Creating Your World Project, October-November 2020

Hello Everyone!

In class, we have started working on a project related to social studies, applied design, science, and language arts curriculum content and competencies.

Each student is inventing their own world to show an understanding of the concept of STRUCTURE as it relates to how our own world is organized to support human life.

We are working in partner groups, and the creative thinking is going well!

As you create your own world, here are the things you need to think about to show a complete understanding of STRUCTURE as it relates to how we organize ourselves:

  • Where is your world situated in the universe? What universe? What star/sun is supporting life with its radiant energy? Are there other planets around it?
  • What is the name of your world?
  • What is the topography like on your world? What kind of land features, continents, bodies of water, etc. will your world have?
  • How does the world support human life? (It can have other life on there, but the world must support humanoids.)
  • Focus on one city on one continent. What is its name?
  • Who lives in the city? Why do they live in that location?
  • How is the city organized? (Government, Police, Services, etc.)
  • How do people get the resources they need?
  • How does the city make money to create things and live? Do the people make something specific and sell it? Do they sell resources?
  • Does the city have a specific currency or trade system?
  • How do people communicate? What is their language?
  • Is there anything else about culture you can tell us about to show the STRUCTURE of how people live?

Once you have thought of all these things, then you need to present the information to us. First, you will need writing to address everything in the list above. How and where you write it will depend on the format you use for showing us your world. Here are the options:

  • Create a poster of your world with pictures and writing. The writing can be done by hand or on the computer.
  • Create a 2D large map of your world. Then do some writing to explain it. Do the writing in your journal as a draft, and then publish it on your e-port with a picture of your model.
  • Use the Book Creator app to put both pictures and writing together to show us your world. Ms. D will be showing you the class code so you can access Book Creator for free, and you can work on it in school or at home. We are using this for our Form and Function project, so you may want to try something different.
  • Create a 3D model of your world, and then use writing and other items to explain and show features of your world. The writing would be done as a draft in your journal, and then published on your e-port along with a picture of your model.

Lots of choices, but the important thing is to talk about the bullet points at the beginning of this post, which we will review in class. Steps to getting this done are:

  1. Brainstorm with a partner details of the world.
  2. Decide who is going to write on what features. Split up the work so each person has three things of their own to write about. That way each of you has a role.
  3. Decide what format you will use for showing information. Gather any materials you will need and talk to the teacher about materials available in class.
  4. Share the writing job and divide up which part each of you wants to write about. Do some writing independently and then come together to talk about what you have written. Edit the writing and add any details. Make final drafts after editing. Both of your writing can be put on your eports, so you share the work.
  5. Decide who will build which features, so the work is split up. Then come together with your features to make the main project.
  6. If you need help sorting out roles, please talk to Ms. D
  7. Keep checking the lists above to ensure you are on track and have addressed all the important questions about your world somewhere, either in the model/pictures you are creating or the writing.

Have fun! We will be using lots of core competencies during this project, such as communication and personal awareness skills as you work with a partner and balance your work, creative thinking skills to create the world, and critical thinking skills as you make thoughtful decisions about where to place your world.

Ms. D