gappiah49@yahoo.com

You are a free male citizen living in Athens who could vote and hold public office during this the eighth and fifth century B.C. You want to encourage all the young men to get involved in the decision-making process in Athens.

All the citizens contributed to the development of this classical age of civilization. Greece excelled in the arts, sciences, and in the creation of new forms of government. Despite their many cultural achievements, there was no political unity. The Athenians rejected the social inequalities and injustices that resulted from monarchy and aristocracy that ruled the city-state. This created a conflict between the supporters of oligarchy and the supporters of democracy. This struggle finally led to development of a limited, direct democracy in Athens.

At the end of this web quest, you will write a four to five page report on how Athens dealt with the social problem of social inequalities and injustices. You will describe how an Athenian male began preparing for his role in the city’s democratic government at the age of 18. How he entered active military service and what he could do at the age of 30. Each group will give an oral presentation.

You will complete the task by using the Global Public Policy Analyst format. You will follow the guidelines and complete the worksheets. This information will be included in your final presentation.

The class will be divided into research groups. The group will divide the responsibilities for completing the “task” among themselves. All groups will use the TIPS Public Policy Analyst worksheets to complete their research for an oral presentation.

Students will do the following using designated Internet sites, text materials, information gathered from textbooks and handouts.

You will follow the five steps listed below to write a draft copy of your report.

Step 1 Working in groups of four you will identify the problem by completing public policy worksheet 1

Step 2. You will gather the evidence using the public policy worksheet 2

Step 3. You will determine the causes of the problem by completing the worksheet 3

Step 4. You will evaluate the policy by filling in the information on worksheet 4

Step 5. You will then do a comparative analysis using the worksheet 5

In addition to the public policy analyst, you should be able to answer the following questions.

a) How can we define direct democracy?

b) Why did Solon, one of the great ancient Greece’s great rulers give Athens citizens the power to pass laws?

a) Was Athenian democracy a true democracy?

b) Who was considered a citizen in Athens?

c) What are three ways in Pericles contributed to Athenian greatness?

d) In what way was Athenian democracy limited?

e) How did the system of government in Athens differ from the system of government in Sparta?

f) Compare Athenian democracy under Pericles to American democracy today. How are they similar? How are they different?

g) Who were expected to serve as jurors in court cases?

h) Why do you think Athens is still admired as an early model of democracy?

In addition to your text and other teacher handouts, you will have to search for information from these websites

www.google.com www.dejanews.com www.yahoo.com www.lycos.com www.excite.com www.infoseek.com www.altavista.com www.webcrawler.com www.dogpile.com

www.hotbot.com www.askjeeves.com www.worldbook.com

The Athenian Origins of Direct Democracy

Rise of democracy cleisthenes and the ten tribes

Direct and Economic Democracy in Ancient Athens

Ancient Greece: The Age of Pericles

http:ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/greenwaldgreece10.html

http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture6b.html

http://www.gocities.com/way_leroy/CUNAPo1sci201partTwoE.thml

http://edusolution.com/myclassroom/classnotes/democracy/greece.htm

The project grade will be based upon the following evaluation scale:

90 – 100 = A 70 – 79 = C

80 – 89 = B 60 - 6 = D

ATTRIBUTE	BELOW SATISFACTORY	NEEDS IMPROVEMENT	VERY GOOD	EXEMPLARY
INVESTUGAETE &RESEARCH	Little inquiry Limited knowledge shown	Explores topic with little curiosity. Some sources displayed.	Explores topic with curiosity. Adequate knowledge from variety of sources displayed.	Knowledge base displays scope, thoroughness, and quality.
ANALYZE & EXAMINE	Separates into few parts. Detects few connections or patterns.	Separates into some parts. Detects inadequate connections or patterns.	Sifts and organizes information. Detects patterns. Connects information to explain the topic.	Prospects for patterns and connections. Uses plans or models to explain the nature of the whole topic.
CONSTRUCT & SYNTHESIZE	Applies little information. Combines few facts or ideas.	Selects few information. Combines few facts or ideas. Needs more development.	Assembles and combines new knowledge to form a coherent whole.	Combines facts and ideas to create new knowledge that is comprehensive and significant.
REFLECT & INTERPRET	Conceives few ideas. Draws few inferences. The meaning of the topic is vague	Interpret few ideas. Draws few inferences. Uses limited perspectives to meaning of topic.	Uses perspectives and insights to explain relationships. Reflects real life.	Point of view reveals meaning of topic with insight into its significance applies to real life.

Standard 2:   World History

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

Standard 3:   Geography

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live—local, national, and global—including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth’s surface.

Standard 5:   Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the United States and other nations; the United States Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.

This web quest focuses on the following

E1c: Read and comprehend informational materials

E2a: Produce a persuasive essay

E3a: Participate in one-to-one conference with the teacher

E3c: Prepare and deliver an individual presentation.

E3d: Make informed judgments about TV, radio, film.

E4b: Analyze and subsequently revise work to improve its clarity and effectiveness.

In this web quest you should have understood how the social injustices and inequalities in Athens led to the development of direct democracy. Athens has taught us that social problems of injustice and inequalities can be overcome by democracy, yet it was through a struggle.

Now we are in a position to do another web quest. This investigation can explore social injustices in other civilizations.