Following a brief introduction to locate the Mayan civilization in time and place, stress that we knew very little about this society until recent excavations. Then give over most of the lesson to pupils finding out for themselves possible reasons why the Maya were such a significant society, worth studying in school. The question is deliberately open ended allowing for pupils to form their own opinions.
There are no ‘right’ answers, at this stage. We merely want pupils to become curious, feel that they are learning quickly on their own, and working things out for themselves. This is strengthened by the spectrum activity. Finally pupils predict what a short video on the topic should include.
Learning objectives
- Pupils are able to speculate and make deductions from a range of visual clues.
- They appreciate the range of Mayan achievements realising that without the use of the cartwheel or metal tools, they built massive stone stepped pyramids and many large cities, some of 100,000 people
- They work out/ know that they must have been accomplished scientists as they tracked a solar year of 365 days, built observatories and knew about eclipses.
- They understand that the Maya developed their own mathematics, using a
