Zombie Apocalypse Mini-Unit

Image credit: "Zombies" from Flickr by sookie

Want to skip to the finished products? Click here.

It is finally here: the zombie apocalypse mini-unit. I've never taught this before and I'm super psyched to see what y'all come up with for this unit. We've actually been doing a lot of prep work for this unit. Check it out - we've:

  • Created Gmail addresses.
  • Done an initial online collaboration (created the Worst PowerPoint ever). Remember the rule you learned from this project...
  • Talked and practiced - a lot - the important skills involved in group collaboration.
  • Showed up every day to history ready to work hard.

Now, you're going to build on all of those things for this unit. Your job, in short, is to decide where your group would go to survive the zombie apocalypse. This project must be completed - and shared with me (ls.hillsdale@gmail.com) by the end of the period on Monday, September 17th. The rubric for this project is located here.

Create something you'll be proud of. I plan on publishing all of your PowerPoints to the web and sharing them with your parents/guardians, as well as with teachers all over the world - show everyone how smart you are!

What will you do in this project?

Create a title slide

  • Give the presentation an appropriate name
  • Put your names on the title slide - each name goes in a different color. Each person must type in this color for all the work they do on the presentation.
    • Stick with darker colors for this part - darker reds, greens, oranges, and blues should work well. No yellow - too hard to read.
  • Stick with a boring white background for the presentation - you'll have enough color with pictures and your font color.

Define the zombie apocalypse

  1. Where did the outbreak start?
  2. How fast is the outbreak spreading? Explain how you figured this out.
  3. How long do you have until people start freaking out? When are the zombies too close for comfort and you need to leave?
  4. How much money and other resources do you have? You can make information up here - you can be a millionaire if you want to be. Be clear about your answer here though.
  5. How will you get what you need?
    • Rich, theft, other ways?

Hints for this section: Think long and hard about this section - DO THIS FIRST. TOGETHER. OFFLINE. Create one slide for each bullet point above.

Where will you go?

  1. Who is going with you? At minimum, your entire group must go with you.
    • If you are taking additional people - people not in your group - why are you selecting these additional people? How will they help your group survive?
  2. What are you bringing with you? How are you transporting it? How long do you plan on surviving?
  3. What characteristics you are looking for in a place to survive? Explain the importance of these characteristics
    • Food, water, protection, how close to (or far from) other people is it
  4. Minimum of two places your group could go
    • Pros and cons (minimum of four pros and four cons) of each place
  5. Conclusion: where your group would go to survive the zombie apocalypse? Why is this the best place to go to survive the zombie apocalypse?
    • Should tie back to the definition of your problem - where did you have time to go to?

Hints for this section: This is the heavy lifting of the project, particularly numbers 4 and 5. Do your thinking here. A lot of it. Utilize face to face time in class. One slide for 1, 2 (maybe, could be 2 slides), and 3 (again, could be 2 slides). Number 4 above should be a t-chart for each location - use citations on this section! Be prepared to defend your answer in number 5...

Mandatory pieces of this project

If any of these aren't done when you share your project with me, you will receive a zero until all sections below are fixed.

    • Title slide with names - first name, last initial
    • Correct font color used by all group members throughout presentation
    • All images found through Creative Commons (link here)
    • All images are cited below the image and all facts are cited on a bibliography slide (or 2) that is the last slide of the presentation
    • Title your presentation "zombie apocalypse period number"

But how do you do the third and fourth ones? Glad you asked - check out the videos below!