An ERIC Webquest

A WebQuest for 7th Grade World Cultures

Designed by

Paul Monheimer
monheimerp@catlin.edu

Introduction | InvestigationWeb ResourcesPresenting the Results

Introduction

We live in a "global" world, where people of different cultures, languages, and regions are connected to and influenced by each other. People travel more or less freely from country to country as immigrants, business people or tourists. We communicate across national boundaries and have windows into each others'lives through entertainment and the news. Ideas and culture travel too: there are McDonald's in Moscow and Japanese sushi can be found in most American cities and towns. All of this is new--or is it? The four civilizations we will study, ancient Egypt, Rome, India, and China are very much alive:

• as forces that shaped the world we live in

• as mirrors of some of our own strengths and weaknesses

How much were the ancient Egyptians, Romans, Indians, and Chinese like us? How much did they have to do with who we are? The images above represent ancient ERIC. The images below are from our modern world. Builders and leaders of today's world knew a great deal about ancient Egyptians, Romans, Indians, and Chinese and drew inspiration from their history. This is part of our past as a world. Your task will be to make some comparisons between ourselves and your ERIC civilization, discover what we've admired and imitated, and find evidence that these four civilizations are still in some ways, alive in the world around us.

As you move through your research, keep in mind these: (Scroll down if necessary)

Questions for Reflection

• what makes a civilization strong?

• what makes a civilization great?

• why do civilizations "fall?"

• why does one culture imitate another?

• what are the qualities of a great leader?

• how can a culture deal successfully with other cultures?

• how can/should a culture deal with ethnic, racial and religious diversity

You should begin by getting a clear understanding of the tasks you'll be doing and and process you'll be following in your investigation. Use suggested local print and CD-ROM databases and World Wide Web resources and other reliable information sources you discover in the course of your research. You will provide the results of your investigation in both a final group presentation and invidividual written pieces.

Back to TopInvestigationWeb ResourcesPresenting the Results

Web page designed by Paul Monheimer. Teaching is truly a sharing profession. Many thanks to all the teachers whose ideas I have borrowed, tweaked, or enhanced in order to create this webquest. Teachers, please feel free to use any of the pieces of this webquest in your own creations. In order to be fair to all, no part of this webquest may be electronically or non-electronically reproduced for profit. All rights reserved. Questions or comments? Please e-mail me at monheimerp@catlin.edu. ©2002