G5 Social Studies-- Ancient Chinese Artifact

This past unit, the students have been learning about Ancient Civilizations, specifically Ancient China, from the Qin Dynasty all the way up to the Qing Dynasty. They have read parts of “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” created posters of ancient Chinese artifacts and events, and have had a historical overview of several Dynasties of China’s history in chronological order. We also discussed some of the sociological impacts of Ancient China to today. One question that was challenging for our students was, “How do we prevent ourselves and others from corruption and violating others rights and property?” We saw this a lot between Dynasties when there is usually not a smooth transition of power and things become rather violent and chaotic. The culmination of all of this was an Ancient Chinese Artifact they had to make from one of these periods of Chinese history. Students had to make a model of this artifact and write their personal conclusions about it in relation to three inquiry questions. Why was the artifact significant? How was the artifact influential in China and beyond? How has the artifact changed over time?

It is my hope that they will continue to use what they have learned and reflect on their own lives in relation to Taiwanese society and see how they can not only better themselves, but struggle to better others and their community here, as it is so easy to become self-centered and even violent, as we see from ancient Chinese history.