Pre AP World History Project Directions

Since some of the projects below require you to create a PowerPoint presentation, these sites will give you some very good instruction on how to put one together.

PAK 1 Project : PowerPoint Presentation - Four River Valley Civilizations (Requires an annotated works cited page of at least 5 references outside of the textbook.) Use the Ancient History section of the Reference site for your research.

Unit Task: Create a PowerPoint presentation designed to teach the differences and similarities of each of the four river valley civilizations. You should have a section in your presentation for each civilization and present the following for each civilization. Each slide should have both illustrations and text.

	religion
	government
	technical skills
	economy
	system of writing and calendar
	arts

When you divide up the research, DO NOT divide it by cultures. Instead, have someone research the government for all four civilizations, etc. Each student should make his/her own slides based on their research and incorporate it into the PowerPoint presentation.

Create one slide that is your annotated bibliography. An annotated bibliography details where each picture and idea was found. Use the MLA format sheet you will find behind the counter to show you how to make your bibliography.

Your first slide is a title slide, which also includes the name of everyone in the group.

In addition to correct historical content and use of appropriate pictures, you will be graded on how your presentation LOOKS. Each slide must have a picture. Make sure you are not too wordy and select your backgrounds for appropriate color schemes and continuity. Everyone’s slides must fit the same general design plan so that your presentation looks polished and professional. (NO drop-in letter effects, please! I want to be able to read the entire slide at once.)

PAK 2 Project : Magazine - Comparing Greece and Rome to Today (Requires an annotated works cited page of at least 5 references outside of the textbook.) Use the Ancient History section of the Reference site for your research.

Unit Task: You and your group of four are the editorial board of a new magazine exploring the links between history and modern society. Your inaugural issue will explore the links and parallels between the reek and Roman civilizations and modern world issues and events. The editorial board has determined that your magazine will take an opposing page format that features stories and problems of the Roman and Greek civilizations on the left side of a double page spread and related stories of modern society on the facing page.

EXAMPLES:

Roman Roads Connect the Empire	The Chunnel Connects Britain and France
Graffiti artists work overtime in Pompeii	New York City spends millions erasing graffiti
Roman Empire Breaks Up	USSR Disintegrates

Contents of the Magazine: Letters to the editor, tracing the thread of democracy and government, tracing the influence of Greek and Roman architecture on modern architecture, world news and events as they relate to wars and global conflict, local news and events, business and trade news, science and technology, education, home and family, cultural issues and sports events. Editorial Topic: "Will United States world dominance fall as the Roman Empire fell?" In addition to the specified content, your magazine will have an original cover, a table of contents, a page that lists the "Top Ten Links" between the ancient and modern worlds, illustrations and advertisements from ancient times.

PAK 3 Individual Project : Journaling from the Middle Ages - Primary Source Document Project (Requires notations of which source was used for each particular journal element.) Use the Medieval History section of the Reference site for your research.

Read all of the document provided in the Middle Ages Sources packet. Using material from each of the documents you read, create a journal for a fictional teenager living in Europe during the time of the Middle Ages. Describe a typical week - seven entries - in the small village in which you live. Include the following:

	What village do you live in? Include a hand drawn map showing the layout of the village.
	Choose a year for your journal and stick with the historical events that occurred that year and the years past. Don't talk about the Second Crusade, for example if it has not yet occurred.
	Describe the differences between the lord of the manor's family and the common people. How does feudalism work for you?
	How do people dress? What do they eat? What are their houses like and where do they sleep?
	Describe the education of both boys and girls.
	Narrate the day to day lives of both men and women in your village.
	What part does religion play in your village?
	Explain trade and the guild system.
	How has the plague affected the people in your village? Be careful to select an actual plague period.
	Include an illustrated cover and any other illustrations you might want to add. Your teacher enjoys the effort you put into well executed and ACCURATE drawings.

PAK 4 Group Project : Briefing Book - Blueprint for Revolution (Requires an annotated works cited page of at least 5 references outside of the textbook.) Use the Revolutions section of the Reference site for your research.

Directions: You and your team are world renowned political advisors watching the political and social events in Russia ca. 1914. Because "hindsight is 20-20" as the saying goes, you can see that Nicholas II and Russia are headed for disaster. You reel compelled to create an extensive briefing book and to write a persuasive letter offering advice based upon your study of previous revolutions - their causes and effects. As you create this briefing book, you will tell Nicholas what you feel he must do to avoid a disastrous revolution in his own country.

Components for the Briefing Book: You will include information you have researched about the following revolutions:

	English Civil War 1642-1645 purple
	England's Glorious Revolution 1685 green
	American Revolution 1775-1781 yellow
	French Revolution 1789-1792 blue
	Russian Revolution 1914-1919 red

1. Create a Timeline for Revolution on which you list the major events, writers and ideas which led to each of the five revolutions. Include: ideas, political events, warfare, technology. Color code your timeline to show in which country each event occurred. Begin the timeline ca. 1640 and end with the Russian Revolution in 1920.

2. Create a page for each of the five revolutions above in which you include the following information:

	conditions of the peasantry that made revolution seem necessary to them.
	conditions of the merchant/middle class that made revolution seem necessary to them.
	actions taken by the upper or ruling class and the clergy that made revolution seem necessary. Include the names of each ruler who created incidents that led to revolution and explain what those actions were.
	political events which pushed each country closer toward revolution.
	the triggering event(s) which finally plunged each country into revolution.
	the new ideas which were spreading through each country at the time that made revolution seem possible.
	any wars in which the country had been recently involved which might have worsened conditions.
	explain the outcome of each revolution. Did a dictator take control? What eventually happened to the dictatorship or to any temporary government?

3. You should give at least 5 specific ideas that Nicholas could have implemented to forestall disaster and improve his country. In order to persuade Nicholas that he MUST make these reforms, you will call upon the lessons of history. For example: The lack of social mobility from the lower class to the middle class bred discontent and resentment. This was a factor in the French Revolution and is a factor in Russia.

You will turn in graphic organizers as proof of your "scholarly research." An example is shown below:

Situation or Problem	What Russia Did	What Russia Should Have Done	Comparison From A Previous Revolution
Late 1800s - Strong liberal ideas from the West are taking hold among the nationalities who did not like Russian rule and among some of the Russian aristocracy.	Russian Czars continue to rule as autocrats; and begin to censor speech and press; while imposing a policy of Russification.	1. Either return the Poles and the Finns who dislike Russia to self-rule or find a way to bring them peacefully into the Russian government. 2. Begin paying greater attention to the evolution of democracy in the West and find ways to expand political rights.	1. With absolute rule dominating Europe, Enlightenment thinkers began questioning why so few held so much power. 2. The success of the American Revolution inspired the French who sought to find ways to expand political rights of lower classes.

4. Finish your project with a persuasive letter to Czar Nicholas II of Russia instructing him on how he can avoid revolution in Russia. Use the categories listed under Numbers 2 and 3 above and give clear, detailed reasons why all of the elements for revolution are in place in Russia, just as they were in France, England and America. Label each of these arguments with the name of the contributor.

PAK 5 Project : Newspaper - Isms, the Worker and World Domination (Requires an annotated works cited page of at least 5 references outside of the textbook.)

PAK 6 Project : Scrapbook - Saying Goodbye to the Twentieth Century (Requires an annotated works cited page of at least 5 references outside of the textbook.)

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