Student: Colleen Demboski

Social Studies Subject: Economics

Integrated Unit: How did ancient civilizations, namely Mesopotamia, develop over time? Lesson Activity #1The Economic System and Advancements of Mesopotamia 1) Ohio Academic Content Standard: Economic Decision Making & SkillsThe choices people make have both present and future consequences. The evaluation of choices is relative and may differ across individuals and societies. Early CivilizationsEarly civilizations (Mesopotamia) with unique governments, economic systems, social structures, religions, technologies and agricultural practices and products flourished as a result of favorable geographic characteristics. The cultural practices and products of these early civilizations can be used to help understand the Eastern Hemisphere today. 2) Instructional Objective: Students will identify the main components of the economic system of Mesopotamia, outlining the major occupations, technological innovations, agricultural methods, and trading practices of the civilization. Students will also thoughtfully reflect on the various contributions made by the Mesopotamian civilization to the modern world. 3) Instructional Activity: Prior to the lesson, the teacher will lead the students in a discussion on what they already know about Mesopotamia and what they want to knowthe class will use a K-W-L chart to document the discussion. The K-W-L chart will be revisited at the end of the class in order that the students reflect on what they learned throughout the lesson. The students will be given an anticipation guide that they will use to follow along with the teachers presentation of the material concerning the trade, commerce, agricultural practices, and technological advances of the Mesopotamian civilization. The teacher will present the information to the students using a Smartboard presentation format. Before sharing the material with the students, the teacher will prompt the students to read the anticipation guide, discuss the question with their cooperative learning group, and make a prediction about the correct information regarding the Mesopotamian economic system. Throughout the presentation, the teacher will display visuals of artifacts, anthropological drawings, photographs of the ruins, maps, and charts relating to the economic development of the Mesopotamian culture over time. After the presentation on the economic system of the Mesopotamians, the students will move through stations with their cooperative learning groups, analyzing the contributions made by the Mesopotamians. At each station, the students will study the economic, mathematical, technological, and agricultural contributions of the civilization. The students will read a text relating to an invention made by the Mesopotamian culturewheels, stringed instruments, the arch, the lens, the calendar, the farm plow, boats, and cuneiformand then complete a small activity or reflection at each station. 4) Rationale for Activity: The activity described above was designed in order to simply yet concisely introduce the basic information regarding the general economic system of the Mesopotamian civilization. The students must not only study the unique economic systems of the ancient Eastern civilizations but also must delve into the economic principles associated with the economic systems of ancient and present societies. Thus, the activity informs students of the background of the ancient economic systems, and how their influences have carried through even today. In this way, the learning activity fulfills two 6th grade social studies standards (listed above). Additionally, the instructional

Student: Colleen Demboski

Social Studies Subject: Economics

activity presents specific material as well as general information that can be applied to many ancient civilizations and present-day societies. Such information is relevant to the students lives and worldview as they discover the impact and interaction of the global economies, both past and present. Finally, the lesson was designed in order to accommodate for multiple learning styles through the incorporation of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning tools. 5) Blooms Taxonomy: For the most part, the instructional activity fulfills a lower level of Blooms taxonomy. The students are identifying the major parts of the economy of Mesopotamia as well as comprehending how those parts interacted with each other over time. The students do not delve too deeply into the economic principles of the time. However, they also reflect upon the contributions made by the Mesopotamians, which represents a higher-order thinking skill (evaluation). 6) Instructional Materials: Smartboard, Internet access, anticipation guides, graphic organizer handouts, examples of contributions, instructional booklets 7) Instructional Methodology: The lesson will begin with a whole class discussion led by the teacher as the students fill in the K-W-L chart that is displayed on the front board. This introduction is expected to last about 10 minutes. Students are expected to contribute to the discussion as well as record the chart in their notes. The students will then pay attention as the teacher presents the information about the economic system of Mesopotamia, asking questions and making connections throughout the presentation. This presentation portion of the lesson is expected to last about 15 minutes. The students will then be divided into their cooperative learning groups, which have been pre-arranged by the teacher and include no more than 4 students. The groups will move through the stations. The station part of the lesson is expected to last about 10 minutes. At the end of the lesson, the students will have about 5 minutes to reflect on their learning by finishing the K-W-L chart as well as complete the MVP prompt. 8) Assessments: The students complete a K-W-L chart prior to the lesson. Before leaving, the students must complete the L part of the chart, sharing and explaining what they learned in the lesson. Students must also share the MVP or Most Valuable Point from the lesson. This will serve as a formative assessment to be reviewed by the teacher. 9) Differentiation and Accommodation: The students are provided with graphic organizer handouts, which aid students in organizing their thoughts and the material presented to them. The information will be presented to them in a variety of waysvisually with the Smartboard and handout, orally with the teacher talking and leading a discussion, and kinesthetically with the stations. Thus, the different learning styles of the students are accommodated for. Also, the students work in cooperative learning groups, which allow them to scaffold or support each other throughout the lesson. 10) Student Choice: Students will be given the choice to use the graphic organizer handout provided to the class by the teacher as they take notes on the information. Students may use the handout or complete the notes in their own format in their interactive notebooks. Also, students must work in cooperative learning groups chosen by the teacher, but the groups have the choice of the stations that they choose to visit and reflect upon.

Student: Colleen Demboski

Social Studies Subject: Economics

Lesson Activity #2Trade in Mesopotamia 1) Ohio Academic Content Standard: Economic Decision Making and SkillsThe choices people make have both present and future consequences. The evaluation of choices is relative and may differ across individuals and societies. Early CivilizationsEarly civilizations (India, Egypt, China and Mesopotamia) with unique governments, economic systems, social structures, religions, technologies and agricultural practices and products flourished as a result of favorable geographic characteristics. The cultural practices and products of these early civilizations can be used to help understand the Eastern Hemisphere today. 2) Instructional Objective: Students will apply their knowledge about the trade, commerce, and occupational practices of Mesopotamia in order to complete the Webquest. The students will also create a story through which to share their knowledge about the economy of Mesopotamia. 3) Instructional Activity: WEBQUEST: The teacher sets up three stations. Each station has a laptop with Internet access. The students are placed in cooperative learning groups and move through the three stations together, completing the Webquest graphic organizer handout as they go. The three stations focus upon different aspects of trade in MesopotamiaA Tale of Three Merchants, Trade and Transport, and Trading Places. The material learned in the Webquest reviews the material learned the day before while also delving more deeply into the trade and commerce of Mesopotamia. After the students have completed the Webquest stations, the students are introduced to their RAFTS assignment. Students must take on the role of someone or something in Mesopotamia and present information about the economy of Mesopotamia in a unique and creative format. The students will have time throughout the Integrated Unit to complete their RAFTS paper. For example, the students may take on the role of a merchant writing an angry letter to gods for his economic misfortunes. 4) Rationale for Activity: The Webquest activity described above incorporates technology in multiple ways. The students are using laptops, iPads, and Chromebooks in order to delve into the information that they learned the previous day. Thus, middle level students desire to use technology in learning environments in which they actively participate with the new knowledge has been addressed in the lesson. Also, the students work in cooperative learning groups, which appeals to their social nature. In addition, the group work incorporates the educational theory of Lev Vygotsky, who states that children construct knowledge in social situations. Thus, the lesson establishes an environment in which the children actively construct knowledge with the collaboration and assistance of peers. Finally, the lesson builds upon and applies the knowledge that the students gathered the previous day; therefore, the unit is following a logical sequence. 5) Blooms Taxonomy: The instructional activity fulfills both a lower and higher order thinking process, according to Blooms taxonomy. The students are applying their knowledge of the economic system of Mesopotamia, which they learned the day before. However, the students are also creating or synthesizing a story or paper that represents a person who could have lived during this time period. Thus, the activity not only falls under application but also synthesis.

Student: Colleen Demboski

Social Studies Subject: Economics

6) Instructional Materials: Smartboard, laptops, iPads, Chromebooks, Webquest graphic organizer handouts, paper, pencil 7) Instructional Methodology: The students will once again be placed in their cooperative learning groups, which have been pre-arranged by the teacher and include no more than 4 students. The groups will move through the three stations together. Each station is expected to require about 10 minutes of working time. Therefore, the stations will last a total of about 30 minutes. The teacher will monitor and facilitate discussion as the students complete the stations. The RAFTS assignment is completely individual. The teacher will introduce and explain the paper, showing an example as a model. The teacher will lead the students in a brainstorming/prewriting activity that will take about 10 minutes. The students will begin to research at home for homework. 8) Assessments: The students individually complete the Webquest graphic organizer handout as they move through the stations with their cooperative learning groups. The teacher will review the handout of each student in order to check for completion and thoughtfulness. Also, the RAFTS paper that the students are working on throughout the unit will be taken as a summative grade. The paper should demonstrate students understanding and mastery of the content as they synthesize a creative story. 9) Differentiation and Accommodation: The students are completing a RAFTS paper that has been differentiated by incorporating extensive student choice. Students may choose the role of the character, the format of the story, the topic of the paper, and the audience to whom they are writing. Also, the students work in cooperative learning groups as they move through the stations, which allow them to scaffold or support each other throughout the lesson. 10) Student Choice: The RAFTS paper that the students are completing for a summative grade permits students to choose a role, audience, format, topic, and strong verb in order to create a story that relates to the Mesopotamian economic system. Thus, the students are given an ample amount of choices to make in order to demonstrate in the product their understanding of the content.

Student: Colleen Demboski

Social Studies Subject: Economics

Lesson Activity #3The Mesopotamian Number System 1) Ohio Academic Content Standard: Economic Decision Making and SkillsThe choices people make have both present and future consequences. The evaluation of choices is relative and may differ across individuals and societies. Early CivilizationsEarly civilizations (India, Egypt, China and Mesopotamia) with unique governments, economic systems, social structures, religions, technologies and agricultural practices and products flourished as a result of favorable geographic characteristics. The cultural practices and products of these early civilizations can be used to help understand the Eastern Hemisphere today. 2) Instructional Objective: The students will analyze the Mesopotamian number system, predicting the value of each number based upon a variety of examples. Then, the students will apply their new knowledge about the Mesopotamian number system in order to convert it to Arabic form. Finally, the students will compare and contrast the Arabic and Mesopotamian number system, evaluating the innovativeness of the Mesopotamian number system at the time. 3) Instructional Activity: The teacher will display various expressions on posters that are hung on the walls around the room. The students will be given a marker, and they will walk around the room trying to determine what each Mesopotamian number represents in the Arabic number system. For example, there are ______ students in the classroom. The Mesopotamian number will be in the blank, and students must use their problem solving, compare/contrast (with the other posters on the wall), and inference skills in order to determine what the Mesopotamian numbers stand for. The students will record their predictions for each poster in their interactive notebooks. Once the students have walked around the room, observed each poster, and made their predictions about the number system based upon the various examples, they will meet with their cooperative learning groups and compare their findings. The teacher will then give each cooperative learning group a list of goods that would have been found in Mesopotamia. The listed goods will have a price or worth associated with it, but the prices have been listed in Arabic numerals. Using their findings from the posters and with the help of their peers in the group, the students must write the worth of each good in Mesopotamian form. The teacher will lead a discussion on the students ideas regarding the Mesopotamian number system. The students will complete a Venn diagram or a T-chart that compares and contrasts the Mesopotamian number system with the Arabic number system. Within their small groups and then as a class, the students will discuss and reflect upon the effectiveness of each number system. The teacher will lead the students to various new insights regarding the contributions of the Mesopotamians to modern number systems. Individually, the students will complete a reflection prompt after the group activity and class discussion: How was the Mesopotamian number system innovative at the time? Why? Does the number system seem effective for present-day societies? 4) Rationale for Activity: The activity regarding the number system used by the Mesopotamian civilization integrates mathematics and number sense into a social studies lesson. Furthermore, the

Student: Colleen Demboski

Social Studies Subject: Economics

number system and its place in the economic system of Mesopotamia are clearly incorporated in the activity, thus further building upon students prior knowledge. The students work, once again, in their cooperative learning groups, adhering to the desire of middle level students to interact socially as well as construct knowledge in social settings (according to educational psychologist Lev Vygotsky). Finally, the lesson calls on the students to reflect and write about their thoughts on the number system, which contributes and calls upon their higher order thinking skills as well as their writing skills. 5) Blooms Taxonomy: Once again, the instructional activity draws upon both lower and higher order thinking. The students must analyze the Mesopotamian number system, breaking the system down into parts as they compare and contrast it with the Arabic number system. The students must then apply their new knowledge as they convert the prices of various goods into Mesopotamian form. The final part of the activity calls on the students to evaluate as they reflect on the innovativeness of the Mesopotamian number system in the past and the present. 6) Instructional Materials: Poster paper, permanent markers, interactive notebooks, pencils, number system handouts, white board/Smartboard 7) Instructional Methodology: The students will be given about 10 minutes to circulate the room, observing the posters and recording their thoughts. The students will observe and record individually without the input of the teacher or their peers. Then, in their cooperative learning groups, the students will have about 15 minutes to share their findings as well as apply them to the examples from the handout, which will be given to them by the teacher. The teacher will assist and prompt the groups as they complete this activity. Finally, the entire class will engage in a discussion in which they compare and contrast the Arabic number system with the Mesopotamian number system, recording the facts on a Venn diagram or a T-chart. The class discussion is expected to last about 10 minutes. Following the discussion and comparison activity, the students will individually reflect on the Mesopotamian number system, which will last about 10 minutes. 8) Assessments: At the end of the lesson, the students will use their new knowledge in order to individually reflect on the Mesopotamian number system, its innovativeness, and its place in the contemporary mathematical world. The reflection will be collected as a formative assessment in order to gauge students learning from the instructional activity. 9) Differentiation and Accommodation: The students work individually and in groups throughout the lesson, which meets the learning needs of social as well as individual workers. Furthermore, the students are exposed to visual and auditory forms of the information, which accommodates the material to the various learning styles of the students. The teacher will provide handouts that contain graphic organizers of the two types of diagramsVenn diagrams and Tchartsso that the students are given tools with which to organize their thoughts. 10) Student Choice: The students are given the choice to create a Venn diagram or a T-chart when comparing and contrasting the Arabic number system with the Mesopotamian number system. Also, students are given the choice to work alone or with their cooperative learning groups when completing the handout on converting the Arabic form of the numbers to the Mesopotamian form of the numbers.

Student: Colleen Demboski

Social Studies Subject: Economics

Lesson Activity #4If I Were a Mesopotamian Trader 1) Ohio Academic Content Standard: Economic Decision Making and SkillsThe choices people make have both present and future consequences. The evaluation of choices is relative and may differ across individuals and societies. Early CivilizationsEarly civilizations (India, Egypt, China and Mesopotamia) with unique governments, economic systems, social structures, religions, technologies and agricultural practices and products flourished as a result of favorable geographic characteristics. The cultural practices and products of these early civilizations can be used to help understand the Eastern Hemisphere today. 2) Instructional Objective: The students will engage in a trade simulation in which they take on the role of a worker in the Mesopotamian economic system. Before beginning the trade simulation, students will research and gather information pertaining to their chosen occupation in order to effectively participate in the simulation. After the trade simulation, the students must reflect upon their learning by completing a 3, 2, 1 review regarding the economic system of Mesopotamia. 3) Instructional Activity: TRADE SIMULATION! The students will research, using the Internet on laptops, the various occupations that interacted in the economic system of Mesopotamia. Then, students will choose a role or occupation to play in the trade simulation. The student must be familiar with the process, products, income, etc. of the role chosen for the simulation. The teacher will provide each student with a handout that organizes the various information that the students must know about their occupation/role. Also, the teacher will assign each student an income, the amount of goods/products that they own, etc. The teacher will hand out cards that detail various settings, situations, conflicts, and problems. The students must interact with each other in order to trade, barter, create, collaborate, etc. in order to earn the most profit, sell the most goods, and receive the best bargain. The students must keep track of their interactions, earnings, losses, production, etc. in their interactive notebook. Throughout the trade simulation, the teacher will introduce new conflicts, information, roles, etc. in order to keep students discussing, learning, and interacting with each other. After the simulation has been completed, the students must reflect upon the Mesopotamian economic system by completing a 3, 2, 1 review3 major occupations of the civilization, 2 effects of the nature of the economic system (one positive, one negative), and 1 connection/question/evaluation of the economic system. The 3, 2, 1 review will be collected as a formative assessment. 4) Rationale for Activity: Throughout the economics section of the integrated unit, the students have learned about the basic components of the economic system of Mesopotamia, explored the role of trade and commerce in Mesopotamia, and compared the Mesopotamian number system with the Arabic number system. The final instructional activity allows the students to incorporate and use all of this knowledge in order to engage in a simulation of the trading system in Mesopotamia. Thus, the final activity is the culmination of all that the students have learned about

Student: Colleen Demboski

Social Studies Subject: Economics

the economics of the ancient civilization. Also, the activity adheres to the social learning principle advocated by Lev Vygotsky, who argued that students actively construct knowledge in social learning situations. 5) Blooms Taxonomy: The trade simulation activity falls into several levels of Blooms taxonomy. The students are researching and finding information about their particular occupation as it relates to the economic system of Mesopotamia. Thus, the first part of the simulation fulfills the knowledge portion of Blooms taxonomy. However, the students must analyze the information and interactions of the various workers throughout the simulation, creating new situations and possible scenarios based upon their knowledge of the people and the time. Therefore, the second part of the activity falls into the analysis and synthesis portion of Blooms taxonomy. Finally, the third part of the activity calls upon the students to reflect upon the simulation, their interactions, and the collaboration that took place in order to evaluate the economic system of the Mesopotamian culture. In this way, the final part of the activity falls into the highest order of thinkingevaluation. 6) Instructional Materials: Laptops with Internet access, interactive notebooks, occupation handout, pencils, trade cards 7) Instructional Methodology: The students will individually research for information about the occupations or roles of workers in the economic system of Mesopotamia. The students will use Google Chromebooks or laptops in order to find this information. They will record their findings on the occupation handout given to them by the teacher; the students must choose a role or occupation as their part in the simulation. The teacher will facilitate, assist, and answer questions as the students are researching. The researching portion of the activity should last about 15 minutes. The teacher will divide the students into 4 (or 5, depending upon the number of students) groups of 5 before giving them trade cards. The groups will rotate every 10 minutes in order to diversify the roles interacting and the situations occurring. The trade simulation should last about 30 to 40 minutes, depending on how many rotations the teacher feels are necessary. During the trade simulation, the teacher is once again facilitating, assisting, and answering questions, while the students actively learn, collaborate, and interact. 8) Assessments: Students must complete a 3, 2, 1 review following the trade simulation. They must identify 3 major occupations of the time and culture. They must analyze 2 effects of the nature of the economic system, focusing upon one positive and one negative. They must make 1 connection, ask 1 question, or share 1 evaluation regarding the economic system of Mesopotamia. The exit slip will be collected as a formative assessment in order to gauge the students learning. 9) Differentiation and Accommodation: As they research, the students are given a handout that guides them through the information that they must know and be able to use in the trade simulation. The handout assists the students in organizing their thoughts as well as the information. The teacher also arranges the trade groups in such a way that various students are able to scaffold and challenge their peers. 10) Student Choice: The students are given the choice of their particular role or occupation in the Mesopotamian culture. The students must research and learn all that they need to know about

Student: Colleen Demboski

Social Studies Subject: Economics

the economic viewpoint and task in the time period in order to accurately represent the worker that they have chosen.