MUSEUM HISTORY PROJECT

Directions and Process

You and your teammates have been hired by the local history museum to create a
display on a particular African society. The display/final product needs to tell the visitors
to the museum about the history of your society as well as the government, culture, and
geography of the region after 300 CE and prior to 1500 CE. You will be given the rest of
the week to work on this. Presentations will take place next week Monday during our
classroom session. You have been assigned a group, please check the website to see
which group and region you have designed.
Over the week you should be working with your group members to complete this project.
You will have the entire week as an online format, but my classroom and the computers
will be open for you to work together if you would like. Make a plan on who will create
each part of the assignment and how you will eventually put it all together. Many
students like to spend a day together in the classroom finalizing the final project once all
information has been compiled.

Standards Covered through this project

GLAHSCE.SOC.9-12.4.3.1 - Describe the diverse characteristics of early African
societies and the significant changes in African society by:
GLAHSCE.SOC.9-12.4.3.1.a - comparing and contrasting at least two of the
major states/civilizations of East, South, and West Africa (Aksum, Swahili Coast,
Zimbabwe, Ghana, Mali, Songhai) in terms of environmental, economic,
religious, political, and social structures
GLAHSCE.SOC.9-12.4.3.1.b - using historical and modern maps to identify the
Bantu migration patterns and describe their contributions to agriculture,
technology and language
GLAHSCE.SOC.9-12.4.3.1.c - analyzing the African trading networks by
examining trans-Saharan trade in gold and salt and connect these to
interregional patterns of trade
GLAHSCE.SOC.9-12.4.3.1.d - analyzing the development of an organized
slave trade within and beyond Africa
GLAHSCE.SOC.9-12.4.3.1.e - analyzing the influence of Islam and
Christianity on African culture and the blending of traditional African beliefs with
new ideas from Islam and Christianity

Learning Objectives
Describe the environmental, economic, religious, social and political
structures in your region of Africa.

All information can also be found: http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=256636

MUSEUM HISTORY PROJECT

Create a map of your region in Africa to show how environmental and
geographic features shape the area and how the society develops.
Discuss the effects of the gold and salt trade on the development of African
civilizations
Analyze the effects and development of early slave trade on African societies
Compare and contrast your region of Africa with each of the other African
regions studied in class

You and your group will have multiple choices in your final presentation product:
If you decide to create a video, you can use many resources to create the video,
such as your phone, video editing software, and uploading it to YouTube or bringing
it on flash drive. Come up with a script and plan before you begin to film. Use your
creativity to present the material in a fun manner and help your classmates learn
about your area. One possibility could be creating an interview. All members need to
participate!
A tri-fold board is a traditional choice and you are welcome to purchase one from
the dollar store in town. You should make sure to include all of the information in a
readable format, present a clear picture of the area and label all areas of content.
Use color and graphics to highlight the important information!
A Prezi is a fun way to organize your information to show the connected information.
Use your information and resources to demonstrate how life was like for people in
your region. Make sure to include pictures, graphics and information demonstrating
life in your region.

Presentations
At the very end, you will be presenting your information to the class in a walk about
fashion. One to two of your group members will be presenting your project to your
classmates. We will have half of the class walking around and seeing presentations, while
the others are presenting to the groups. Halfway through class we will swap.

Process
Step 1: Product and Assignment
With your partners find out what region you are assigned to research. Review the
assignment, resources and all directions, ask any questions you may have to your
teacher. Next, please decide on what kind of final product you will create.
Step 2: Division of Labor
Use the checklist below to divide up the tasks each student will complete, making
sure to note the pieces that will be created by each student.
Step 3: Basic Understanding of African Society & Digging Deeper into the Topic
Begin to research your portions of the project, use the group resources and videos
found.

MUSEUM HISTORY PROJECT

Use the resources attached, on the website, and your textbook (Chapter 15) to fill
out your knowledge and complete your portion of the project.
Step 4: Compile and Complete
With your group, start to piece together your information to form a complete
picture.
Step 5: Synthesis
Create your "news of the day" by selecting a part of your society and writing an
article from the perspective of the person living at the time. You will not need to
complete the analysis and fill out the normal sheet for current events, rather you
are writing an article from the time that will take your knowledge of the area and
events and bring the reader into the action of the time.

Requirements
1. Hand-drawn Map: of the region with significant locations, label, major
cities, important physical features (examples: deserts, rivers, seas,
mountains, valleys). The map should be colored and created by a member
of the team. Not too small!
2. Description of the Government: What type of governmental structure, how
the government functions, who is in charge, etc.
3. Interactions with other civilizations: (trade, war, expansion, diplomatic)
a. Compare to other civilizations as well, how are they similar and
different from at least TWO other civilizations in this same time
period this will be done after the presentations of each society.
4. Description of the Culture:
a. Society class structure (wealthy elite, lower classes, slavery,
gender structure role of men and women, matrilineal or patrilineal
society)
b. Religion how does it play a role in the society? What is the main
religion?
c. Languages-What is the primary language or what are the primary
languages
d. Economic Development (what do they do to make money? What do
they use to represent money?)
e. Major Achievements of the society
5. Include a timeline of major events for the society: 7 events minimum.
These events should help you tell the story of your area. Do not just list
off a bunch of things that once happened.
6. News of the day: a story from each group member. This is you writing
your own news story from that a historic perspective. You may want to
focus on one specific aspect of society and write an interesting article
about that idea. Pick an event, part of government, person, religion,
economic idea or major achievement to examine.

MUSEUM HISTORY PROJECT

7. TWO 3-D Artifacts: that relates to your project and demonstrate some
major aspect of society during that time, see your teacher and the
website for examples on previous class artifacts. At least one of your
artifacts should be of a decent size.
8. Cite your sources: You can start with the group resources on the site and
your world history book. Once you have exhausted these, you can look for
others if needed, but all should be academic in nature.
Make sure your final project is neat, complete, colorful, and informative. You
will be graded based on the contribution you make to your group as well as
your knowledge of the region when you do present!

Areas in Africa for the presentations

Ghana
Mali
Kongo Kingdom
Songhai

Kilwa
Great Zimbabwe
Stateless Societies (West
Africa)*

Discussion Board
Throughout the week you should be adding to the discussion board on your
topic. Questions you will be answering and should consider during your
research:
Why does your society in Africa develop differently than many of the
European civilization?
How does the Gold and Salt trade affect the development in Africa?
Many people unfamiliar with the history of African civilizations would
argue that they were undeveloped at the time period, how would you
convince them otherwise? What evidence can you present to help
them understand the differences and complexity of Africa during this
era?