Quarter(s): 3

Day(s): Thu

Open Spots: 0

Learn history and geography through hands-on, interactive play rather than by studying flat, dull maps! Many great games feature play on map-based boards that can be used as teaching tools. Visual and kinesthetic learners will remember where Mongolia and Madagascar are when they have amassed miniature armies there! The instructor will use board games from his personal collection as teaching tools. In addition, he creates custom boards to use with modified game rules and playing pieces. Third quarter, students will learn about The Roman Empire using the games Successors and Conquest of the Empire. The class will also learn about the extent of the empire which was one of the largest in history, with contiguous territories throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The Roman Empire reached Hadrian's wall in northern England, Euphrates in Syria, the Nile River Valley in Egypt, and the plains of north Africa, completely encircling the Mediterranean Sea. The game continues week-to-week with students reviewing the geography as they set the game back up. For each era and conflict, students learn which countries were engaged and where they were located, capitals and key cities, shared borders and boundaries, and prominent geographic features and waterways. They gain an understanding of why countries were at war and how those events influenced history and the modern map. There is a $15.00 supply fee due to the instructor on the first day of class for custom-printed maps and shared class materials. Topics in this Series include: Ancient Civilizations/ Bronze Age (1st Quarter); Ancient Greece (2nd Quarter); Ancient Rome (3rd Quarter); and Medieval Times (4th Quarter).

Quarter(s): 3

Day(s): Thu

Open Spots: 0

Mega Maps is an interactive examination of the Age of Discovery, a period from the 15th to the 17th century in Europe. Against the backdrop of a giant, classroom-sized map, students will follow the European explorers who embarked on voyages of discovery, mapped new territories, established trade routes, and encountered new cultures and peoples. Students will engage in an inquiry-based investigation of the prominent explorers, learning about their finds and failures to gain an understanding of world history and geography, region-by-region. The class will cooperatively create the mega map adding features and details week by week as their understanding of the region expands. All students will contribute to coloring countries, depicting demarcations, rendering rivers, sketching seas, mapping mountains, delineating deserts, situating cities, crafting clay contours, and fashioning famous landmarks. The custom mega map will serve as a giant game board for in-class simulations, scavenger hunts, strategy games, and more. Third quarter, the class will follow explorers like Battuta, Henry the Navigator, da Gama, Dias, Livingstone, and Burton to Africa. There, these explorers led expeditions to areas now known as North Africa, the West African Coast, East Africa, Tanzania, Somalia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Kenya, Madagascar, the Cape of Good Hope and the Nile. Students will trace the voyages and expeditions of these explorers on the mega map to understand the establishment of colonies, the exchange of goods and ideas between continents, and the intermingling of diverse cultures. There is a $15.00 supply fee due payable to the instructor on/before the start of class. Topics in this Series: South & Central America (Quarter 1); North America & the Caribbean (Quarter 2); Africa (Quarter 3), and Asia (Quarter 4).