1. Grade 7 Social Studies Instruction Overview of Content Use of TCI Use of Multiple Intelligences Group Projects in Grade 7

2. Revised Grade 7 Curriculum Map The Units are Bookmarked! Control-Click on the Unit you want to go to in the map! R EMEMBER THIS SLIDE ? These are the Units of the Curriculum! How do we pace our instruction to teach it all? SS-07-5.3.5 Students will explain how the Age of Exploration (early civilizations prior to 1500 A.D.) produced extensive contact among isolated cultures and explain the impact of this contact.

3. If you need more time to effectively teach a topic, try to borrow it from within the Unit Duration.

4. Revised Grade 7 Curriculum Map The Units are Bookmarked! Control-Click on the Unit you want to go to in the map! This is a lot to teach! You could teach a year-long course on any of these units!

5. O VERVIEW OF C ONTENT CONTINUED Is there an over- arching framework we can use to help students learn and make sense of World History? I think there is!

6. O VERVIEW OF C ONTENT CONTINUED Guns, Germs, & Steel episodes on-line are at http://topdocumentaryfilms. com/guns-germs-and-steel/

7. Jared Diamond’s argument is that European dominance of the world during the Age of Exploration came about as a result of GEOGRAPHIC LUCK.

8. He says that by the time of the Age of Exploration, Europeans had already benefitted from a series of ultimate and proximate factors that made them uniquely capable of world domination. And these factors were based on Geographic Luck!

9. WHEN WE TEACH THE RIVER VALLEYS IN 7 TH GRADE WE BEGIN WITH… WHY DID CIVILIZATION BEGIN HERE? GEOGRAPHIC LUCK

10. Mesopotamian Resources: Nearby were the horse, dromedary & donkey. Sheep, Goats, Pigs, Cattle Wheat, Barley, Peas No other place on earth had this many crucial ingredients to the Agricultural Revolution!

11. Not all animals are good candidates for domestication.

12. Of the 148 herbivores over 100 pounds on earth, only 14 have ever been successfully domesticated.

13. 12 of the 14 originated in Eurasia and only one originated in the Americas.

14. It’s no wonder civilization begins in Mesopotamia! It has the Geographic Luck! Wheat, Barley, Peas Rice, Millet Sorghum, Yams

15. Meanwhile, in the Americas… Llama, Beans, Guinea Pig Corn, Beans Tomatoes, Turkey

16. CONTINENTAL AXIS: East-West or North-South?

17. The plants & animals crucial to the successful development of civilization in Mesopotamia could also be successful anywhere along the same latitude across Eurasia. The East-West orientation of Eurasia meant there was a lot of area that could become civilized. The East-West orientation of Eurasia meant there was a lot of area that could become civilized.

19. Civilization By Roger S. Thomas, to the tune The Rhythm of the Rain Look at all the animals of Eurasia Helping humans get their start Domesticating, cultivating, creating Those city-states with all their heart The goat & sheep, the cow & pig & all that wheat Created surplus, don’t you know? The horse nearby, the camel & the donkey, too Made the Fertile Crescent start to grow Civilization, now begin to share Economic trade, religion, laws that are fair Specialization for a population on the go Look at how the river valley plays its part Providing silt and water for the sand Manure fertilizes and the farmers start Creating math to claim their land With animals and crops the humans start to spread From river valleys far and wide The Tigris, Nile, the Indus, and the Huang He, too Help civilization find its stride Civilization, now you’d better take care Depleting natural resources is not a false scare Mesopotamia’s not a garden and Harappa’s gone away Look at how the food packages move along As new civilizations start to grow Technology’s adapted and improved as well As along the latitude they go

20. As it entered the Age of Exploration, Europe had the benefit of the ultimate factors of geography and the proximate factors of civilization’s development.

21. East/West Axis ULTIMATE FACTORS PROXIMATE FACTORS Epidemic Diseases Political Organization Writing Ocean- Going Ships Many Suitable Wild Species Guns, Steel, Swords Horses Many Domesti- cated Plant and Animal Species Large, Dense, Sedentary, Stratified Societies Food Surpluses, Food Storage Technology Ease of Species Spreading How Geographic Luck put Europeans in the position of Global Dominance during the Age of Exploration. From Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond, 1997

22. Revised Grade 7 Curriculum Map Guns, Germs, & Steel Episodes on-line are at http://topdocumentaryfilms.com /guns-germs-and-steel/

23. Grade 7 Social Studies Instruction Overview of Content Use of TCI Use of Multiple Intelligences Group Projects in Grade 7

24. Let’s look at a TCI Lesson Let’s look at this one!

25. Let’s look at a TCI Lesson

28. (Open the Four Empires presentation.)