The exploration of Ancient Egypt

Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

The exploration of Ancient Egypt

Introduction: Are you ready to explore the mystical world of Ancient Egypt? All of my Seventh Grade Social Studies students have been declared Egyptian explorers. You are all going to embark on an adventure to uncover the different aspects of Ancient Egyptian life. You will each use your basic knowledge of Ancient Egypt that was obtained through prior readings in your textbook and expand on this knowledge. The five areas being explored are religion, leadership, writing, architecture, and Egyptian life. Enjoy your journey!

Task: After everyone has been divided into groups of five and assigned an area of study, you will each begin your research. I have provided a link for each individual group in regard to their specific topic. Each group is to use this link to gather as much information on their content area and to complete the challenge provided within the link AS A GROUP. There is also some additional links provided to assist all the explorers in acquiring more information on their topic. Each group is to use at least two of these additional links as well (Remember to site your sources.) After you are all done with your exploration each group is going to design a presentation using PowerPoint and reveal their findings to their fellow explorers. This lesson will take four days to complete. Day one will be dedicated to research, day two will include the creation of the PowerPoint presentations, each group will present their discoveries on day three, and all the explorers will be assessed with a short quiz on day four.

Process and Resources:

Step 1: The teacher will divide the class into five teams of five and assign each team a topic to explore.
Step 2: Each team will begin researching their topics using the links provided.
Step 3: As a group each team will complete the appropriate challenges.
Step 4: After exploring your Ancient Egyptian focus your team will develop a PowerPoint Presentation (7 to 9 minutes) to present to your fellow explorers.
Step 5: Each team will present their information to the class.
Step 6: The teacher will give a brief lecture tying up any loose ends and answering any questions the explorers may have.
Step 7: A short quiz will be administered by the teacher to assess the comprehension of the explorers in each of the five content areas.

Architecture: http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/pyramids/home.html

Religion: http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/temples/home.html

Leadership: http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/pharoah/home.html

Writing: http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/writing/home.htm

Egyptian Life: http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/life/home.html

Additional Resources

http://www.touregypt.net/feauturestories/neg.htm

Evaluation:

The Exploration of Ancient Egypt

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4
Research	The team did not obtain a sufficient amount of information. The team did not explore at least three sources.	The team had an adequate amount of information, but did not use three sources .	The team explored their three sources for information, but there were some major points that were not explored.	The team obtained a great deal of information from their web sites. They used at least three sources that were relevant to their topic.
Completed Challenges	The team attempted the challenge, but there did not seem to be much effort put forth.	The team attempted the challenge and made an obvious effort even though the challenge was not complete.	The team completed the challenge, but not all responses were relevant. Some thoughts were partial or careless and did not always seem to connect with the task at hand.	The team completed the challenge and had very thorough, thoughtful responses that connected with their material.
Development of PowerPoint Presentation	The presentation was choppy and did not flow well. There were no graphics included and sources were not sited.	There were some parts of the presentation that did not flow properly. There were few graphics and sources were sited incorrectly or not at all.	Presentation flowed rather smoothly. Graphics were not always relevant to topic and sources were not always sited properly.	The team had a very thorough presentation that flowed from slide to slide and included relevant graphics. All sources sited correctly.
Delivery of Presentation	Not all members of the team participated. Presentation did not supply other teams with adequate information. No eye contact or interaction with audience.	Most members of the team participated. Some major information was not supplied to other teams. Very little eye contact or interaction with audience.	All members of the team participated. The majority of information was provided. There was a good amount of eye contact and interaction with audience.	All members of the team participated. Other teams were provided with an ample amount of information. There was a great deal of eye contact and interaction with the audience.
Quiz	All answers incorrect.	Most answers incorrect.	Most Answers correct.	All answers correct.

Written by Sarah Boyle. Last updated 04/09/04.

Conclusion: The journey is complete! I hope each of you were able to grasp a greater understanding of Ancient Egyptian culture through the exploration of religion, leadership, architecture, life, and writing. If you would like to further explore this topic travel to http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk. The other teams topics, as well as a few additional ideas can be researched at this site. This WebQuest accommodated standards 7.1.1 and 7.1.2 of the Indiana State Standards. Indiana State Standards