A society’s worldview influences its choices, decisions and interactions with others.  What was the Aztec’s worldview before they were in contact with the Spaniards? Over the past few weeks you have learned about the Aztec’s worldview.  Based on what you have come to understand about them, what would “a day in the life of a young adult” be like? 

First of all, a brief review:

Part One:   1. Geography and physical environment influence these choice, decisions and interactions. Knowing where the Aztec civilization was, will give insight into this part of their life. Where was the Aztec society situated?  Describe the relative location of this civilization. What are the three most important physical features about the geography that would have influenced their worldview?  2. Religion influenced the Aztec’s worldview as well. You learned that the Aztecs highly respected their gods and that religion played a big role in their lives.  What were the three most important features about Aztec religion that influenced how they viewed their daily life? 3. Art often was directly linked to religion.  How and why was this the case? 4. The Aztec's had a unique way of farming.  How did their method of farming influence their worldview? 5.  How did the Aztec's view of family and government influence their daily life? 6. Another important part of Aztec life was how they conducted trade and how their economy functioned.  If you were a merchant, how would this influence your life? 7. The Calendar Stone was an example of the scientific advances the Aztecs made. How was this a demonstration of how advanced the Aztecs were in their thinking? Another area that the Aztecs were very advanced in were their thoughts on healing. If you were sick, what would your healer advise? 8. The Aztecs used pictographs to communicate.  If you were to describe what pictographs were, what would you say? What purpose did they serve?  Duplicate three of your favorite examples.

PART TWO

Introduction: You've been asked by the Board of Directors of the Museum of Tenochtitlán to help design an exhibit about the Daily Life of an Aztec! The Board feels that people don't know enough about or appreciate how the Aztecs viewed the world before they came into contact with the Spaniards. They're hoping that you can pull together a digital story that will explain daily life and that will also dazzle and educate the audience.

Task: In groups of two, you will create an authentic digital story based on your findings.  Refer to the  organizer/benchmark and planning sheets above to help you stay organized and ensure that you have met all the board's objectives. There are rubric sheets to help guide your work.

Process: First, review the above sites to get an overview of the kinds of things that might be in your exhibit. The Board of Directors is very specific in what they want included in their display. Because they want it to depict Aztec Daily Life as closely as possible, they have asked that original artwork be used in the final product.  So, you will consult your Art teacher about how to make a collage about Aztecs and their worldview. The teacher will guide you through this process. Within your group, develop some rules for deciding what parts of daily Aztec life your original artwork will depict.  What should you be sure to include so that it will interest your audience? Download the task organizer sheets or you can word-process directly on these sheets. Also, there is a guide to help you plan a historical journal - you will need this sheet to help you identify what aspects of Aztec life you will be using to explain your "day in the life of...". Planning your historical journal entries is another step in this process. You must carefully consider what parts of the Aztec life you are going to highlight and use to explain how they viewed the world before contact with the Spaniards.  Create an Aztec folder under your user name - this is where you will be saving everything for this project. Now, divide up the task of finding objects based on your criteria. You may distribute the work based on different subcategories of objects or by themes. Decide together as a team on a final set of exhibits. The Board requires that there be four original pieces of art included. Prepare your exhibit using Windows Movie Maker. Your teacher is prepared to guide you through this process.  Describe and show your exhibit to your audience!

CREATED BY EDITH DENING

for The Central Alberta Regional Consortium

2007