Interactive Social Studies Websites for Kids
Using Technology to Teach Ancient History in Middle School
Apr 13, 2009
Social studies teachers face multiple challenges with student motivation and learning. Confronted with popular culture, it becomes the teacher's responsibility to challenge students' misconceptions about history. Television shows, movies, and video games shape students' historical consciousnesses but often misrepresent the past. Using technology in the classroom, however, helps social studies teachers combat apathy and challenge historical distortions.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) History Homepage
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) offers online social studies resources for teachers and students. These games and activities provide more historically accurate portrayals of the past using similar types of media that often fabricate or sensationalize ancient history. Most social studies curricula in middle school include units on ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The BBC provides excellent supplemental social studies activities that address multiple standards at the national, state, and local levels. The BBC's Ancient History Homepage includes online ancient history activities for Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
Ancient Egypt Activities
The BBC History Homepage includes numerous interactive activities for Ancient Egypt.
- Death in Sakkara is an interactive program that allows students act as journalists in 1929 searching for a missing archaeologist. The game builds critical thinking skills and requires students to work as detectives as they analyze clues and evidence.
- Pyramid Challenge is a game that allows students to assume the identity of a vizier. This activity involves the challenges of pyramid building.
- Development of Pyramids Gallery includes multiple galleries of Egypt's pyramids.
- Mummy Maker is a game that helps students understand the embalming process. Students work as embalmers for the body of Ramose, an officer to the king.
Ancient Greece Activities
The BBC also provides interactive activities for Ancient Greece.
- The section on the Olympics allows students to compare modern and ancient Olympic games and includes an interactive gallery of the ancient Greek Olympics.
- The section on Athens and democracy helps students understand the brand of democracy in Athens and its impact on Western Democracy.
- The section on Greek cultures includes an analysis of Alexander the Great and the Fall of the Minoan Civilization.
Ancient Rome Activities
The BBC further offers interactive activities for Ancient Rome.
- Death in Rome is a detective game that allows students to investigate a mysterious death. This activity encourages students to analyze evidence and think critically.
- Gladiators: Dressed to Kill is a game that helps students understand the gladiator culture, emphasizing weaponry and armor.
- The Colosseum: Building an Arena of Death is an interactive slide show that explores the technology used to construct such an influential structure.
- Battlefield Academy is a game that allows students to determine the outcome of a battle between Romans and Ancient Britons, emphasizing battle strategies and technologies.
Using Online Activities Effectively
After building a knowledge base of the various time periods and places, teachers can enrich student learning with these online activities. The interactive games, slide shows, and galleries should be springboards for discussion and further analysis of the different cultures. These activities also help motivate students and encourage them to think historically.
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