How Big Was the Roman Empire?

Abstract

This activity was designed as part of a sixth-grade interdisciplinary unit. “Seeing the World through the Eyes of Ancient Greeks and Romans.” In addition to learning about Greek and Roman geography, economics, government, and societies in social-studies class. students studied ancient scientists, physicians. and inventors in science class. They also explored Greek and Roman myths, religions, languages, and ideas in language-arts classes. In mathe matics classes, students experimented with the golden ratio and the pentagram. wrote an essay on how the Greeks used mathematics to understand their world, examined Greek and Roman architecture, and investigated the physical size of the Roman Empire. To culminate the unit, students worked in small groups on special projects, such as building a scale model of the Parthenon, measuring and creating a cale drawing comparing the soccer field with the Pantheon, creating and performing original myths or plays depicting life in ancient Greece and Rome, and constructing simple machines or demonstrations of the scientists' work in Greek and Roman times.