Sumer, A Different Kind of Project

6th grade students developed a project about the civilization of Sumer in history class to demonstrate their knowledge about the topic.

The project was done last week and consisted in an assignment of their choice to prove that they learned about one aspect of the civilization.

This project was assigned to the students because it is the main topic they learned in the first semester. This is a project that needs to be done a few times in a year for the most important things they learn.

“They have to learn about prehistory or early man, Sumer was the first civilization and it set the foundation for the later civilizations as well as a lot of things that we still do today,” said Mitchell Schwartz, 6th grade history teacher.

Besides the teacher, students also find it really helpful and important to learn about Sumer and ancient civilizations.

“It’s important to learn about Sumer to know how we were before and how we have evolved, to learn about the history of the world,” said Andres Gaviria, 6th grade history student.

Students had many possibilities to show their understanding of the subject, they were free to choose whatever they wanted to do. This is a different kind of project because it depends on the creativity of the student to obtain a good result.

“I like to let students choose as much as possible when doing a project, because the more they get to choose, the more interesting it is for them,” said Schwartz.

Students preferred to work like this rather than being stuck with a curriculum to work. They liked a lot the way the project was set.

“We learn better this way because it was fun and really interesting,” said Samuel Betancur, 6th grade history student.

They also had the liberty to work where and when they preferred, in order for them to do the best job possible.

“We did part in our houses and part in the school with our group, it was up to us,” said Gaviria.

The excellent work was shown in the results students had, in the ideas and the final projects that came up on the day of the presentations.

“They enjoyed and made really cool stuff and I think they learned a lot and enjoyed the project,” said Schwartz.

This project was different than the rest, it was more fun, made students learn better and even made the teacher’s work much easier.

“This was my favorite project ever!” said Cristobal Jimenez, 6th grade history student.