During the past month I have been doing a study of ancient Mesopotamia in class. In this simulation we get to learn about Ancient Mesopotamia in a fun way by having our class split into five groups, each one a clan with their own name. In the clans we do tasks to earn civilization points. Civilization points help your clan become the greatest empire in Mesopotamia. For each level of civilization, (tribe, village, city-state, empire) you have a guiding question that you need to answer for one of the five subjects: art architecture and public works, organized religion, centeralized government, job specialization and social classes, and writing. For example, last week I responded to the guiding question “What kinds of functions did scribes perform for ancient civilizations,” with a task of a brochure.
Guiding Question: What kind of religion was practiced in the first civilizations
This slides presentation shows the different aspects of religion and how each one ties into what the Mesopotamian people believed. In doing this project I learned that they had polytheistic beliefs which means that they believed in more that one gods or goddesses. I also learned about the temples that they held religious ceremonies in, about the priests of the time, and what the common people did for the respect of the gods. For this project we got five days to complete it.
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Guiding Question: How were people ranked in ancient civilizations?
This board shows the different classes that different jobs were ranked in. It also has information about each job, and what the people do in that job. By doing this task I learned that most people were ranked in the middle class, and that the higher you got up on the social class ladder, the richer you were. I got about a week to complete this project.
Guiding Question: What kinds of public works were used to ensure a steady food supply?
This storyboard shows a comic that displays real information at the bottom, but it has a creative story. During this task I learned that mesopotamians used many public works projects to ensure the well being of the city. I also learned to save on the storyboard after I had been working on it for a while because I finished the whole thing and I had to start over because I didn’t save it. For this project we got about a week and a half.
Guiding Question: What functions did scribes perform for ancient civilizations?
This brochure shows all the things that a scribe would have done in school and after their school was finished. The clay tablet shows what the writing was like in this time period, and the material that they wrote on. During this project I learned that scribes had to go to school for twelve years to be fully educated. Also, boys were Mostly the ones who became a scribe. For this project we got two weeks.