As they say, "all roads lead to Rome". Well, in the days of ancient Rome, that saying was completely true. Roads and Bridges had a HUGE impact on the development of Rome, culturally, politically, and economically. They were developed for expansion and other military purposes, but they were used for many different purposes.
They spanned almost the entire Roman Empire. Roads and Bridges inspired a lot of art and also were highly useful in spreading culture and technology throughout the diverse peoples of Rome. Roads and Bridges were all hand laid, by Roman soldiers and were constructed so well that they needed little to no maintenance, many roads and Bridges are still in use today.Presentation
My group (group 4) decided to base our presentation on the idea of a "Road Back to Ancient Rome". Each of us had a character and I was the guide between the different aspects of the presentation, shown by the different characters. There was Pliny the elder for art, Pompey for Uses ,Cornelius for construction, and I was Matella, the guardian and guide for the road and I also talked about history. We incorporated as many pictures and visual aids as we could (i.e. PowerPoint, video, edible road, costumes, etc.) and also tried to get as much student involvement as we could (i.e. quiz, etc.).
PowerPoint
or http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dg93mwws_0hv829bhq
Video
Reflection
On my first day of class I was definitely really nervous, because I was a freshman and unlike most of my other classes, there was not a high concentration of freshman in the class, and I didn't know anyone, but it seemed to me that everyone else knew a lot of people. On top of that it was an honors seminar and problem-based learning, which were two really new and simultaneously nerve-racking and exciting concepts for me. And to further my anxiety I found out that not only was I the only freshman in my group, I was the only girl. Also, at first, I was worried about our PBL, Roads and Bridges? It was so general and I thought that something more specific would be better. Luckily I was wrong. Once we started brainstorming I quickly realized that the topic was great and that I had a really great group. We worked together and individually really well. We each had our own jobs, but we also did a lot of stuff together. It turned out to be really fun! I also learned so much, not only about Rome, but of course a lot about Rome too. Each person had really different interests and styles and I think that we each brought something good to the table. I really felt like my group was able to work together really well and that we had a really great presentation. In the end all my fears turned out to be wrong and I had a really fun and rewarding time.
The Other PresentationsOn October 28th the groups finally presented our PBLs. The randomly chosen order was the Colosseum group first , then the Roman water systems, us, then a the Ostia Antica group, and the fifth did Roman Forums.
The first group was good, they obviously had done a lot of research and really knew their stuff, but the assignment said to have little to no PowerPoint and they had a lot of PowerPoint which would probably bore younger kids. Although the use of the clip of “Gladiator” at the end was interesting, everyone likes that movie, they could have used more media like that definitely.
The second group also had obviously done a lot of research. Their website was a lot more extensive than I would have thought and the game and the whole presentation was thought through really well and presented well.
We went third and then the Ostia Antica group went. I really like their presentation because they made their subject much more modern. They went into the history, but they also did a lot about modern day Ostia Antica and the way they presented it as though we were at a travel agency was really interesting. Also the handouts they gave out were really nice.
The last group had the forum. They presented it as a board game. I thought it was really cool the way they were able to use the board on the screen. It was nice that they tried to get the audience really involved and had us play the game, although it definitely would have been better if they had gone earlier, because everyone was definitely too tired to really get into it. The questions were a little over easy, but they were aimed at much younger kids. I liked their idea of having it be adaptable for any age group.
All in all I think the presentations were all really good and I’m really excited for the next round.
