Using a G.R.A.P.E.S. Chart to organize information about ancient Civilizations is a useful tool to enhance students' analysis of the characteristics and contributions of a society. Going further and including visuals helps students to better retain the details of each category.
When learning about ancient Civilizations, students may need teachers to provide a variety of resources. The use of diverse resources such as primary sources, videos, songs, readings from textbooks, encyclopedias and literature can be helpful for students to gain an accurate and complete picture of the time period. Students can use graphic organizers to write notes about the different categories as they learn.
Students will then create a Social Pyramid to describe the Social Structure of ancient China using the template in StoryboardThat and creating titles, illustrations and descriptions to demonstrate what they’ve learned.
Students can come together after they’ve created their storyboards to share what they’ve learned. The full G.R.A.P.E.S. Chart can be used as a post assessment after students have presented.
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Due Date:
Objective: Create a Social Pyramid focusing on the different characteristics of the Social Structure of ancient China.
Student Instructions:
Requirements: Label each level of the Social Pyramid of ancient China. Include appropriate scenes or characters to illustrate the cell. 2-3 sentence description to demonstrate your understanding.
Lead students in a full-class discussion about roles in Ancient Chinese society, from the Emperor to the nobility to the peasants. Define any unfamiliar terms and explain similarities and differences to today to aid in further understanding.
Use the blank pyramid structure to explain that people on the top had more power and status than those on the bottom. Help student understand these spatial relationships.
Allow students to place the categories of people along with pictures onto the pyramid. This visual placement will help them to understand the concepts more fully.
Yes, as in many cultures, certain citizens had more power and status than others. The Emperor was at the top of the pyramid, and there were enslaved people who were at the bottom.
Surprisingly, scholars did have some status in Ancient China, and there were many great insights that came from this time period. They were considered part of the nobility along with landowners.
The army was considered part of the government, and in the the hierarchy this put them right below the Emperor. They definitely had some power and status in society.