Students conduct research to collect the information for their projects. If possible, students may also use the World Wide Web. The teacher should be sure students understand the categories in the chart before student presentations begin, of course. The teacher guides discussion after each presentation to ensure that all students have gleaned useful information from the group presentations. When all the group presentations are complete, the teacher leads a whole class discussion to help students look for patterns of comparison and contrast in the information on the chart.
Students list similarities and differences among the civilizations.
Generally, they will find that the early urban states were quite similar in overall economic, political and social structures. The states differed more in forms of cultural expression, such as art and architecture. Students could focus their analysis on one topic on the comparison chart rather than trying to cover all six topics, but they should include all five of the early urban states. They should support their ideas with specific examples from the information they have heard in presentations from their classmates.