What constitutes a civilization? In a swift, engaging, and humorous fashion, John Green begins this edition of Crash Course History by exploring the symptoms of a civilization, such as surplus production, cities, social stratification, socialized government, religion, writing, association with rivers, etc. He then describes in detail the Indus Valley Civilization, the largest and most peaceful of ancient civilizations.

Concepts

ancient civilizations, civilizations

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Additional Tags

civilization, meopotamia, ancient civilization, social studies

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Classroom Considerations

• This video is hosted on YouTube

Pros

• Great way of illustrating how to draw conclusions from historical artifacts and evidence
• Opportunity to flip lesson and add own assessment and/or additional resources
• Could work as an engaging hook for lesson, or to conclude a unit by summarizing information

Cons

• Speaker moves very, very quickly through information
• Might be difficult for ELLs to comprehend

Common Core

SL.7.5 SL.8.5 RH.6-8.7