This week’s History homework.

We are currently investigating the history of democracy and government types in the world. Each class group has a specific area to concentrate on.

MS 1 LP’s are researching the origin of democracy in their chosen countries. You have to answer the following questions for homework:

Beijing Olympics 2008, China, Tibet and Democracy!

China is getting ready for the Olympic Games and have been in the news the last couple of weeks about its human rights violations. The Olympic Torch was lit at a ceremony in Olympia, Athens and it is on its way, accross the world to the Beijing 2008 Olympics, in China. Torch bearers had problems in London over the weekend and in France today and the torch got extinguished. LP’s how do you feel about the protestors trying to extinguish the torch? Express yourself by leaving a comment.

This is a statement from a protestor in Greece about the torch, Tibet and China: 

Democracy, Governments and Dictatorship…

In Social Studies this term we will study the history of democratic thought and look at the development of different government systems in the world.

Unit Guiding Question: What different kinds of governments are there and why have they developed?

 MS 1 will concentrate on the development of democracy through the ages in China, France, Greece, Ancient Rome and the USA.

MS 2 will study the development of Germany, Italy and Portugal as Nation States.

MS 3 will study the development of different Monarchies (England, France, Germany, Russia and Spain) and compare them with one another in a research essay titled: “Monarchies- Now and then!”

Assessment of this project will take place in three stages.

Stage 1 assessment: LP’s will research their chosen country or topic. They will collect data (primary and secondary sources of information), which they will analyse and interpret. They will prepare a presentation for their peers and be assessed by them. (Important Note: Please keep all your data and give me an electronic copy, so that I can upload it to this BLOG.)

Stage 2 assessment:LP’s will prepare a presentation answering the unit guiding question. Please note that you will choose the format of the presentation.

Stage 3 assessment: End of Unit Progress Test

During lessons this week LP’s will look at a video called: “Big Ideas that changed the World.” This video is used as a visual stimulant to introduce the “Democracy, Governments and Dictatorship” project. We will discuss some ideas from the video and LP’s are expected to complete the online activity “Using Democracy” for homework. 

Expectations for “Using Democracy” Homework:

Link: (http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/as/citizenship/democracy/)

1. Read through the online activity. (We will do it in class)
2. Complete the BBC – Democracy – Worksheet 1
3. Decide which club you as Community Center Manager would give the money to.
4. Prepare to debate your reasons for handing the money to the club of your choice.

Beijing 2008 Olympics Project

Middle School learning partners are currently compiling an information brochure for prospective olympic tourists visitting Beijing 2008.

As a class they have brainstormed ideas about which type of information to include into the brochure. They have chosen their team groups and each group have chosen a task(s) to contribute to the whole class project. They are researching information and writing their chosen section of the brochures.

Maps and Scale

Learning partners have concentrated on maps and scale the last 2 weeks during lessons. They have:

• revised the metric system to measure distance,
• learnt about the different types of scale used on a map,
• calculated distance between 2 points on a map converting it to actual distance on earth in meters and kilometers,

                                                            

Identify that Capital City!

This week in Social Studies lesson we are playing a game called “Identify that Capital City!” The goals of the game are to:

1.  use different resources to find the name of a country and its capital city.
2.  give the latitude and longitude coordinates of a country’s capital city.
3.  give the compass direction of a place from a given point on a map
4. work collaboratively as a team to solve problems.

The class is divided into groups and chooses a token to identify the team on the game board. The aim is to move into the center of the game board by answering all questions about a country correctly. If an answer is incorrect the token is moved one step backwards. 

The game starts at a specific city chosen by the mentor, in this case Munich in Germany. A globe which only shows country borders are spinned by a LP. The mentor holds a marker pen and makes a dot on the globe when it stops. If the dot is in a country, that specific country becomes the object under investigation. If the dot is in the ocean the nearest country to the dot is chosen. Teams have 5 minutes to collect answers.

LP’s have to identify the name of the country and its capital city and give the latitude and longitude coordinates of the capital city as well as the compass direction from the starting point (city.)  A LP is selected to become an observer that gives the different groups feedback about their teamwork and effort.

Map Skills

This week in lessons we have concentrated on map skills. We discussed different types of maps that we could find in a World Atlas and concentrated on how we can find a place on our Earth by using its latitude and longitude coordinates. This coming week we will continue with location describing it in terms of coordinates, direction and bearing.

What`s happening this week?

In Social Studies this week we are comparing a MEDC and LEDC with each other. The aim is to find similarities and differences between the two countries of our choice. You could compare the 2 countries by:

• looking at its culture and traditions,
• population statistics,
• natural resources,
• and economic development.

Please make sure that you include as much relevant information as possible. You will present your findings in 2 weeks time to the class.

Human Population Research Essays

The last 2 Social Studies lessons we have done the following:

1. You have chosen your title and wrote a statement of intent.
2. Last week you brainstormed ideas about what to include in your essay. It is important to do a mind map of your ideas and to find out what you already know about the topic. Some of these ideas will be good  and some may not be relevant to your guiding question.  

You have started your research last week as well. How can you use your time well when doing research? Well, remember that different people work in different ways. In tomorrow’s lesson we will look at the research you have done so far. Try some of the following suggestions: 

Human Population Growth – Questions

We had a very good input session, after watching the Population Growth video, and learning partners came up with a lot of interesting inquiry questions. (class-human-population-growth-questions.doc)

Homework for next Social Studies lesson (Due 15/16 November)