1.                  internet researching

2.                  saving and inserting graphics

3.                  word processing

4.                  sending e-mails

Activity Description

            What was the process that your students went through to complete this lesson?

1.                  I gave them the description of the project.

2.                  They signed up for their topics.

3.                  They researched their topics using the internet.

4.                  They typed up their papers using Corel WordPerfect.

5.                  They e-mailed it to me with the paper as an attachment.

How did you monitor student progress?

observation

Was there a template or an example that students were expected to follow?  yes

            How much time did you dedicate to this project? 

                        Total  1 ½ weeks

                        Daily (approximate) 45-60 minutes

            How was the final product presented?

                        It was e-mailed to me. I printed the papers and had them bound into class books.

         Who was the audience for the final product? The teacher for the final assessment and the students to read the class books.

Learning Issues

What prior knowledge was required on the part of the students in order for them to be successful in this project? (include curriculum and technology knowledge)

           1.                  We previously read a chapter in the Social Studies book about early dynasties, religions, writing and archaeological discoveries.

2.                  They had previous practice in internet searches and word processing.

Resource Management

            What was the student to computer ratio?

            2-3 students / computer

How did you schedule your students’ computer time?  

            One would work ½ the period and then they would switch.

What was the location of the computers and other technology equipment used by students?

            They were located in the four seventh grade classrooms in our building.

How would you suggest beginning teachers obtain computer resources for their students? (Knowing some of your strategies would be valuable for our pre-service teachers.)

1.      do internet searches

2.      colleagues

3.      textbook resources

Rate the level of access for students to use computers/other technologies as they needed  --high, medium, low

            low

           Rate the level of supervision required for students during the project, specifically for computer and other technology use –high, medium, low

            high

Materials

What hardware was required for your project?

            Computers, printer

What software was required for your project?

            Netscape Communicator, Corel WordPerfect, Groupwise

Anything else?

            no

Assessment

            What kind of assessment did you use for this project? (Include a copy if you can.)

                        I used a grading sheet that I put together

           What categories did you assess? (I.e.:  content, screen design, depth/breadth, etc.)

1.                  page design

2.                  content

3.                  use of paragraphs

4.                  spelling/ grammar

Other

How does the product that you submitted compare with other students’ products for this same project?

            comparable

            What did you like best about this project?

                        Learning about the different topics

            What did the students like best about this project?

                        Using the computers

            Rank the level of student involvement in this project –high, medium, low

                        high

            Rank the level of student interest in this project –high, medium, low

                        medium

            Would you teach this lesson again?

                        yes

ANCIENT CHINA PROJECT GRADE SHEET

Name_______________________________________

title (2points)______________________

name (2 points)____________________

period (2 points)___________________

graphic (5 points)___________________                         

2 paragraphs (10 points)______________

spell check (5 points)_________________

grammar check (5 points)______________

ANCIENT CHINA PROJECT

                        Pick your topic.______________________________________

                        Research your topic. You need enough information to write 2-3 paragraphs about it. Some good internet sites to start with are:

www.yahooligans.com

www.nationalgeographic.com

www.encarta.msn.com

www.informationplease.com

                        Find and save in your file a graphic which will illustrate your topic.

                        Type your information here at school. It needs to be done in Corel WordPerfect. This paper needs to be final draft quality. Be sure to use both spell check and grammar check. Your paper should be set up like this:

18.              Social structure-

19.              Chinese zodiac-

20.              Chinese money-

21.              China’s geography-

22.              Medicine-

23.              Confucianism-

24.              Buddhism-

25.              Taoism-

26.              Shang dynasty-

27.              Han dynasty-

28.              Chou (Zhou) dynasty-

29.              Ch’in (Qin) dynasty-

30.              T’ang dynasty-

31.              Languages-