Published on February 27th, 2016

Collaborative groups (of four students) will create an argumentative Google Presentation and Sheets on Surface computers for or against the war in Syria as a presentation to the Congress, the President, and the citizens of the United States.

Collaborative groups will define the combatants (groups, governments) involved in the war in Syria and Iraq.

Political
Collaborative groups will describe the government of Syria with images and words and how government leaders come to power, how long they stay in power, and what services (education, health, transportation, jobs) they provide the people of Syria.

Economic
Collaborative groups will research the type, quantities, and dollar values about Syria’s economic resources that they export and import (petroleum, minerals, metals); the dollar value of their military budgets; foreign aid in the form of military hardware (vehicles, aircraft, ordinance, small arms, anti-aircraft, etc.).

Religion, Social, and Economic
Collaborative groups will research and present in pie graphs: the religious make up of the people in Syria; the education levels of the people in Syria; and the employment levels of the people of Syria; and the average income earned by the people of Syria.

Collaborative groups will critically think about what group(s) of people in Syria benefits from war and explain how in their presentation by citing researched evidence. Students will critically think about what group(s) of people in Syria and Iraq benefit from war and explain how in their presentation by citing researched evidence.

Lastly, students will continually make connections between their Syria argumentative research project with their readings in their Ancient Civilizations textbook about how the civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, Hyskos, Hittites, Persians, Greek city-states, and Roman Republic/Empire came into power and the means they used to maintain their power for several centuries over neighboring civilizations.