Those feuding Greeks!

This lesson is designed to familiarize students with the philosophical, political, economic, military and social differences between Athens and Sparta.

A lesson plan for grade 9 Social Studies

By Pernell Collett

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Related topics

• Learn more about Athens, Europe, Greece, Greek civilization, Sparta, city-states, history, social studies, and world history.

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Learning outcomes

The student will:

• Learn the similarities and differences between Athens and Sparta.
• Understand the cultural/social/political contributions of Athens and Sparta to our culture.
• Understand the causes for the decline of Greek culture.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

3 Hours

Materials/resources

• World History textbook
• Posterboard and markers
• Books on ancient Greece from the media center

Technology resources

• Grolier’s Encyclopedia
• computers with access to the internet/li>

Pre-activities

It is imperative that students are already familiar with some of the basic concepts involving the ancient Greeks. This activity is typically the second day of study on a chapter or unit on ancient Greece. Students are expected to have already read material that is available in the text.

Activities

1. Divide class into groups of 3-4.
2. Students are assigned either Athens or Sparta as their subject.
3. They are instructed that it is the job of their group to recruit new settlers to their respective city. They are to recruit new settlers based on information that they find on their city in the various resource materials.
4. Groups are to prepare a five-minute presentation on why their respective city-state is the greatest city state in ancient Greece.
5. Groups should be prepared to answer any questions that may arise from their fellow classmates or teacher.

Assessment

Use the presentation as a grade for each individual in the group. To prevent only one person preparing the entire presentation, require speaking duties of each member of their group, and each student should turn in the rough draft of their research. A comparison/contrast paper at the end of the study of ancient Greece would also be an excellent idea.

Supplemental information

You may want to videotape one of the presentations to show to future classes. The danger in doing this, of course, is that students may copycat the presentation that they see. This can be remedied by slightly altering the requirements of the presentation from semester to semester.

Comments

This lesson can be altered to suit the materials and facilities that each school has to use. Allow students to be creative! The key to this activity is to be sure that students use historically accurate data in presentation.