Unit Project: Step 1

We’ve spent a chunk of time looking over the ideas of some of the most important thinkers about democracy (Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu, etc). We looked briefly at the Glorious and American Revolutions. We then dove a bit more deeply into the French Revolution.

Now, it’s time for me to get out of your way. There are a LOT of places in the world right now that are struggling for democracy. There are a lot of places in the past that have struggled for more democratic rule. There are a lot of groups of people that have struggled for more rights as well.

Your job in this project is to choose one of these groups or countries and dive in. The goal is for you to choose a country or group you are excited to learn about for some reason. What - or where - might that be?

• A country impacted by the Arab Spring - a series of democratic revolutions that swept across the Middle East and North Africa recently: Egypt, Libya, Syria, or Tunisia would all work
• A more recent area of unrest, like Hong Kong
• The only successful slave revolt in history: Haiti
• A movement of marginalized people to gain more rights: movements for Civil Rights, gay rights, or women’s rights would all work
• Older revolutions to rid countries of imperialistic rule: most countries in Central America, Africa, or Asia would work for this

Really, you can make almost anything work. The most important thing is for you to find something you are excited about learning about.

Step 1: Choosing an Area of Focus

Choose what country or movement you would like to spend your time learning about. Do some searching on Google. Read up on possible countries on World Book or Brittanica (through the library website linked here) or Wikipedia. Build some schema.

Once you’ve decided on a country or movement, notify LS then move on to step 2.

Aim to be done with step 1 by the end of the day on Friday.