The
Project
Egypt is one of the oldest existing countries in the world, and therefore has a very ancient and complex history. Archeologists have learned much about Egyptian culture from clues the first Egyptians left behind. Egyptian culture is reflected in the artifacts found tombs, its artwork and even in the stories left behind in hieroglyphic form.
For this project, you will be taking on the role of the anthropologist/archeologist as you virtually travel across Egypt in search of clues that inform your inquiry question. It is a project that recognizes the importance of you having artistic and academic control of your learning, and allows you to sit in the driver’s seat.
You are going to investigate a question that you are interested in, and you are going to share with the class the answers to that question by collecting proof from across Egypt.
In the professional realm, your question is called an INQUIRY. You are going to be shown how to choose an appropriate inquiry question in class, and given time and help in class to use your expert skills to research, undertake, and present your inquiry.
All inquiry projects will need to connect to this theme:
“The beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians are
reflected in their cultural landscape”
Once you have formed your question, you will travel through the country, comb through archives, and analyze artwork on your quest to answer your question and collect evidence to back up your theories.
First: Choose your question
Your inquiry question should be connected to our theme but also contain your own unique angle:
-It shouldcontain something that interests you
-It should be driving and provocative/make your audience think
-It needs to be challenging: you should not know the answer before researching!
-It should be relevant, important, interesting
-It should be open ended and complex: there should be no one answer.
-Question cannot be a “YES” or “NO” question. If you can just google it, it is not a good question.
Remember our theme: “The beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians are
reflected in their cultural landscape”
So an example might be:
NO: What were the cannons of ancient Egyptian Art?
YES: How did the Egyptians use the arts to shape and reflect their culture?
Other possible areas to get ideas from:
"How did the beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians shape its society?”
“How isthe Egyptians religionreflected in its landscape?”
“By looking at what Egypt left behind, how can we discover what beliefs were most important to them?”
“How are beliefs reflected through Art? Music? Drama? Story?
“What is religion or beliefs? How did it effect the daily lives of Egyptians?
“How does religion or beliefs influence the way a society works?
“What does religion contribute to society today?
Second: the research
See crystallization form to sort and triangulate data. Scrap passportbut keep categories
Every true traveler/researcher requires a passport to freely access another country. In this project, you too will have a Passport, which will be used to keep you moving along several checkpoints in the project. Your research will need to include 5 areas of Egyptian culture, and you will receive a passport stamp once you have completed your work in each of these 5 areas. They include:
*geography
*culture
*religion
*arts
*architecture
Tips for effective research: Did you meaningfully research the inquiry question? How thoroughly did you explore the question? How professional are your answers? Did you consult a variety of sources of information? Are your answers accurate and well informed? Did you make good use of the academic time given to you (Productive versus nonproductive use of class time)
In class you will be shown how to collect information from a variety of sources correctly so that you can triangulate your data. Choosing, sorting through, and properly siting the places you get your information is an important skill.
Third: the share out
3) Every good inquiry needs to have its answer shared and celebrated. To help you put together your ideas, research, and conclusion in a way that frees you from the mountains of research you collected, you will be boiling down the answer to your question and presenting it in the form of a:
Children’s Story.
We will be making the template in class, but it is up to you to fill your pages with writing and illustrations that communicate what you learned in such a way that it is clear, creative, and simplified.
Here are some things your story should include:
Social Studies:
-Include your inquiry question
-Include several of the more important facts you discovered while investigating
your question. These can be simplified.
-The answer to your question should be clearly communicated by the end of
your story.
Art:
The art/visuals of your work will be marked on such things as effort (even values, well planned, ect), neatness (vrs rushed looking), creativity, and contain carefully planned illustrations that help contribute to your story line.
Language Arts:
-Story development: including such things as storyline, character development, setting, plot, conflict and resolution ect.
-Conventions of language: including spelling, grammar, sentence structure and proper punctuation.
-Creativity and personal challenge: In your written work
In addition to the above, you will be marked on your use of class time so use it wisely. Your work will be graded and explained to you using a rubric which will boil this all down neatly into a 5 point scale for each item above.