Lesson Eight - Environmental Impact Seminars
Description
Students work in their museum groups to research and prepare a seminar relating to the impact of the environment on ancient civilizations.
Expectations
- identify and compare the ways in which people in various early civilizations met their physical and social needs, including how they interacted with and used the natural environment;
– use knowledge of map-making techniques and conventions to map sites of early civilizations (e.g., grids and direction symbols to show locations; colour and shading to show elevations/physical features);
– explain how two or more early civilizations shaped and used the environment to meet their physical needs for food, homes, clothing, and health (e.g., use of irrigation in agriculture in Egypt, planting of olive groves and orchards in Greece, use of bamboo for homes in China, pottery making in Mesopotamia, growing of maize by Mayans, use of cedar trees by Haida people);
Teaching / Learning
DAY ONE - Review:
1. Review Lesson 7: Environment and Daily Life, by asking students with high-quality written responses to share them with the class. Discuss their content.
2. Model how to make connections between the environment and lifestyle by discussing the relationship between Canada's location and climate and the lifestyle of Canadians in different parts of the country.
3. As a class, create a chart with the following headings and complete it for each region in Canada, encouraging students to contribute ideas as much as possible: Climate, Landforms, Activities, Clothing.
Collaborative/Cooperative Learning:
4. Direct each museum group to look up the climate and landforms for their ancient civilization.
5. Students use this information to help them complete an environmental impact chart for their civilization. This chart could follow the same structure as that created for Lesson 7, but requires students to do research on each subject included in the chart.
6. Give students time to complete their charts.
DAY TWO - Direct Teaching:
7. Once groups finish their charts, tell the class exactly what a seminar is, and what type of criteria needs to be met for a successful seminar.
8. Hand out "How to Present a Seminar" for students to refer to as you explain the contents to the class.
9. Set a due-date for the seminars.
10. Hand out the rubric that will be used to assess the seminar presentations.
11. Discuss the rubric as a class, prompting students to try to describe examples of the things level three and level four seminars will contain. Remind students to refer to the rubric as they complete their presentation planning.
12. Discuss goal-setting for the process of planning the seminars. Write a model goal chart on the board and describe how they are expected to fill one out as students follow along on their handout.
13. Have groups meet to create and fill in their own group action plan chart for completion of the group seminar presentation assignment.
DAY THREE - Collaborative/Cooperative Learning:
14. Give each group time to prepare for their seminar presentations about the effect of the environment on the ancient civilization for which they are responsible.
DAY FOUR - Peer Teaching:
15. During this day of the lesson, students present their seminars to the class. Before they begin, review the seminar presentation rubric as a class, then select students in the class to assess their peers during the presentations. Try to have different students assess each presentation.
Adaptations
The adaptations for this lesson may vary depending upon how the groups studying ancient civilization were created. If a group has been established that will always require assistance, then it should be given the information on climate and landforms. The teacher should also help such a grouping get started by reviewing what the specific climatic conditions are and what that would mean to the people who live there. This group may require teacher guidance to prepare for their seminar.
Assessment
- use the Seminar Presentation Rubric to assess the student presentations. The same rubric should be provided for students to use for peer assessment of the presentations
- use the Group Work Checklist to assess student work with their groups
Assessment Strategies
- Classroom Presentation
- Observation
Assessment Recording Devices
- Checklist
- Rubric
Resources
Seminar Presentation Rubric
How to Present a Seminar
chart paper materials with information on climate and landforms for each civilization
Notes to Teacher
Students answer the question: "How did the natural environment shape the culture of your museum civilization and how did it affect how these needs were met?" as they research and prepare for their seminars. Examples of the above are shown in the culminating task through models/examples of food, shelter, clothing, etc. This task provides students with the background that they need to complete and accomplish this. It is most important that a review of Lesson 7 occurs. Post the chart created during Lesson 7 for student reference.
