If I were an ancient settler...

Students put themselves in the shoes of ancient settlers on their quest to find and found their very own civilization.  First, on a web quest to learn geographic features, students participated in a message board on ThinkQuest explaining which geographic features they would most want to liver near. Then, using a 27-slide guided PowerPoint, which students downloaded from their Islam project page on ThinkQuest, students were instructed to predict what the best location would be to found their civilization.  Students then researched and created a photo album of several geographic features (such as mountains, valleys, rivers, seas, plateaus, oases and more) and described each feature using web site research.  Finally, students chose a place on or near the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East (as part of the Islam unit) to build their civilization and using evidence explained why they chose that place.  Overall, they summed up their learning of geography in a final message board writing as geographic features in first person explaining how they help people survive.  What an adventure it was!