Timeline of Civilizations

For over two weeks, the hard-working 6th graders absorbed some fascinating facts on the topic of major archaeological discoveries. Afterwards, they were presented with a challenge to work in groups to create a TIMELINE of CIVILIZATIONS.

This meant that they would use classroom laptops to research whichever civilizations they were particularly interested in. The goal was to make a chart that was visually attractive and with informative graphics and historical details to give the viewer some insight into how these world-changing cultures brought us from hunter-gatherers to the first cities to the present day.

For us teachers, it had been thrilling to see them show such enthusiasm to learn more about history. Their natural curiosity has produced some remarkable timelines. Not only that, when they work in teams, they learn to cooperate and discover each others’ talents – one team member may do some research, while another shows her artistic skill in illustrating the chart and another with math skills will make careful decisions about the best scale to represent a time span of 6,000 years. All in all, we had seen yet another aspect of how a Kuei Shan classroom can become a terrific learning environment when the kids are given the freedom to pursue their own interests.