Ancient Cultures: An Odyssey through Time

How do we instill and nurture the connection between today’s students and the human cultural heritage? How can kids be shown that they inherit from all those who have gone before a legacy of human emotion, of real places, real things, and real experiences? In this module, you and your students embark on a time-travel odyssey, a voyage of discovery through four ancient cultures—Egypt, Greece, China, and Rome. By examining—up close and personal—the everyday life, knowledge and beliefs, art and architecture, government, and language and literature of each culture, voyagers see both the wonders of the ancient past and what they share in common with those who lived long ago. At each stop along the way, time travelers are immersed in these ancient cultures. By the time they get back home, students may well share the sentiments voiced by Odysseus himself, according to Tennyson’s poem, as he looks back on his journey and declares, “I am a part of all that I have met.” To strengthen and perpetuate this connection, students finish this module with an examination of possible careers related to the study of ancient cultures, and are spurred to immediate action to preserve and protect their ancient cultural heritage. After working with Ancient Cultures: An Odyssey through Time, students will understand the following key points:

• The term “culture” can be defined as the way of life of a people in a particular time and place—their everyday life, knowledge and beliefs, art and architecture, government, and language and literature.
• Students are already knowledgeable about one culture—their own contemporary American culture.
• Between ca. 3050 and ca. 30 B.C., the relatively narrow strip of land along the Nile River in Egypt fostered a rich and complex culture.
• On the mainland and islands of sea-bound Greece, there developed between ca. 3000 B.C. and 146 B.C. an ancient culture whose achievements affect us to this day.
• Ancient China’s enduring empire began ca. 1650 B.C. and continued until the early part of the twentieth century.
• Between the mythical founding of Rome in 753 B.C. and its fall in A.D. 476, the ancient Romans evolved a system of exploration, annexation, and governing that led to the creation of a vast empire.
• Ancient cultures share essential similarities as well as striking differences. By studying these, students gain insight into both the incredible diversity and the commonality found in the human experience.
• Students learn about a variety of careers involving the study of ancient cultures.
• Ancient sites and artifacts have been plundered in the past, and many are still at risk in the present.
• There do exist courses of action that can help preserve our ancient cultural heritage.

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Wheel 1: Exploring What You Already Know

In Wheel 1, students are invited to discover and show what they already know about the theme. Different Ways of Knowing sets a classroom climate for learning by valuing self-expression, individuality, and diversity. Recognizing that children bring theme-related knowledge and experience to school, Wheel 1 encourages students to explore that knowledge and to use and appreciate their multiple intelligences. Children take pleasure in thinking about what they already know and they enjoy being inventive in how they show this knowledge. All children participate and succeed, and an activity that encourages them to access their prior knowledge serves as a bridge to further exploration and learning. As your students are introduced to Ancient Cultures: An Odyssey through Time and explore what they already know, they will

• examine elements of their own contemporary American culture as an outsider might
• use this experience to determine what they already know about various aspects of American culture
• contribute to a collage showing their impressions of American culture
• use this experience to arrive at a solid working definition of the term culture in anticipation of their odyssey through four cultures of the ancient world.

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Wheel 2: Getting Smarter through Research

Rather than relying on you or their textbook as the transmitter of facts, students work as independent learners by exploring and interpreting what they read, see, and hear. To help them get started, Different Ways of Knowing provides for your classroom a Resource Center full of literature and other learning materials. The children read authentic text, including primary source material, fiction and poetry from many cultures, as well as biographies and other nonfiction books. They learn through hands-on experiences with maps, globes, photographs, video, artwork, music, computers, and objects. They conduct interviews and experiments, keep daily journals, and gather and analyze data. Within Wheel 2 there are multiple Clusters of Learning Events:

Learning Cluster 1: Ancient Egypt
Learning Cluster 2: Ancient Greece
Learning Cluster 3: Ancient China
Learning Cluster 4: The Roman Empire

• use their knowledge about culture in general to prepare for travel through four ancient cultures: Egypt, Greece, China, and Rome
• record their thoughts at key points in their odyssey in personal Travel Logs, and save mementos from their journey in Travel Bags
• set the stage for their trip by examining the ancient Greek story of Odysseus
• work with maps and timelines, and use touch and movement to comprehend the vast amounts of time and distance involved in this odyssey
• preview and speculate about artifacts and/or the physical geography of each of the four cultures
• spend time among the people of each culture to learn about their everyday life
• explore the language and literature of each of the four cultures visited
• examine the government of each of the four ancient cultures
• view and analyze the visual arts of each ancient culture
• explore the customs and beliefs that characterize each ancient culture
• express what they have learned about these cultures through an “Evening” of Epic Storytelling in the style of Homer’s Odyssey.

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Wheel 3: Becoming an Expert

Building on their knowledge, children become independent researchers and work in collaborative groups to explore specific social studies topics related to the module’s themes. Different Ways of Knowing provides strategies and resources that allow students to become successful researchers and problem solvers. Once students have explored their research questions, searched for answers, and synthesized their data, they share their findings with others in a variety of effective ways. As your students work to become experts and deepen their knowledge of the four ancient cultures, they will

• conduct research designed to compare and contrast the cultures of ancient Egypt, Greece, China, and Rome in these areas: weapons and warfare, fashion and beauty, food and cooking, holidays and festivals, sculpture and pottery, and ships and waterways
• use their research to plan a Cross-Cultural Time Travel Tour for each of these topics
• use all available methods and modalities (verbal, oral and written, auditory, dramatic, visual, tactile, multisensory, etc.) in efforts to persuade others to take these tours
• hold a Travel Fair for staging presentations designed to teach about and “sell” the tours.

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Wheel 4: Making Connections to Lifelong Learning

Learning is a process of making connections, of understanding how things are related. As reflective learners, children connect what they’ve learned to their own lives and to important issues of contemporary society. Thoughtful questions and activities help children synthesize their new knowledge and apply it to new situations. Real learning is generative. One question usually leads to another. In Wheel 4, students evaluate what and how they’ve learned, and what they might explore next. In Ancient Cultures: An Odyssey through Time, your students make connections as they

• review their travels in the four ancient cultures and reflect on why certain sites have particular appeal for people today
• look at real people who have made ancient cultures a part of their lives
• consider how they might continue to participate in the exploration of ancient cultures and make this part of their own lifelong learning
• gain awareness of past and current threats to archaeological sites and antiquities, explore and clarify issues and possible solutions, and consider taking action to counteract these problems.

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Bibliography

The following books have been carefully selected for your classroom Resource Center. Each book sheds light on some aspect of what students will be exploring on their learning journey. Take time to familiarize yourself with all these resources, then preview them with your students. Explain which subjects the different books and tapes cover, giving students a kind of literary sales pitch to generate interest and enthusiasm. As students move through their module work, keep going back to these resources, scrutinizing all parts of them—images, captions, quotations, maps, information boxes, timelines, and bibliographies. In this way you’ll keep discovering new and enlightening ways to connect the information contained in the books and other materials to the students’ work. In short, challenge yourself and your students to use these incredible resources to their fullest. (Note: If any of these titles go out of print, the Galef Institute will substitute comparable titles.)

Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt by Geraldine Harris. Cultural Atlas for Young People Series. Facts on File, 1990.
Ancient Egypt by George Hart. Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.
“Kids Discover Pyramids.” Kids Discover, 1994.
The Musicians of the Nile: Luxor to Isna. Realworld/Caroline Records.
"Pharaohs of Egypt." Calliope: World History for Young People, v. 5, n. 1 (September/October 1994).
The Shipwrecked Sailor: An Egyptian Tale of Hieroglyphs by Tamara Bower. Atheneum, 2000.

Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece by Anne Pearson. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Ancient Greece by Anton Powell. Cultural Atlas for Young People Series. Facts on File, 1989.
“Athens vs. Sparta.” Calliope: World History for Young People, v. 5, n. 1 (November/December 1994).
D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire. Yearling Books, Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers, 1962.
“Kids Discover Ancient Greece.” Kids Discover, August/September 1994.
Living History: Ancient Greece by John D. Clare, consulting editor. Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994.
Panegyris: Greek Folk Favorites. Rykodisc, 1997.
Spotlights: The Ancient Greeks by Charles Freeman. Oxford University Press, 1996.
The Wanderings of Odysseus by Rosemary Sutcliff. Delacorte Press, 1995.

Ancient China
Ancient China by Arthur Cotterell. Alfred A.Knopf, 1994.
Ancient China by Carol Michaelson. The Nature Company/Time-Life Books (Discoveries Library), 1996.
Ancient China: Facts, Stories, Activities by Robert Nicholson and Claire Watts. Chelsea House Publishers, 1994.
China: The Culture by Bobbie Kalman. Crabtree Publishing Company, 1989.
China: The Land by Bobbie Kalman. Crabtree Publishing Company, 1989.
Chinese Classical Instrumental Music. Smithsonian/Folkways Cassette 06812.
Confucius Speaks: Words to Live By by Tsai Chih Chung. Anchor Books, 1996.
Feng Shui Desk for Success Toolkit by Angi M. Wong. Pacific Heritage Books, 2000.
Fun with Chinese Characters: The Straits of Time Collection, vol. 1 by Tan Huay Peng. Federal Publications, 1980.
The Great Wall of China by Leonard Everett Fisher. Aladdin Paperbacks, 1986.
Growing Up in Ancient China by Ken Teague. Troll Associates, 1994.
Made in China: Ideas and Inventions from Ancient China by Suzanne Williams. Pacific View Press, 1996.
The Tao Speaks: Lao-Tzu’s Whispers of Wisdom by Tsai Chih Chung. Anchor Books, 1995.
Zen Speaks: Shouts of Nothingness by Tsai Chih Chung. Anchor Books, 1994.

The Roman Empire
Ancient Rome by Simon James. Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.
City by David Macaulay. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974.
Classical Rome edited by John D. Clare. Harcourt Brace and Company, 1993.
Growing Up in Ancient Rome by Mike Corbishley. Troll Associates, 1994.
“Kids Discover the Roman Empire.” Kids Discover, 1994.
A Roman Villa by Jacqueline Morley. Inside Story Series. Peter Bedrick Books, 1992.
Spotlights: The Romans by John Haywood. Oxford University Press, 1996.
Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander. Penguin, 1963, 1996.
Who Were the Romans? by Phil Roxbee Cox. (Usborne Starting Point History). EDC Publishing, 1994.

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