Classical Mediterranean World Choice Project

As we look into the Classical Mediterranean World, we are going to broaden our horizons in this class, beyond the areas of history that we are expected to cover, and into the areas of history that matter to us. The Choice Project is a research project that is meant to give you a chance to learn what you choose to learn. History is big enough that we can all find our interests within it. For this project, I want to encourage you to research a topic within the Classical Mediterranean world that interests you, create a thesis, and make a project that shows your research. Here are your guidelines:

  1. This project must be researched based (this is one of the skills we want to build in this class)
  2. You must use at least 5 sources, 2 of them primary sources
  3. You must choose a topic that relates to the Classical Mediterranean world (about 500 BCE to 500CE)
  4. You must create something that shows the knowledge you’ve gained in your research
  5. You must have a thesis that is the central idea of your project (english/writing + organization skills are key)
  6. You must present (at least 2 min) your project to the class
  7. Your project should be a reasonable reflection of your capabilities

Beyond these guidelines, the sky's the limit!

Here are some examples off the top of my head of possible projects:

Design and build a model of a Greek phalanx, create an interactive map of the city of Athens, or the Roman empire, look deeper into Greek philosophy or science, and create a poster board/exhibit, create a fakebook profile of Hannibal, the great enemy of Rome, build a board game that explores trade across the Mediterranean, draw a picture of the stabbing of Julius Caesar, write a fictional account of an Athenian during the plague of the Peloponnesian war, build one of the 7 wonders in minecraft, explore the inventiveness of Roman architecture through a model of a Roman building, create a presentation about the structure of the Roman military, train a war elephant, and lead it through a practice session for the class. I came up with these in 5 minutes - what can you think up?

The due dates, to be discussed in class will be:

______Turn in thesis statement and works cited with 5 sources (10)

______Project turn in (50)

______Final Project turn in (50)