In this course, the student will study the emergence of the major civilizations of the ancient world, beginning with the Paleolithic Era (about 2.5 million years ago) and finishing with the end of the Middle Ages in fifteenth century A.D. The student will pay special attention to how societies evolved across this expanse of time - from fragmented and primitive agricultural communities to more advanced and consolidated civilizations. By the end of the course, the student will possess a thorough understanding of important overarching social, political, religious, and economic themes in the ancient world, ranging from the emergence of Confucian philosophy in Asia to the fall of imperial Rome. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Identify and define the world's earliest civilizations, including the Neolithic Revolution, and describe how it shaped the development of these early civilizations; Identify, describe, and compare/contrast the first advanced civilizations in the world - Mesopotamia and Egypt; Identify and describe the emergence of the earliest civilizations in Asia: the Harappan and Aryan societies on the Indian subcontinent and the Shang and Zhou societies in China; Identify and describe the emergence of new philosophies - Daoism and Confucianism - during the Warring States period in China. Identify and describe the subsequent rise of the Qin and Han dynasties; Identify and describe the different periods that characterized ancient Greece - Archaic Greece (or the Greek Dark Ages), classical Greece, and the Hellenistic era; Identify and describe the characteristics of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, and Imperial Rome; Analyze the emergence of the Mauryan and Gupta empires during the 'classical age' in India; Identify and analyze the Buddhist and Vedic (Hindu) faiths; Identify and describe the rise of civilizations in the Americas, particularly in Meso and South America; Analyze and describe the rise of Islam in the Middle East; Identify and describe the emergence of the Arab caliphate, the Umayyad dynasty, and Abbasid dynasty; Identify and describe the rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire; Identify and analyze key facets of medieval society in Western EuropeŃthe Catholic Church, feudalism, and the rise of technology and commerce; Analyze and interpret primary-source documents that elucidate the exchanges and advancements made in civilizations across time and space. (History 101)

This course will trace the development of cities and urban centers from the Ancient Period through the present era. The student will examine how political, economic, and social institutions influenced the structure of urban centers and shaped the built environment in cities across the world and vice versa. By the end of the course, the student will understand how cities have developed over the past six millennia and better appreciate the dynamic relationship between geography, political and social institutions, and the built environment. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: think critically about the development of cities and urban centers from the Ancient Period to the present era; identify and describe the origins and features of cities in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Central Asia, and the Far East; identify and describe the Greek city-state and the evolution of the 'polis;' identify and describe the city planning and design that characterized the Roman Republic and Empire; identify and describe the emergence of Islamic cities in Africa and the Middle East, the rise of urban centers in China and Japan, and the sophisticated cities of the Aztec peoples in the Americas; identify and describe the indigenous and Roman influences of medieval European cities as well as analyze the cultural impact that these urban centers had; identify and describe the characteristics of the Baroque city and analyze the differences between the Renaissance city and the medieval city; Students will also be able to describe the emergence of colonial cities in the Americas and Asia; identify and describe the impact that the Industrial Revolution had on European cities and will be able to define the characteristics of an industrial city; identify and describe the origins and characteristics of the post-industrial city; identify and analyze the causes of the 'urban renaissance' and describe the movement's successes and pitfalls; analyze and interpret primary source documents from the ancient world to the present using historical research methods. (History 361)

In this integrated, multi-day Design Challenge unit, students will explore simple machines, transportation of materials, and river systems using stream tables. They will discover the problems ancient farmers faced and design their own working models that will attempt to solve those unique problems (includes Design Challenges Flowing From Here to There and Two Rivers Ran Through It).

Students explore simple machines to transport dry, but fluid, material from one container to another (also included as a part of Farming in Ancient Mesopotamia unit).

In one of the greatest ecological disasters of our time, the ancient marshlands of Mesopotamia are systematically being converted to dry salt flats as a result of human mismanagement of the regions water resources. Landsat satellite imagery reveals that in the last 10 years, wetlands that once covered as much as 20,000 square km in parts of Iraq and Iran have been reduced to a small fraction of their original size. The authors of a new report released by the United Nations Environment Programmes (UNEP) at the 11th Stockholm Water Symposium on August 13, 2001, warn that the marshlands could completely disappear within the next 3-5 years unless dramatic steps are taken immediately to reverse the damage being done. The UNEP Executive Director described the wetlands condition as a major environmental catastrophe that will be remembered as one of humanity's worst engineered disasters. He noted that the tragic loss of this rare wetland has occurred in approximately the same period since world leaders pledged to safeguard the environment at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit) held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Regarded by historians as one of the cradles of civilization, the Mesopotamian Fertile Crescent has supported Marsh Arab society for millennia. But through the damming and siphoning off of waters from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the countries of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria have decimated the ecosystem and, with it, a culture rooted in the dawn of human history (dating back to ancient Sumeria about 5,000 years ago).