The essential question of this lesson is: “How do cultural and social interactions between different ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia shape and develop these ancient civilizations and what can we learn from this about the interconnectedness of diverse cultures and different groups of people?” The goal of this lesson is to take what we already teach about ancient civilizations and multiculturalize it so that students can learn a more complex, complete, and inclusive view of what these ancient societies were like and how they connect to a broader worldly perspective.

People, Places, and Environments - Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of people, places, and environments.

Global Connections - Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of global connections and interdependence.

SS.6.W.2.1 - Compare the lifestyles of hunter-gatherers with those of settlers of early agricultural communities.

SS.6.W.2.3 - Identify the characteristics of civilization.

SS.6.W.2.4 - Compare the economic, political, social, and religious institutions of ancient river civilizations.

SS.6.W.2.7 - Summarize the important achievements of Mesopotamian civilization.

Learning stations activity – each student will have a worksheet to turn in at the end of class, this worksheet will have different questions for each learning station, there will be multiple choice, True/False, fill in the blank, and various types of questions for each station so they’re not simply just answering boring easy to find questions.

Wrap up discussion – students will come together after all stations have been visited and their worksheets are complete, there will be discussion questions for each station so the students are prompted to share what they learned with the rest of the class.

Exit ticket activity – this is labeled as an activity because instead of getting a piece of paper with prewritten questions on it, students will each receive one sticky note. On this they will be asked to write one interesting fact or thing they learned from this lesson. They are encouraged to use their creativity, they may draw a picture on their sticky note if they want, basically anything that shows they gained something from this lesson. Formal assessment will be done through students’ participation in the activity and discussions as well as their turned in completed worksheet. As students exit the class they will put their sticky note on a poster board which we will then be able to hang in the classroom and use for future classroom activities or discussions.