
This post originally appeared on the blog Student Savvy.
Here’s the STEM challenge for your students: STEM groups must first make the play-dough to create their cuneiform tablet. After painting their tablet, students must decide on symbols that represent each letter of the alphabet. They must create an answer key of their symbols that correlate with the letters A-Z. Using a sharp pencil as a stylus, students will carve their symbols into their tablet, creating a coded message. Students must work together as a team to come up with their secret message. The message must be a fact about Ancient Mesopotamia and it must contain at least 5 words. When multiple groups are finished, they will give the Cuneiform tablets to each other and attempt to decode the other group’s message.
Here’s the STEM challenge: Students must design a Ziggurat structure that contains a marble run track. The goal of the stem challenge is to create a design that has the longest properly-functioning marble run track. The marble run can travel up, down, around, or inside the Ziggurat structure. The structure and marble run cannot be taller than 2 ft. It also cannot be more than 20 inches wide. The marble must be dropped at the top of the Ziggurat and after completing its course it must end at the bottom of the structure. The Ziggurat design must also have at least two temples (levels). ***Check out the link below for more information about the challenge.
This resource is also part of the Ancient Civilizations Complete Curriculum. The curriculum package contains Ancient Civilization STEM Challenges, Interactive Notebooks, PowerPoints, Google Classroom Projects, and Assessments. The units covered include Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Israel, Ancient India, Ancient China, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome! There are over 700 pages of interactive and cross-curricular material that your students will enjoy!
