World Geography – Culture Establishment Project:

Project Due Date: Monday October 9th

You are among a group of 30 members of the ISS (International Space Station).

Something has happened!!! A rare space anomaly has approached the ISS and was not picked up by radar or sonar. The anomaly appeared as a strange cloud in space, and enveloped the ISS. After 30 minutes of tumbling, shaking and sheer terror – all is now peaceful and quiet. You are still orbiting the earth – but you notice something strange; the continents seem different. They are not aligned as you know them to be. South America has shifted to the west across the Pacific Ocean, North America is now well to the East of where it was, and Australia seems to now be a part of Southeast Asia. You have no communications with anyone on Earth now, all of the familiar satellites that you know are gone – and the ISS is running out of provisions (food, water, medical supplies, etc.).

Your group of 30 on the ISS decide to enter the escape modules on the station, and descend to earth. As you descend you believe that you are landing on what may have been Central America. Your timeline data banks indicate that you are about to land on Earth, but 40 million years in the future.

As your group lands, there are no people, but most of the landforms and plants are somewhat familiar. The animals that you see as you leave your landing craft have evolved into animals you never dreamed of. Some friendly, some dangerous – and none resembling humans. And there is not a dinosaur around.

Your smaller group has been designated as the “leaders” of the landing group. You are now on Earth – but a different earth. What do you do now???

Your group is responsible for leading the others – taking care of them and ensuring the survival of your landing party – and you have quite a few tasks ahead of you. Those tasks include:

-Finding a place to live / settle

-Finding food and water

-Establishing who is in charge and who is supposed to do what

-Security and safety for the new colony

-Locating resources and the means of production for the things that your colony will need

-Establishing a system of government to lead and guide the colony

-Establishing a judicial system to enforce and interpret laws

-etc. etc. etc. etc.

For this project, your group will have to answer all of the questions / challenges above. People need to eat, they need shelter, they need security, they need a common society / culture, they need to make things for each other and they need to be held accountable for the rules of the group. Your teacher will determine your groups.

Your group, through deliberation, investigation and collaboration are now charged with putting together your new society. You will need to complete a poster that answers the following questions:

-What type of government will you have?

-What type of economic system will you have?

-What will be the rules of society?

-How will the laws be enforced?

-How will the safety of this new “earth colony” be ensured?

-Who is going to do what? Who is going to be in charge?

Get it? Your group is responsible for creating a new world – on a new earth.

Prepare your ideas and proposals on the poster board that you have been provided. You may use any internet sources that you feel necessary – by the third day of this project, you will present your ideas as to how to make your new society work.

Be creative! Think out of the ‘box’. You have to justify all of your decisions.

Some of the basic rules for this project:

-Creativity will get your group a better grade

-All group members will evaluate the participation of other group members (so everyone needs to be involved)

-Cell phones may be used during project creation but should only be used for the project

-You may store your posters / data in your classroom or take home to work on at night

-Spelling and grammar will be evaluated on your final submission

-You must, at all times, justify the decisions of your group.

This will be a major project grade. The grading rubric for your group is a follows:

-10 PointsWhat type of government will you have?

-10 PointsWhat type of economic system will you have?

-10 PointsWhat will be the rules of society?

-10 PointsHow will the laws be enforced?

-10 PointsHow will the safety of this new “earth colony” be ensured?

-10 PointsWho is going to do what? Who is going to be in charge?

-20 PointsPeer participation evaluation

-20 PointsCreativity, grammar, spelling