World History for Elementary Students
World history is composed of complex political and religious beliefs, brutality and controversial topics that must not be watered down. In a "Comparison of Elementary Students' History Textbooks and Trade Books," Donald Richgels, Carl Tomlinson and Michael Tunnell describe the problems caused by omitting such information. “Besides lacking content that stimulates inquiry and debate, cleansed history textbooks also tend to be less comprehensible, especially those for elementary and junior high school students.”
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Ancient History
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Introduce elementary students to world history by discussing how archaeology and ancient writings, including pictographs, tell us about the people who lived in a certain region. Discuss how farming and domestication of animals led to settlements that could grow into towns and cities. Compare the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Sumeria, believed to be the two oldest-known civilizations, and let the children decide which is the oldest. Guide the students through the phases of history, starting with storytelling, pictographs, development of scripts and the use of writing on rocks and papyrus. Discuss how writings evolved societies and how historians evaluate ancient texts to determine the authenticity of the writing.
From North Africa to the Far East
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Show maps of the trade routes from North Africa, through the Middle East to China. List the types of goods that were taken from one area to another and how the items such as spices, teas, citrus fruits and others benefited regions where those items were not found naturally. List the ways the trade routes benefited civilizations by increasing shared knowledge. Point out the key cities along the trade routes and explain how those cities were able to flourish because of the routes. Show how conquerors such as Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and the Muslims affected civilizations and trade along the routes.
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Roman Empire
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Explain the legend of the brothers Romulus and Remus and the founding of Rome. Illustrate how small communities grew into a large city-state that eventually became the Roman Empire. Explain the structure of the government, from the Senate to the supreme leadership of the Caesars, ruling as god-emperors. Explain how this ruling system operated and how it was self-contradictory.
Show elementary students how advancements by the Romans, such as aqueducts and architecture, contributed to world history. Explain that much of the building was accomplished by slave labor, discussing how the Romans captured and sold slaves. Describe the internal desire humans have to be free, leading to the famous slave revolt by Spartacus. List the means of punishment the Roman Empire used against dissidents and enemies and how some methods became entertainment for the Roman people in arenas such as the Colosseum.
Middle Ages
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Elementary students may have a familiarity with the romanticized version of medieval times from TV, video games and Renaissance festivals. Discuss the true history of King Arthur and how fictitious stories often cause people to believe the wrong things about world history. Show the students how the feudal system operated and how people lived based on their class in society. Discuss the similarities and differences between countries such as England and Spain during the Middle Ages and why they waged wars. Have the students compare and contrast the differences between what they know of housing, food, education, medical care, entertainment and job opportunities in today's society with what was available in the Middle Ages.
The Americas
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Introduce students to the native Indians of North and South America and the theories of migration from Asia and Europe. Discuss the various styles of living regarding the Eskimos, the Native Americans living on the Plains, and the Mayan and Aztec civilizations of Central and South America. Discuss how each group benefited or suffered with the arrival of the Vikings and other explorers from Europe.
Discuss the flat-Earth theory that was commonly and wrongly taught as one reason for Christopher Columbus wanting to make the voyage to the New World. The actual debate was about the size of the world. Have students list the reasons why Europeans wanted to come to America.
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