Timeline Challenge 4

Imperial China Timeline Challenge

Overview

This activity challenges students to analyze a historical timeline. Working in pairs, students respond to a series of questions that lead them to complete and analyze a timeline of key dates from the unit they just studied.

Objectives

Students will

• complete a historical timeline to show how major events are related to one another in time.

• identify and add key events, people, and periods from the unit to their timelines.

• answer timeline challenge questions by analyzing their completed timelines.

Materials

• Interactive Student Notebooks

• Timeline Challenge Transparency 4

Timeline Challenge

  1. Place students in mixed-ability pairs. You may want to prepare a transparency to show students where they will sit and with whom they will work.
  2. Have students open their Interactive Student Notebooks to Timeline Challenge 4.
  • Review the directions with them and answer any questions. Complete Item A as a class to make sure students understand the directions. Circulate as pairs complete their timelines. (Note: Students should not refer to their textbooks as they work on their timelines.)
  1. Have students correct their timelines. Have students open to the Imperial China Timeline on pages 212 and 213 of History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond. Review the items one at a time, and have students check their timelines against the one in the book.
  2. Have students add one or two more key items from the unit to their timelines. Allow them to look through the chapters in this unit and find one or two more key items to add to the timeline. For each item, students must include the following:
  3. the date(s) and a short written description of the item
  4. a simple visual symbol for the item, drawn inside the appropriate geometric shape
  5. a dot or color bar representing the appropriate date or dates
  6. a line connecting the dot or bar to the geometric shape
  1. Reveal the first question on Timeline Challenge Transparency 4: Imperial China Timeline Challenge Questions.
  2. Allow pairs to analyze their timelines and discuss the question.
  3. Select a Presenter for each pair, and have several Presenters share their answers with the class.
  4. Repeat the process for the each question, rotating the role of Presenter.

426 Timeline Challenge 4

Timeline Challenge 4

Guide to Timeline Challenge Questions

1. In 1492, ChristopherColumbus sailed to the New World. How many years earlier had Zheng He begun his first voyage of exploration?

Zheng He began his voyages 87 years before Columbus sailed to the New World.

2. The printing press was developed in Europe about 1450. How many years earlier had the Chinese invented movable type?

The Chinese invented movable type about 400 years before the printing press was developed in Europe.

3. In the 1320s, gunpowder was introduced to Europe. How many years did it take this Chinese discovery to reach Europe?

It took about 470 years for the idea of gunpowder to reach Europe.

4. In the seventh century, Chinese women were allowed to play polo. How many centuries later would this activity have been impossible for women because of the practice of foot binding?

Three centuries later, foot binding made it impossible for women to play polo.

5. In about 165 B.C.E., a Han emperor introduced the idea of selecting government officials by examination. How many years later did regular civil service exams begin?

Regular civil service exams began about 1,230 years after the idea was introduced during the Han dynasty.

6. Which event on the timeline do you consider most significant? Why?

Answers will vary.