SUMERIAN CIVILIZATION

Introduction to Web Quest:

You are a geographer and a cultural anthropologist. Your assignment is to uncover and to evaluate how early Sumer was a proactive government. A proactive government is practical in nature. It recognizes the importance of protecting its civilization by creating a bureaucracy that will work towards self-protection. It anticipates the societies’ geographic, economic and social needs.

The Sumerians were one of the world’s first advanced civilizations. They devised a writing system, schools, traded, constructed homes, palaces, temples, irrigated their land and even had a marketplace. Their contributions to civilization were numerous!

To do this assessment you will examine how Sumer organized itself as a civilization, and how the bureaucracy handled its economic and environmental affairs. As a geographer you recognize the importance of location and terrain. Therefore, you will look at and examine a map of the region and records that describe its environmental concerns. You will also review academic research and the interpretations of other historians regarding this ancient Mesopotamian region.

Your group has been assigned the task of interpreting and describing historical records, a map and academic research. Your team is to hand in a bulletin board that describes and evaluates Sumerian civilization. It should contain the following:

· an organizational pyramid which ranks the Sumerian social classes;

· another organizational chart which demonstrates the bureaucratic activities preformed by the government;

· a map/diagram of a Sumerian town and its bazaar or marketplace;

· a geographic map of the region that includes—the fertile crescent, neighboring communities, the rivers and bodies of water;

· a drawing of the ziggurat with a description of its role in their society;

· list and describe the accomplishments and challenges of the society.

Step 1:

You will be assigned to work in a group of 3 people. You will use the worksheets described in the Public Policy Analyst worksheets to record your research. These worksheets can be found using the links below and are to be used to complete your project.

Use the following guidelines to prepare your presentation.

· Research the websites

· Gather your information from the websites, your textbook, class notes, and handouts given to you in class

· Use the 5-step public policy approach to examine the accomplishments, challenges and the reasons why this civilization weakened:

1. Identify the problem.

2. Gather your evidence for the problem.

3. Determine the cause for the problem.

4. Evaluate the policy.

5. Do a comparative analysis.

Step2:

In preparing your poster bulletin, each member of your group will contribute information on the following worksheets:

1. Identify problem

2. Gather evidence

3. Determine causes

4. Evaluate the policy

5. Comparative analysis

Continued on next page……..

As part of the Web Quest PROCESS, consider the following:

· How was Sumerian civilization organized and managed?

· Why and how was the ziggurat more than a religious center?

· How was Sumer challenged—geographically, environmentally, socially and politically?

· What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Sumerian government in its handling of its social, economic and environmental affairs?

· Was the government proactive? Explain your reasoning.

· How did Sumer contribute to the development of civilization?

Use these sites in your research:

Ø List the bodies of water and rivers in the Mesopotamian region.

http://www.crystalinks.com/sumer.html

(click on “map”)

Ø Find evidence that the Sumerian government organized itself as a complex class system.

http://www.crystalinks.com/sumer.html

(click on “history,” “social system,” “culture,” and “math and economics,”)

http://www.crf-usa.org/bria/bria18_4a.htm

Ø Find evidence that demonstrates the government’s environmental concerns.

http://www.learner.org/exhibits/collapse/mesopotamia.html

Ø Find evidence that some groups of people resisted the times.

http://ragz-international.com/agriculture.htm

Ø Understand the role and design of the ziggurat:

http://www.crystalinks.com/ziggurat.html

http://www.usfca.edu/westciv/Ziggurat.html

Each group will be graded according to the following simple table:

. Performance	Excellent 5	Good 4	Satisfactory 3	Needs Improvement 2
Completion of Worksheets	Fully understand the social problem, its causes and public policy that arose from it, and fully completes worksheets	Good understanding of social problem, causes, and public policy. Completion of worksheets	Satisfactory understanding of social problem, causes, and public policy. Substantially completes worksheets.	Minimal understanding of social problem, causes, and public policy. Failure to complete worksheets
Completion of bulletin board	Full completion of all of the assigned tasks with pictures, maps and meaningful text	Professional looking board with all of the assigned tasks with pictures, maps and meaningful text	Completed of board some of the assigned tasks and meaningful text.	Partially completed board and text.
Organization	Group worked together on all projects and handed in signed group summary (or spoke to teacher about any group issues).	Group worked together on most projects and handed in signed group summary (or spoke to teacher about any group issues).	Group worked together on most projects but failed to hand in group summary (or spoke to teacher about any group issues).	Group did not work well together (and did not speak to teacher about any group issues).

Ms. O’Rourke, Global I. Bronx High School of Science

A= 30-25 B= 24-20 C= 19-15 D= 14-10 F=9-1

By working on this Web Quest project you will have learned:

ü Life in the Sumerian city-states

ü The influence Sumerians had on later Mesopotamian civilizations

ü The geography of the Fertile Crescent

ü The relationship of geography with civilization

ü The challenges, accomplishments and weaknesses of the Sumerian government

ü To use the steps of the public policy analyst, and the internet, to research a historical society

You will also have met two of New York State’s Learning Standards!

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.