Early Human Origins Activity – My First Lesson

A pretty monumental day in my very young teaching career, as tried my first ever activity that I had created.

 

We are beginning our unit on Early Civilization, and I wanted to make sure the students fully understood the birthplace of man, and the evolution and migration of man as he developed into present day modern man.

 

The students were broken into 5 groups, and each group was given a list of coordinates. The students were instructed they were Archaeologists, and they must locate and plot the locations of these fossil sites. They were given individual maps, and as they plotted their groups locations, one member of the group would plot the locations on a larger class map that I projected on the white board. The white board map allowed me to show the full migration pattern to the entire class.

After the students plotted the points, they began to work on discussion questions that allowed them to think critically on the data they had created. There are no right or wrong answers, but instead, the students could present theories and give evidence for what they saw.

Here are some pictures of the board after class ended, and I have included the handouts I used below as well.

Individual Map

Discussion Questions

 

 

Coordinate Handout

 

Power of PLN Social Studies

I sent out a few questions asking for some input from educators on why students dislike history and what I could use to help engage them. I was not disappointed with the results.

First I sent out a request for video game ideas for a Social Studies class.
What r some video games that could b used in Social Studies class? Lookin 4 role playin like Civilzation. #edtech #sschat
ShackKyle
July 10, 2011
And the next day, I got a tip on a game I had not heard of.
@ShackKyle Do you know about Mission US?
EDSITEment
July 10, 2011
I also sent out a request for teachers to help me understand why student would dislike a social study class.
What are some common reasons students do not like history class? #sschat #edtech #ntchat
ShackKyle
July 10, 2011
And two fellow educators gave me input, that I used in my conference presentation.
@ShackKyle Boredom. They view it as a lecture and test class.
MisterEason
July 10, 2011
@ShackKyle I think it starts with turn to page ____ also, many, many history teachers think that teaching = lecture #sschat
Becky_Ellis_
July 10, 2011
This is the power of a PLN (Personal Learning Network). It allows me to interact with educators across the world and collaborate with them to become a better student and teacher.

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