The Global Food Crisis

Tonight, I would like you to begin thinking about the global food crisis. Please watch the following short movies:

Global Food Security
How to Feed the World
A Billion for a Billion

For each movie, answer the following questions:

1. What was the main message of this movie?
2. What did you learn from watching this movie?
3. What’s one question you have after watching this movie?

The Adventures of Marco Polo

Marco Polo presents a controversy for historians. While he has been held up for years as an example of a medieval European traveler who made his way to Yuan China, many believe that his stories were exaggerated, or in some cases, completely made up! You can investigate that on your own time.
 

Nevertheless, Marco Polo caused many people in Europe to become curious about East Asia. National Geographic has created a gallery of sights that Marco Polo may have seen, if his journeys were real. You can view the gallery here.

The Search for Genghis Khan’s Tomb

It's not hard to understand why Genghis Khan wanted the location of his tomb to be a secret. In fact, the Mongols that buried Khan’s body flattened the land around the tomb by riding their horses to keep the location hidden. Those Mongolians were then killed by soldiers, just to make sure the secret location could never be disclosed.

For the last 800 years, people have searched for the tomb of Genghis Khan. No one has found it — but now some scientists, working with ordinary people, are using new technologies to try and discover the tomb of the great Khan. You can read about these efforts here.

Time Capsules from the Ancient World: Project Resources

 Below are some suggestions to get you started on your research for your time capsule project. Please use these resources as a starting place -- do not simply Google what you are looking for!

Don't forget, your textbook is the first stop when beginning research on this project. And don't rely solely on the internet -- plenty of books, magazines, and television shows will help you with your research as well.

Suggested Resources

ABC-Clio (must be on the BCH network or use the library password to access this)

BBC History

British Museum: Ancient Civilizations (you must have flash to view this site)

History.com: Ancient History

Mr. Kash's Ancient History Sites

National Geographic Magazine 

Spartacus Educational

World History in Context (must be on the BCH network or use the library password to access this)

Evaluating Web Resources

The internet has much potential as a research tool. However, not all information on the internet is reliable. the following guidelines, adapted from the University of Texas library system, will help you evaluate web sources when you are doing research.

Your knowledge:

• How does this information compare with what you already know?
• How does it change what you know?

Authority:

• Who is providing this information?
• Where did their information come from?
• Do they provide evidence or examples to support their points?

Time:

• How old is this information?
• Does the site include recent information?

Scope:

• How much information is given?
• How broad is the topic?
• How in-depth is the information?

Clarity:

• Is the information clearly presented?
• Is the information well-organized?
• Is the site user-friendly?

Validity:

• How true do you think this information is? What makes you think so?

Importance:

• Is this information important? If so, why?

Recommendations:

• Have people whom you respect (teachers, librarians, parents, friends) recommended this site as a good source of information?