River Valley Civilizations Webquest

Introduction: As you complete this WebQuest, you will be looking for significant events in the ancient
civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China. As you research events for your timeline, you will need
to decide what makes an event significant in history. As you choose events to add to your timeline you should
keep in mind the following:

Geography plays an important role in how well civilizations survive and flourish.

The four ancient River Valley civilizations have many similarities and differences. They also had
connections through these similarities and differences.

Irrigation and other forms of environmental interaction have an effect on the development of the River
Valley civilizations.

Government was developed to provide order, structure, and organization for ancient people.

Each of the River Valley civilizations made contributions which influenced later cultures, including
modern-day cultures.

If you find an event that coordinates with one of the above statements, it is probably significant and could be
added to your timeline.

The Task
During this WebQuest you will complete five tasks.
1. Work in pairs to create a timeline of the significant events of the River Valley civilizations.
2. Conduct background research to find events.
3. Write a detailed description of each event and its importance.
4. Create or find previously created visual aids (photos or links to video) to support events on your
timeline.

The Process
This WebQuest will require you to work through four tasks as you complete your timeline.
Create An Online Timeline.
1. To create your timeline you will need to go to the following link:
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/timeline_2/ [1]
2. Follow the instructions for creating the timeline.
3. As you add events to your timeline, use a letter code in the titles to keep your events easily identifiable. Use
and "M" before the title for Mesopotamis, an "E" for Egypt, and "I" for India, and a "C" for China. (For
example, C-The Great Wall is built.
4. As you record events in your timeline, keep in mind that we don't have a lot of records from ancient history.
Exact dates will be difficult to find and an approximate date is acceptable for this project.
Conduct Background Research
Before you can add events to your timeline you will need to find them. Below are some resources that you may
find useful. You will need to find a minimum of 5 events for each civilization to add to your timeline (20 events
total).
You will turn a separate document with the source of information for each event that you include in your
timeline. (this can be hand written).
Mesopotamia

British Museum - Mesopotamia [2]

Mesopotamia - Fordham [3]

British Museum - India [9]

Mesopotamia - Crystalinks [4]

History For Kids [10]

Mr. Dowling [5]

Ancient India [11]

India - Crystalinks [12]

Egypt

India

British Museum - Egypt [6]

History For Kids [7]

British Museum - China [13]

Ancient-Egypt.or [8]g

History For Kids [14]

China

Ancient China - Crystalinks [15]

Mr. Donn [17]

Ancient China [16]

Ancient China - Historylink101 [18]

Describe Each Event

For each event that you add, you will need to write a detailed description of the event. This requires three to
four complete sentences about the event and why it is significant event in history. This may also include why
that event is important to us today.
Provide A Visual Aid
Each event you add will be more interesting if you add some visual interest. You are not required to add a
visual aid to every event, but you do need to add at least 10. This could be a photograph or other graphic
related to the event, or a video link about the event.

Evaluation
The rubric below contains the criteria that will be used to grade your project. Use this rubric to help you as you
work through the WebQuest.
Excellent 90-100%

Acceptable 70-89%

Needs Improvement 069%

Timeline
Events

All 20 events are included

and are accurate and
significant

Three to 5 events are missing.

There are several errors. Some
events are not significant

More than 5 events are

missing or are inaccurate.

Description of
Events

Description are extensive in

detail and accurately reflect
the significance of events.

Descriptions are thorough, but

may be missing some detail.

Descriptions are poor or

missing.

Visual Aids

Visual aids accurately reflect

chosen timeline events

Visual aids are included, but

some are not accurate. Up to 5
visual aids are missing.

More than 5 visual aids are

missing or are not related
to event

Conclusion
As you finish you WebQuest, you will reflect on what you have learned. Answer the following questions and
email or write them on a sheet of paper. Give complete, detailed responses.

What patterns do you notice in your timeline?

What similarities did you find among the four River Valley civilizations?

What differences did you find among the four River Valley civilizations?

What event, that you found, do you think was the most significant event in history? Explain the
reasoning?